Word counter: words, characters and reading time
Paste or type your text. Words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading time and keyword density update as you type.
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- Sentences
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- Unique words
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- Reading time
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- Speaking time
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- Avg word length
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- Words per sentence
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Keyword density
Common words left out| Word | Count | Density |
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Repeated phrases
Two-word phrases used more than once| Phrase | Count |
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Longest word: –
How to use the word counter
- 1Type or paste your text into the box. Counting starts immediately.
- 2Read the totals: words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and reading time.
- 3Set a word goal, such as 500 for an essay, to track progress.
- 4Check keyword density to spot overused words.
Word counts for common writing
Most assignments, articles and posts come with a target length. These are typical ranges:
- Tweet or X post: 25 to 50 words (280 characters).
- Instagram caption: up to about 350 words (2,200 characters); 30 to 100 words performs best.
- Short essay: 500 to 1,000 words; a five-paragraph essay is usually 500 to 800.
- College application essay: 250 to 650 words.
- Blog post or article: 1,000 to 2,500 words.
- Short story: 1,000 to 7,500 words; a novel starts at about 50,000.
- Five-minute speech: about 700 words.
Words, pages and minutes
In a 12-point font with standard margins, a single-spaced page holds about 500 words and a double-spaced page about 250. The reading time here uses 238 words per minute, the average for adult silent reading, and the speaking time uses 140 words per minute, a clear pace for presentations and speeches.
Using keyword density
The keyword table lists the words you use most, leaving out common words such as "the", "and" and "is". It is a quick way to catch repetition in an essay or to check that an article actually covers its topic. If one word makes up more than 3% of the text, try a synonym or restructure the sentence. To count characters against platform limits like X, Instagram or meta descriptions, use the character counter.
Frequently asked questions
How does the word counter count words? +
A word is any run of letters or numbers separated by spaces or punctuation. Hyphenated words such as "well-known" and contractions such as "it's" count as one word, and emoji and stray symbols are not counted. This matches Microsoft Word and Google Docs for ordinary text.
How many pages is 1,000 words? +
About 2 pages single-spaced or 4 pages double-spaced, in a 12-point font such as Times New Roman with 1-inch margins. As a rule of thumb, 500 words is one single-spaced page and 250 words is one double-spaced page.
How long does it take to read 1,000 words? +
About 4 minutes at an average silent reading speed of 238 words per minute, and about 7 minutes to say aloud at 140 words per minute, a comfortable presentation pace. The counter shows both for your text.
What is keyword density? +
The share of all words taken by one word: if "fox" appears 3 times in 100 words, its density is 3%. Common words such as "the" and "and" are left out. Natural writing rarely pushes any content word above 2 to 3%; much higher usually reads as repetitive.
Does the word counter work in other languages? +
Yes, for any language that separates words with spaces, including accented Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic and Hebrew text. Chinese and Japanese do not use spaces between words, so each unbroken run counts as one word; use the character count for those.
Is my text saved or uploaded? +
No. Everything is counted in your browser and nothing is sent to a server, so it is safe for drafts, essays and confidential documents.
How do I count words in Word or Google Docs? +
In Microsoft Word, the count is in the status bar, or press Ctrl+Shift+G (Cmd+Shift+G on a Mac). In Google Docs, press Ctrl+Shift+C (Cmd+Shift+C on a Mac) or choose Tools > Word count.