Word counter

How to use the word counter

1. Type in the box, paste your text, or open a .txt or .md file (you can also drop one onto the box).
2. Watch the numbers on the right: words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading time and speaking time update as you write.
3. Set a goal (at least 1,500 words for an essay) or a limit (at most 250 words for an application), counted in words or characters. The bar fills as you go and turns red if you go over a limit.
4. Check readability and keyword density to see how easy your text is and which words you lean on most.

Your text is saved in this browser as you type, so it is still here if you close the tab. It is never uploaded. Focus mode hides everything but the page, and you can switch between a sans-serif, serif or monospace font for long writing sessions.

How words are counted

A word is any run of letters or numbers. Hyphenated words such as well-known and contractions such as don’t count as one word, the way Microsoft Word and Google Docs count them. Numbers like 2026, 3.50 and 1,000 count as one word each. Dashes with spaces around them and punctuation on its own do not count.

For languages written without spaces between words, such as Chinese, Japanese and Thai, the counter uses your browser’s built-in dictionary (the Intl.Segmenter standard) to find word boundaries, so the count is close to what a native reader would expect. The character count is often the more useful number for these languages.

Characters are counted the way you see them: an accented letter or an emoji is one character, even when it is stored as several code points. Sentences end with a full stop, question mark, exclamation mark or ellipsis, but not after common abbreviations like “Dr.” or “e.g.” or after initials. A line break also ends a sentence, so headings and list items count. Paragraphs are lines that contain text.

How long does it take to read 1,000 words?

About four minutes. Reading time assumes 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for non-fiction found by a 2019 review of 190 studies (Brysbaert). Speaking time assumes 150 words per minute, a calm pace for a talk or a presentation. Page counts assume 12-point type with 1-inch margins: about 500 words on a single-spaced page and 250 on a double-spaced or handwritten one.

Real reading speeds vary a lot: dense technical writing is slower, a light blog post faster. Treat the numbers as a guide for planning, not a promise.

What the readability score means

The Flesch Reading Ease score rates text from 0 to 100 using two things: how many words your sentences have on average, and how many syllables your words have. Short sentences and short words score higher, which means easier. The Flesch–Kincaid grade turns the same numbers into a US school grade: grade 8 should be readable by a typical 13 to 14-year-old.

Syllables are counted with rules for English spelling, so the score is an estimate and is only shown for English-like text. It needs a few sentences to settle. A low score is not a mistake: legal and academic writing is often hard by nature. For writing on the web, aim for 60 or more.

Keyword density, and goals for essays and applications

Keyword density lists the words and two or three-word phrases you use most, with how often each appears and what share of your text it covers. With Skip common words on, words like “the”, “and” and “is” are left out so the words that carry meaning stand out. It is a quick way to spot a word you repeat too often, or to check that an article mentions its topic naturally. There is no magic percentage for search engines: write for people, and use the list to catch repetition.

Word goals help with essays, cover letters, scholarship applications and social posts. A goal counts up to a minimum; a limit warns you the moment you go over. Need to fit a character limit on a specific platform? The character counter checks X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google and text messages at once.