Word & Character Counter
Paste or type any text to instantly count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs — with estimated reading and speaking times.
How word count is calculated
A "word" for the purposes of this tool is any sequence of non-whitespace
characters separated by whitespace. That matches how word processors,
Google Docs and most publishing platforms count. Punctuation attached
to a word (like hello,) still counts as one word.
Characters comes in two flavours: including spaces and excluding spaces. Excluding spaces is what Twitter/X uses; including spaces is the more common word-processor default. This tool shows both.
Typical word-count targets
Different formats have very different conventions. Rough guides:
| Format | Typical target |
|---|---|
| Tweet / X post | Up to 280 characters (Premium: 25,000) |
| LinkedIn post | 150–300 words works best in feed |
| Blog post (SEO) | 1,000–2,500 words for competitive topics |
| Newsletter issue | 400–1,200 words |
| Cover letter | 250–400 words, one page |
| Personal statement (UCAS) | Up to 4,000 characters / 47 lines |
| UK CV / résumé | Two pages, ~500–800 words |
| Undergraduate essay | 1,500–3,000 words (per assignment) |
| Master's dissertation | 15,000–20,000 words |
| PhD thesis (UK) | 60,000–100,000 words |
| Novel (adult fiction) | 70,000–100,000 words |
| Novella | 17,500–40,000 words |
| Short story | 1,000–7,500 words |
| Screenplay (feature) | ~120 pages ≈ 20,000 words of dialogue |
Reading and speaking speed estimates
The reading-time estimate uses about 238 words per minute, the average for silent adult reading of general non-fiction. Academic or technical writing reads slower (150–200 wpm). Fiction reads faster (250–300 wpm).
The speaking-time estimate uses about 130 words per minute, appropriate for a conference presentation or a podcast host with normal pacing. Actors delivering scripted lines average 150 wpm; auctioneers can hit 250 wpm; slow, deliberate speakers giving weighty news average closer to 100 wpm.
For a 20-minute conference talk, aim for a script of about 2,500 words. For a 5-minute lightning talk, 600–650 words. For a 45-second radio ad, about 100 words.
Writing to a target word count
A few practical tips for hitting a specific word count without padding:
- Cut adverbs. "Very", "really", "quite" and "somewhat" are almost always removable with no loss of meaning.
- Prefer strong verbs. "She walked quickly" becomes "she strode" — one word, more vivid, saves you at least one.
- Watch for hedge phrases. "It is important to note that…" adds seven words that rarely help.
- Every paragraph should earn its place. If you can delete a paragraph and the argument still works, delete it.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my word processor's count differ slightly from this one?
Word processors handle edge cases differently: hyphenated words ("editor-in-chief"), numbers, and URLs may be counted as one or several words depending on the setting. Differences of 1–2% are normal.
Do headings and bullet points count?
In this tool, yes — anything you paste into the box is counted. Some academic institutions exclude quotations, footnotes and references from the word count for essays; check your style guide.
How long is a "typical" page?
In Times New Roman 12pt, single spaced, with normal margins, a page holds about 500 words. Double spaced, it holds about 250. That's the origin of the "one page ≈ 250 words" shorthand screenwriters use.
Does the calculator save my text?
No. Everything runs entirely in your browser — the text is never sent to a server. Close the tab and it is gone.
Does it detect language?
It counts words defined as non-whitespace sequences, which works reasonably for any language that uses spaces between words. It will not give sensible results for Chinese, Japanese, Thai or other scriptio-continua languages, which count "characters" (or more precisely, graphemes) rather than "words".