Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and reading time as you type.
About the Word Counter
The Word Counter counts the words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and lines in any text — and estimates how long that text takes to read and to say aloud. Everything is calculated live in your browser as you type or paste, so there is no upload, no waiting, and no limit on how much text you can analyze. Nothing you enter ever leaves your device.
Writers use a word counter constantly: to hit an essay's minimum, to trim a blog post to a target length, to stay inside a job application's limit, or to gauge how long a script will take to narrate. Because the count updates instantly, you can watch the numbers move as you edit and stop exactly where you need to.
How to use
- Type or paste your text into the box. The statistics above update on every keystroke.
- Read the counts. Words, total characters, characters excluding spaces, sentences, paragraphs, and lines are all shown at once.
- Check the timings. Reading time assumes an average silent reading speed of about 200 words per minute; speaking time assumes a slower ~130 words per minute, which is closer to a natural presentation pace.
- Copy or clear when you're done — "Copy text" puts the current text back on your clipboard, and "Clear" empties the box to start fresh.
A few details worth knowing about how the counts are made:
- Words are runs of non-whitespace separated by spaces, tabs, or line breaks, so "state-of-the-art" counts as one word and double spaces never inflate the total.
- Characters counts everything including spaces and line breaks; Characters (no spaces) strips all whitespace, which is the number most social platforms and SMS limits actually measure.
- Sentences are detected by terminal punctuation (
.,!,?). Abbreviations and decimal numbers can occasionally nudge this count, so treat it as a close estimate rather than a grammatical truth. - Paragraphs are blocks of text separated by a blank line, matching how most documents are structured.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a word or character limit?
No. The tool runs entirely in your browser, so you can paste a tweet or an entire manuscript. Very large documents (hundreds of thousands of words) may briefly pause while counting, but there is no hard cap.
Does my text get uploaded or saved anywhere?
Never. All counting happens locally in JavaScript on your device. The text is not sent to a server, stored, or logged — close the tab and it's gone.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time divides the word count by an average adult silent-reading speed of roughly 200 words per minute. Speaking time uses about 130 words per minute, a comfortable out-loud pace for presentations and voiceovers. Both are estimates; your real pace depends on the material and the reader.
Why is the sentence count sometimes slightly off?
Sentences are found by looking for ., !, and ? followed by a space or the end of the text. Abbreviations like "Dr." or "e.g." and decimals like "3.5" can be misread as sentence breaks, and a final sentence without punctuation may not be counted. It's an excellent estimate for normal prose but not a grammar checker.
What counts as a "word" in hyphenated or contracted text?
Any unbroken run of characters between spaces is one word. "don't" is one word, "mother-in-law" is one word, and "e-mail" is one word. Only whitespace splits words, so punctuation attached to a word doesn't create extra ones.
Can I count words in a specific language?
Yes for space-separated languages (English, Spanish, French, German, and most European languages). Languages that don't separate words with spaces — such as Chinese, Japanese, or Thai — are better measured by the character count, which remains accurate.