Word Counter

Count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs as you type, with reading time and the most used words in your text.

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About the Word Counter

The Word Counter gives you live statistics for any text you type or paste: words, characters with and without spaces, sentences and paragraphs. It also estimates how long the text takes to read or speak aloud.

Writers use it to meet essay or article length requirements, students to stay within a word limit, and social media users to check character limits.

How to use the Word Counter

  1. Type or paste your text into the box.
  2. The numbers update instantly as you write.
  3. Check the reading time and the list of most used words.
  4. Press Clear to start again.

How it works

Words are groups of characters separated by spaces or line breaks. Sentences are counted by full stops, question marks and exclamation marks, and paragraphs by blank lines. Reading time assumes about 200 words per minute and speaking time about 130 words per minute, which are typical averages.

The most used words list ignores very short words so that it highlights meaningful terms.

Frequently asked questions

Does the tool work with other languages?

Yes. It counts words separated by spaces in any language that uses them, including Urdu, Arabic and Hindi.

Is my text saved or sent anywhere?

No. Counting is done in your browser and your text never leaves your device.

Why is my count different in Microsoft Word?

Programs treat hyphens, numbers and symbols a little differently, so counts can differ by a few words.