Word Counter
Paste your text to count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, with reading time, speaking time and your most used words.
Paste or type in the box and the counts update with every keystroke: words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and how many different words you used. Below them are the time it takes to read the text silently and to say it aloud, and a table of the words you lean on most. The sample paragraph comes to 53 words, 300 characters, 4 sentences and 2 paragraphs, about 13 sec to read.
Counts follow ManyTools' own rules for words, sentences and paragraphs, described on this page, and can differ slightly from a word processor or a submission system. Where a word or character limit matters, confirm the count in the system that enforces it. Reading and speaking times are averages, not predictions for any one reader.
- Characters without spaces
- 247
- Different words
- 44
- Reading time at 238 wpm
- 13 sec
- Speaking time at 183 wpm
- 17 sec
| Most used word | Count | Share of all words |
|---|---|---|
| time | 3 | 5.7% |
| uses | 2 | 3.8% |
| words | 2 | 3.8% |
| 183 | 1 | 1.9% |
| 238 | 1 | 1.9% |
| adult | 1 | 1.9% |
| article | 1 | 1.9% |
| average | 1 | 1.9% |
| change | 1 | 1.9% |
| characters | 1 | 1.9% |
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About the Word Counter
A word here is any stretch of text between spaces or line breaks that holds at least one letter or digit, so well-known and don't count once each and a stray dash or bullet point counts as nothing. Word processors draw that line in slightly different places, so a count can differ by a word or two around dashes and symbols. Characters are counted one per Unicode code point, with a Windows line ending treated as a single break, so some emoji built from several code points count as more than one. A sentence ends at a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark followed by a space or the end of the text, which means Mr. followed by a name reads as two sentences. Each line holding text is a paragraph. Reading time divides the word count by 238 words a minute, the average silent pace for adult non-fiction in Marc Brysbaert's review of reading-rate studies, and speaking time uses 183, the pace he reports for reading aloud; both rates are fields you can change. The top words list ignores capitals and surrounding punctuation and leaves out common words such as the, and and of unless you switch them back on. Everything is counted in your browser and the text is never uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
How do I count the words in an essay or document?+
Copy the text from your document and paste it into the box; the word count is the first figure in the results. Paste only the part your assignment counts, since titles, headers, footnotes and reference lists add words that many word limits leave out.
Why does my word processor show a slightly different number?+
Every program has its own rule for dashes, slashes, numbers and symbols. This counter splits only at spaces and line breaks and needs a letter or digit for a word, so a spaced dash is not counted and a joined phrase like either/or counts once. The difference is usually a word or two in a long piece.
How long does it take to read or say my text?+
At the default 238 words a minute for silent reading, a 1,000-word article takes a little over four minutes. Speaking time uses 183 words a minute, closer to a measured talk or a speech read from notes. If you know your own pace, type it into the rate fields and both times recalculate.
Does it count characters with or without spaces?+
Both. Characters counts every letter, digit, punctuation mark, space and line break; characters without spaces leaves out spaces, tabs and line breaks. Check which one a form or platform means, since character limits are usually measured with spaces included.
Embed this calculator
Free to use on your own site. Paste this snippet where you want the word counter to appear — it resizes itself automatically.
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</script><a href="https://manytools.co/text/word-counter">Word Counter by ManyTools</a>