Live counts for words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, plus reading time and a goal bar. Your text stays in your browser.
Count as you write, not after you finish
Type or paste your text and the numbers update on the spot: words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, with the reading time next to them. Select part of the text and the numbers switch to that selection, which is handy for checking one paragraph against a limit. Nothing you write is stored or sent anywhere, so it is safe to paste a draft essay or a student's work.
Features
- Live counts. Words, characters with and without spaces, sentences and paragraphs update as you type or paste.
- Reading and speaking time. Based on speeds you can change to suit your audience.
- Writing goal. Set a target in words or characters and follow a progress bar that shows what is left or how far you are over.
- Selection count. Highlight part of the text to count only that part.
- Most used words. See which words you repeat, with an option to hide everyday English words.
- More detail. Unique words, words per sentence and the file size of the text in bytes, kB or MB.
- Handy buttons. Paste from the clipboard, copy the text or clear the box.
- Works in many languages. Accented letters, Arabic and other scripts are counted, and Chinese, Japanese and Thai are split into words.
- Private. Your text stays in your browser and is not saved or sent anywhere.
What each number means
Different programs count differently, so here is exactly what this one does.
| Number | How it is counted |
|---|---|
| Words | Groups of characters separated by spaces or line breaks that contain a letter or a digit. "Well-known" and "don't" are one word each, and a dash standing alone is not a word. Chinese, Japanese and Thai have no spaces between words, so the browser splits them into words where it can. |
| Characters | Everything you typed, including spaces and line breaks. An emoji or a letter with an accent counts once. |
| Characters (no spaces) | The same count with every space, tab and line break removed. |
| Sentences | Stretches of text ending with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark, or a line break. It is an estimate: an abbreviation such as "Dr." followed by a capital letter can be read as the end of a sentence. |
| Paragraphs | Every line that has something on it. Blank lines are ignored, so press Enter once between paragraphs. |
| Unique words | How many different words you used, ignoring capital letters and punctuation. |
| Words per sentence | Words divided by sentences, rounded to one decimal. |
| File size | How much space the text takes when saved as a plain text file, shown in bytes, kB or MB, whichever is closest (1 kB is 1,000 bytes). It matters for fields with a size limit. Letters outside the basic English alphabet take more than one byte each. |
Related use cases
Word Counter for Meeting Essay and Assignment Length Requirements
A classroom use case for hitting word count minimums without padding, fitting strict application character limits, checking paragraph structure, and tracking draft length across revisions.
Read use caseReading time and speaking time
Both are simple arithmetic: the word count divided by a speed in words per minute. The tool starts with 238 words a minute for reading and 130 for speaking aloud. Those are starting points, not facts about your audience. A slow reader, a young class or a technical text will need a lower figure, and a quick, familiar talk a higher one, so change the speeds in the "More details" box and the times follow.
For a presentation, work backwards. If your slot is five minutes and you speak at 130 words a minute, a script of about 650 words fills it, before you allow for pauses and questions.
Set a goal and watch the bar
Enter a target number of words or characters, or tap one of the quick values, and a bar shows how far you have come. It reads "to go" until you reach the target and "over the limit" when you pass it. The goal always applies to the whole text, even while you have part of it selected.
Word targets suit essays and reports. Character targets suit anything with a hard cap, such as a short answer box, a text message, an application form or a search result description. Check the limit on the form you are filling in, because they change and differ between sites.
Spot repeated words
"Most used words" lists the words that appear more than once, with the most frequent first. It is a quick way to see that "very" and "important" are carrying the whole second paragraph. The list ignores single letters and plain numbers. "Hide common words" removes everyday English words such as "the", "and" and "of" so the interesting ones show up. That filter only knows English, so it will not hide the equivalent words in other languages.
Where it helps
- Essays and coursework. Check the length before you submit. If a teacher asks for 500 to 600 words, set the goal and edit until you are inside the range. There is more on this in meeting essay and assignment length requirements.
- Teachers preparing texts. A reading passage for a lesson has to suit the time you have. Words per sentence and the reading time give you a quick sense of whether it is a good fit before you print it. For a longer text, the Reading Time Calculator gives you a separate estimate.
- Short fields. Titles, captions, bios and alt text often have a character cap. Paste the line in and watch the character count.
- Cleaning up copied text. If a count looks too high, stray line breaks and double spaces from a PDF are usually the cause. Tidy them with Remove Line Breaks or change capitalisation with Text Case Converter.
- Shortening a long text. Student Ai Summarizer makes a shorter version of a long passage, and you can count the result here.
Differences you may notice from other counters
- Word processors can disagree on edge cases such as hyphenated words and lone symbols, so your document may show a slightly different total from this page.
- Counts for text pasted from a PDF can be higher than expected because of invisible line breaks in the middle of sentences.
- The sentence count is an estimate, as explained above. Treat it as a guide to sentence length, not an exact figure.
- There is no readability score, grammar check or file upload. It counts what you paste or type.
FAQs
Does it keep or send my text?
No. The counting happens in your browser and the text is not saved, so closing the page clears it.
Does it count characters with or without spaces?
Both. The "Characters" figure at the top includes spaces, and the "Characters (no spaces)" line in "More details" leaves them out.
How is a word counted?
As a group of characters between spaces or line breaks that contains a letter or a number. Hyphenated words count as one.
Can I count just part of my text?
Yes. Select it with the mouse or keyboard and the numbers at the top switch to the selection. Click elsewhere to see the whole text again.
Why does the reading time differ from other tools?
Each tool assumes its own reading speed. Here you can set it yourself under "More details".
Does it work for languages other than English?
Yes. It handles accents, Arabic and other scripts, and splits Chinese, Japanese and Thai text into words. The "Hide common words" filter is English only.
How many paragraphs will it show?
One for each line that contains text. Blank lines between paragraphs are not counted.
