Word Counter
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Keyword density common words excluded
Start typing and the words you repeat most will appear here, with how often each one accounts for your total.
Updated September 2026
A word counter tells you three things a word processor buries: how long your text is, how long it takes to read, and which words you are leaning on without noticing.
The numbers most people need: about 238 words per minute for silent reading, 150 for reading aloud, and roughly 500 words per single-spaced page or 250 double-spaced. A 1,000-word article is about a four-minute read and two pages.
What actually counts as a word
Every tool draws the line slightly differently, which is why your count can shift by a few words when you paste text somewhere else. This counter splits on whitespace, which matches Microsoft Word and Google Docs in almost every case. What that means in practice:
| Text | Counts as | Why |
|---|---|---|
| state-of-the-art | 1 word | No spaces, so it is one token. Word agrees. |
| mother in law | 3 words | Spaces split it, regardless of meaning. |
| $1,500 | 1 word | Numbers count as words in every major tool. |
| e.g. | 1 word | Periods do not split words. |
| can't | 1 word | Contractions are single words. |
| — (em dash alone) | 1 word | Anything surrounded by spaces counts. This one trips people up. |
If a professor, editor or client has a hard limit, count in the tool they will count in. The gap is usually under 1%, but on a 5,000-word dissertation chapter that is fifty words — enough to matter when the limit is strict.
Reading time: where 238 words per minute comes from
Reading speed is not a guess. A 2019 meta-analysis by Marc Brysbaert pooled 190 studies covering more than 18,000 participants and found average silent reading of non-fiction English at 238 words per minute. Reading aloud is much slower — around 183 wpm — and comfortable presentation pace is slower still.
| Activity | Words per minute | 1,000 words takes |
|---|---|---|
| Silent reading, non-fiction | 238 | about 4 minutes |
| Silent reading, fiction | 260 | about 4 minutes |
| Reading aloud | 183 | about 5 ½ minutes |
| Presentation or speech pace | 130 – 150 | 7 to 8 minutes |
| Audiobook narration | 150 – 160 | about 6 ½ minutes |
The speaking figure is the one worth memorising if you ever present. A ten-minute slot is roughly 1,300 to 1,500 words of script. Most people who run over time wrote a twenty-minute talk and tried to deliver it faster.
Reading speed claims to be skeptical of
Speed-reading courses advertising 1,000 or 2,000 words per minute do not survive testing. The research consistently finds that beyond roughly 300 wpm, comprehension falls off sharply — what is being taught is skimming, which is a genuinely useful skill but is not the same as reading. If a tool tells you a 3,000-word article is a two-minute read, it is using a number nobody achieves.
How long should it be?
Typical lengths for common formats, as a starting point rather than a rule:
| Format | Typical length | Reading time |
|---|---|---|
| Tweet / X post | 30 – 50 words | seconds |
| Meta description | 20 – 25 words | seconds |
| Cover letter | 250 – 400 words | 1 – 2 min |
| College application essay | 500 – 650 words | 2 – 3 min |
| Blog post | 1,000 – 2,000 words | 4 – 8 min |
| In-depth guide | 2,500 – 4,000 words | 10 – 17 min |
| Conference talk, 20 minutes | 2,600 – 3,000 words | — |
| Undergraduate essay | 1,500 – 3,000 words | — |
| Novel | 70,000 – 100,000 words | 5 – 7 hours |
Keyword density, and what it is actually good for
The panel above shows the words you repeat most, excluding common words like "the" and "and" that would otherwise dominate every list. It is useful for two things, and misleading for a third.
It catches unconscious repetition. Most writers have a crutch word they use far more than they realise. Seeing "leverage" at 2.8% of your text is more persuasive than any style advice.
It shows what your text is about. If you wrote a page on boat loans and the top words are "however", "generally" and "typically", the page is mostly hedging and not much subject.
It is not an SEO target. The old advice to hit a keyword density of 1–3% is obsolete. Search engines have understood synonyms and context for over a decade, and writing to a percentage produces text that reads badly to the humans the page is for. Use density to notice repetition, not to manufacture it.
Average sentence length, and why it matters
The panel above also reports your average sentence length. It is the single most reliable readability signal you can see at a glance, and it is the one most writers get wrong in the same direction.
| Average sentence | Reads as | Typical of |
|---|---|---|
| Under 12 words | Punchy, can feel choppy | Advertising, childrens writing |
| 14 – 20 words | Clear and comfortable | Journalism, good business writing |
| 21 – 29 words | Demanding | Academic prose, legal summaries |
| 30+ words | Hard to follow | Contracts, unedited first drafts |
Most first drafts land above 25. The fix is almost never rewriting — it is finding the sentences with two ideas joined by a comma or an and, and cutting them in half. Do that to the worst ten sentences and the average usually drops five words without a single sentence being reworded.
One caveat: the average hides variety, and variety is what makes prose readable. A page of identical 16-word sentences scores well and reads like a metronome. Mix long and short deliberately; the average is a smoke alarm, not a target.
Why Word and this tool sometimes disagree
- Headers, footers and footnotes. Word's count excludes them by default; pasting the body text here excludes them too, but pasting everything does not.
- Text boxes and captions. Word skips some of these depending on version and settings.
- Tracked changes. If changes are displayed rather than accepted, deleted text may still be counted.
- Stray characters. A lone em dash, bullet or number surrounded by spaces counts as a word in both tools. It is usually the source of a small unexplained gap.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read 1,000 words?
About 4 minutes of silent reading at the research average of 238 words per minute. Read aloud it is closer to 5 ½ minutes, and at presentation pace 7 to 8 minutes.
How many words is a 5-minute speech?
Roughly 650 to 750 words at a comfortable speaking pace of 130 to 150 words per minute. Most people who run over time wrote for reading speed rather than speaking speed.
How many words is one page?
About 500 single-spaced or 250 double-spaced, in 12pt Times New Roman with 1-inch margins. Our words to pages converter adjusts for other fonts and spacing.
Is a hyphenated word one word or two?
One. Word counters split on spaces, so "state-of-the-art" is a single word in this tool, in Microsoft Word and in Google Docs.
What is a good keyword density for SEO?
There is no target worth writing to. Search engines have understood synonyms and context for many years, and writing to a percentage produces worse text. Use the density panel to catch words you repeat unconsciously, not to hit a number.
Why does Microsoft Word give a different count?
Usually headers, footers, footnotes or text boxes, which Word excludes from its main count. Tracked changes displayed rather than accepted can also inflate a count. The gap is normally under 1%.
Is my text stored anywhere?
No. Everything is counted in your browser; nothing you type is uploaded or saved.