Word Counter: Words, characters, sentences and reading time. Input: Text you type or paste and values you enter. Output: Results shown on the page and text to copy. Privacy: Runs in your browser: inputs and files stay on your device and are not uploaded.
How to count words and characters
- Type or paste your text into the box. Everything is counted live as you type.
- The top cards show the word, character and sentence counts. The details table adds characters without spaces, paragraphs, lines, unique words, average word length, reading and speaking time and a readability score.
- Check the limits panel to see whether your text fits common limits such as an X post, an SMS or a meta description.
- Set a word goal for an essay or article and watch the progress bar fill up. Your text is saved in your browser, so it is still here if you close the tab.
How words are counted
Words are counted the way Microsoft Word counts them: a word is anything between spaces, so "state-of-the-art", "e-mail", a web address or an email address each count as one word, and "don't" and "3.14" are one word too. In Chinese and Japanese, each character counts as a word, as it does in Word; Thai, Lao, Khmer and Burmese, which have no spaces between words, are split with your browser's language-aware word segmentation. Sentences end at a full stop, question mark, exclamation mark or ellipsis, counting "?!" or "..." once, and abbreviations such as Dr., e.g., p.m. and U.S., initials and decimals such as 3.5 are not treated as the end of a sentence. Every line that contains text counts as a paragraph, as it does in Word. Characters are counted as you see them, so an emoji or an accented letter counts as one character even when it is stored as several code points. Google Docs uses slightly different rules, so its totals may differ by a word or two on unusual text.
Reading time assumes an average silent reading speed of 238 words per minute and speaking time 130 words per minute, typical for presentations. The Flesch reading ease score estimates how easy English text is to read: 60–70 is plain English.
Your text never leaves your device: counting happens in the browser and nothing is uploaded.
Does the word counter count numbers?
Yes. Numbers such as 2025 or 3.5 count as words, as they do in most word processors.
Are spaces counted as characters?
The main character count includes spaces and line breaks. The details table also shows the count without spaces.
How many words is a 5-minute speech?
About 650 words at a comfortable 130 words per minute. The speaking time row estimates it for your text.