Word Counter

What gets counted

The counter updates as you type or paste and shows words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and an estimated reading time. A word is any run of characters between spaces or line breaks, so “well-known” counts as one word and “10 kg” counts as two. Paragraphs are blocks of text separated by a blank line.

Why word count matters

Limits are usually strict. Admissions systems and journal submission forms often cut text off or refuse it if you go over, and some instructors deduct marks for being far under. Checking as you write saves a stressful last-minute edit.

Reading time

Reading time is estimated at 200 words per minute, a common figure for comfortable reading of non-technical text. Technical documents and text in a second language are read more slowly, so treat the estimate as a lower bound. Blogs often show it near the title to set expectations; a speech of the same length takes noticeably longer to deliver aloud, typically 130–150 words per minute.

Tips for hitting a word limit

• Over the limit? Cut filler phrases first: “in order to” becomes “to”, “due to the fact that” becomes “because”. Then remove repeated points.
• Under the limit? Add a concrete example or a specific number rather than padding with adjectives.
• Pasting from a PDF? Run the text through the Text Cleaner first. Broken line endings and stray spaces do not change the word count much, but they make editing harder.