Word Counter
Get a live word count, character count, sentence count and estimated reading time as you type or paste text.
How to use the word counter
- Paste or type your text into the box.
- Counts update automatically as you edit — there's no button to press.
- Use the reading-time figure to gauge how long an article or script will take to read aloud.
Features
- Live counts with no page reload
- Words, characters, characters without spaces, sentences and paragraphs
- Estimated reading time based on 200 words per minute
- Works entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded
What a word count can tell you
Word count is useful for assignments, articles, applications and content limits, while character count helps with forms, metadata and social posts. Sentence and paragraph totals can also give a quick sense of how dense a piece of writing is.
Different platforms may count punctuation, hyphenated terms or emoji differently. If you are working to a strict submission limit, compare the final text with the destination system before sending it.
Frequently asked questions
Related tools
Word counts depend on the writing context
Different editors can disagree slightly about hyphenated terms, contractions and symbols. Use one counting method consistently when a school, publisher or platform has a strict limit, and leave a small buffer if their own counter is the final authority.
- Count the final draft including headings if the submission rules include them.
- Check whether references, captions or footnotes are excluded by the brief.
- Use the count as a constraint, not a reason to pad or cut useful meaning mechanically.
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