What is my word count?
Paste or type your text. The word counter counts the words, the characters with and without spaces, the sentences and the paragraphs as you type, and shows how long the text takes to read silently or aloud.
- Words
- 48
Word count: 48; characters: 261; reading time: about 12 s.
- Characters
- 261
- Characters without spaces
- 214
- Sentences
- 4
- Paragraphs
- 1
- Reading time
- 12 s
- Speaking time
- 16 s
Words: 48. Word count: 48; characters: 261; reading time: about 12 s.
How to calculate
A word count calculator: paste a text to count its words, characters with and without spaces, sentences and paragraphs, and see how long it takes to read or say.
Example with the default inputs (Your text Paste your text here to count its words. The counter also finds the characters, sentences and paragraphs, and how long the text takes to read. A new line starts a new paragraph. Numbers such as 2026 count as words, and so do well-known words joined by a hyphen.): Word count: 48; characters: 261; reading time: about 12 s.
Method: Words are runs of letters or digits (an apostrophe or hyphen inside one keeps it whole); reading time = words ÷ 238 a minute; speaking time = words ÷ 183 a minute.
- Numbers count as words; punctuation and symbols on their own do not. Line breaks are not characters.
- A sentence ends at . ! or ?, so an abbreviation such as “e.g.” or a decimal point also ends one.
- Reading and speaking times use average adult rates for English non-fiction.
Worked examples
Each example is checked against the calculator on every build.
- Your text The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. gives Words 9, Characters 44, Characters without spaces 36, Sentences 1, Paragraphs 1, Reading time 2 s, Speaking time 3 s.Source: Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047 (silent reading of English non-fiction 238 words a minute; reading aloud 183), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047 (retrieved 2026-10-03)
- Your text It’s well-known. Is it? Yes! A second line, with 2026 in it. gives Words 12, Sentences 4, Paragraphs 2, Characters 59, Characters without spaces 49.
How it works
- Words: each run of letters or digits (any script), where an apostrophe (' or ’) or a hyphen (- or ‐) between two letters or digits keeps the run together. In regular-expression terms:
[\p{L}\p{N}]+(['’‐-][\p{L}\p{N}]+)*. - Characters: every character (Unicode code point), spaces included, line breaks (
\n,\r) left out. - Characters without spaces: every character except white space (spaces, tabs, line breaks).
- Sentences: split the text at each run of
.,!or?; each piece that holds at least one word is a sentence. Text with no end mark is one sentence. - Paragraphs: the lines of the text (split at line breaks) that hold at least one word.
- Reading time: words × 60 ÷ 238 seconds; speaking time: words × 60 ÷ 183 seconds. Each is rounded to whole seconds, halves up, and shown as minutes and seconds.
Rules
- The text holds up to 20,000 characters. An empty text has 0 words.
- An abbreviation such as “e.g.” or a decimal point such as 3.5 also ends a sentence.
Worked examples by hand
“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” 9 words; 44 characters, of which 8 are spaces, so 36 without spaces; 1 sentence; 1 paragraph. Reading 9 × 60 ÷ 238 = 2.27 s, 2 s; speaking 9 × 60 ÷ 183 = 2.95 s, 3 s.
“It’s well-known. Is it? Yes!” and, on a new line, “A second line, with 2026 in it.” Words: It’s, well-known, Is, it, Yes, A, second, line, with, 2026, in, it: 12. Sentences end at “.”, “?”, “!” and the last “.”: 4. Lines with words: 2 paragraphs. 59 characters (the line break does not count), 49 without white space.
Other questions people ask
How does the word counter count words?
A word is a run of letters or digits. An apostrophe or a hyphen between two letters keeps a word whole, so “it’s” and “well-known” are one word each, and a number such as 2026 is a word. Punctuation and symbols on their own are not words.
Does it count characters with spaces?
Yes, both. Characters counts every character with the spaces, but not line breaks, as word processors do; characters without spaces also leaves out spaces and tabs. Many forms and sites limit one or the other.
How are sentences and paragraphs counted?
A sentence ends at a full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark, or at the end of the text. A paragraph is a line that holds at least one word, so each new line starts a new paragraph.
How long does it take to read my text?
The reading time uses 238 words a minute, the average silent reading speed of adults for English non-fiction in Brysbaert’s 2019 review of 190 studies. Reading aloud averages 183 words a minute.
Why does my word processor give a different count?
Counters differ on edge cases: a dash with spaces, a URL, an email address, or a number with a decimal point. The rules here are written out below, so you can see why a word counts.
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. The counting runs in your browser. Your text goes into the page’s link so you can share it, so do not share the link if the text is private.