How this word counter counts
Different tools count slightly differently, so here are the exact rules this one uses:
- Words are runs of letters or numbers. Contractions such as don’t, hyphenated words such as well-known and numbers such as 3.5, 1,000 or 10:30 count as one word each. Punctuation and emoji on their own are not words.
- Characters are what a reader sees. An emoji or an accented letter counts once, even though computers store some of them as several codes.
- Sentences end with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark followed by a space, plus the Urdu ۔ and ؟ and the Hindi ।. A decimal point such as 3.5 does not end a sentence, and a last line without a full stop still counts.
- Paragraphs are blocks of text separated by a line break.
Microsoft Word treats a few things differently. It counts and/or as one word, for example, while this tool counts two. Expect small differences on text full of slashes, links or symbols.
Words to pages and reading time
Reading time uses an average adult silent reading speed of 238 words a minute, and speaking time uses 140 words a minute, a comfortable pace for a speech or presentation. Page counts assume 12 pt text on A4 or Letter paper with normal margins.
| Words | Single-spaced | Double-spaced | Reading time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | ½ page | 1 page | about 1 minute |
| 500 | 1 page | 2 pages | about 2 minutes |
| 1,000 | 2 pages | 4 pages | about 4 minutes |
| 2,500 | 5 pages | 10 pages | about 10½ minutes |
Fonts, headings and line spacing all change the real number of pages, so treat the page count as a guide.
Common limits to check against
- IELTS Writing: Task 1 needs at least 150 words and Task 2 at least 250 words. Writing under the minimum costs marks.
- SMS: one English text message holds 160 characters. A message in Urdu or Hindi script uses a different encoding and fits only 70 characters before it splits into more messages.
- X (Twitter): a standard post allows 280 characters.
- Instagram: a caption can be up to 2,200 characters.
- Search results: Google usually shows about the first 150 to 160 characters of a page’s meta description.
Watch the characters count for character limits and the words count for essays and assignments.
Your text stays on your device
Counting happens inside your browser. The text you type or paste is never sent to our server, so you can safely check private documents, assignments and drafts.