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ToolPika

Word Counter

Type or paste your text below. The counts update as you type, and your text never leaves your browser.

Words
0
Characters
0
Characters without spaces
0
Sentences
0
Paragraphs:
0
Reading time:
0 sec
Speaking time:
0 sec

Runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to a server.

What each number means

Count What it includes
Words Runs of letters or digits. “Don’t”, “well-known” and “1,000” count as one word each.
Characters Everything you typed, including spaces and line breaks. An emoji or an accented letter counts as one.
Characters without spaces The same, minus spaces, tabs and line breaks. Often used for translation quotes.
Sentences Pieces of text ending in ., !, ? or …, containing at least one letter or digit.
Paragraphs Blocks of text separated by an empty line.

Abbreviations such as “Dr.” or “e.g.” can be counted as the end of a sentence, so treat the sentence count as a close estimate.

Reading and speaking time

  • Reading time assumes 238 words per minute, the average for adults reading silently.
  • Speaking time assumes 140 words per minute, a steady pace for presentations. Conversation is often faster (about 150–160) and careful narration slower.
Text Reading Speaking
250 words (a short email) 1 min 3 sec 1 min 47 sec
1,000 words (a blog post) 4 min 12 sec 7 min 9 sec
700 words 2 min 56 sec 5 min

So a five-minute speech needs roughly 700 words.

Common length limits

Where Limit
SMS text message 160 characters (70 if it contains emoji or non-Latin letters)
Post on X (Twitter), standard account 280 characters (links and some scripts are counted differently)
Page title in search results About 50–60 characters before it gets cut off
Meta description in search results About 150–160 characters

Frequently asked questions

How are words counted?

A word is any run of letters or digits, including contractions (don't), hyphenated words (well-known) and numbers (3.14 or 1,000). Punctuation, dashes on their own and emoji are not counted as words. This matches how Microsoft Word and Google Docs count in almost every case.

Does it work for languages without spaces, like Japanese or Chinese?

Yes. Words are found with the Unicode segmentation rules built into your browser, which know where words begin and end in languages written without spaces.

Why is the character count different from another site?

Emoji and accented letters count as one character each here, because that is what you see. Some sites count the underlying code units instead, so an emoji such as 👍🏽 can count as 2 or 4 characters there.

How is reading time calculated?

Words divided by 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for adults found in a 2019 review of 190 studies. Speaking time uses 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for a talk.

Is my text stored or sent anywhere?

No. Everything is counted in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, saved or logged, so it is safe to paste private documents.