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Paste or type your text below for a live word count, character count, sentence and paragraph count, estimated reading and speaking time, and your most frequently used words. Nothing you type is sent anywhere; it’s all counted in your browser.
Most used words (common words like “the” and “and” are excluded)
How to use the word counter
Type directly into the box, or paste text from anywhere: a document, an email, a social media draft or an assignment. The counts update automatically as you type, with no button to press and nothing saved or sent anywhere.
What gets counted
- Words – sequences of characters separated by spaces or line breaks.
- Characters – every character including spaces, and a separate count without spaces.
- Sentences – text segments ending in a period, question mark or exclamation mark.
- Paragraphs – blocks of text separated by a blank line.
How reading and speaking time are estimated
Reading time is estimated at 200 words per minute, a commonly used average for adult silent reading of general text. Speaking time is estimated at 130 words per minute, closer to a comfortable pace for a presentation or speech. Both are estimates: actual reading and speaking speed varies by person, by how familiar the content is, and by how it’s delivered.
Why word and character counts matter
- Academic writing – essays and assignments often have a required word count.
- Social media – platforms like X enforce a character limit on posts.
- SEO and web content – meta titles and descriptions have practical length limits, and many content guidelines suggest a minimum word count.
- Scripts and presentations – matching a planned speaking time to a word count helps with pacing.
- Cover letters and resumes – many job applications specify a maximum length.
About the most used words
This list highlights the words you repeat most often, excluding very common words like “the”, “and” and “is” that appear in almost any text and aren’t useful to flag. It’s a quick way to notice if you’re repeating a word more than intended, or to see which keywords dominate a piece of writing.
Frequently asked questions
How is the word count calculated?
By counting sequences of characters separated by whitespace. A hyphenated word like “well-known” counts as one word, since there’s no space inside it.
Does this tool save or send my text anywhere?
No. All counting happens directly in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing you type is uploaded, stored, or sent to any server.
How accurate is the reading time estimate?
It’s a general estimate based on an average reading speed of 200 words per minute. Actual reading speed varies a lot between individuals and depending on how complex the text is.
Why does the sentence count seem off for my text?
Sentence counting looks for periods, question marks and exclamation marks. Abbreviations with periods (like “e.g.” or “Dr.”), or text with little punctuation, can make the count approximate rather than exact.
Can I count words in a different language?
Word, character, sentence and paragraph counts work for any language that uses spaces between words. The “most used words” feature currently filters common English words only, so it is most useful for English text.
Is there a limit to how much text I can paste in?
No fixed limit is enforced, but very long text (for example, an entire book) may feel slower to type into, since the browser is counting on every keystroke.