Word & Character Counter
Type or paste any text below and get instant word count, character count, sentence count, paragraph count, and estimated reading and speaking time — all updated live.
How to use
- Type or paste your text into the box above — results update automatically as you type.
- Review the stats grid for word count, character counts, sentence count, and paragraph count.
- Check reading time (at 200 words per minute) and speaking time (at 150 words per minute).
- Click Copy Stats Summary to copy a text summary of all stats to your clipboard.
When people use this
- Checking essay or article length against a word limit.
- Estimating how long a blog post or speech will take to read or present.
- Counting characters for social media posts, meta descriptions, or SMS.
- Reviewing sentence and paragraph counts for readability and structure.
Examples
Example 1: Paste a 500-word essay → 500 words, ~42 sentences, ~6 paragraphs, ~2.5 min reading time, ~3.3 min speaking time.
Example 2: Type a 280-character tweet → 47 words, 280 chars with spaces, ~3 sentences, ~0 reading time (under 1 min), ~0 speaking time.
Example 3: Paste a 2,000-word article → 2,000 words, ~16 min reading time, ~13.3 min speaking time.
Example 4: Empty text → 0 words, 0 characters, 0 sentences, 0 paragraphs.
FAQ
Q: How are words counted?
A: Words are counted by splitting the text on whitespace. Consecutive spaces, tabs, and line breaks are treated as a single separator. Empty text returns 0 words.
Q: What counts as a sentence?
A: Sentences are detected by splitting on sentence-ending punctuation: period (.), question mark (?), and exclamation point (!). Ellipses (...) are treated as a single separator.
Q: What is the difference between characters with and without spaces?
A: Characters with spaces counts every character including spaces and line breaks. Characters without spaces excludes space characters only — useful for limits that don't count whitespace.
Q: How is reading time estimated?
A: Reading time = word count ÷ 200 minutes. This is a standard average reading speed for comfortable reading. Actual speed varies by person and text complexity.
Q: How is speaking time estimated?
A: Speaking time = word count ÷ 150 minutes. This is a typical conversational speaking pace. Speeches and presentations often run between 130–160 wpm.