Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and estimated reading time. Paste or type your text below — results update in real time.
How Word Counting Works
Word counting seems simple, but there are nuances that affect accuracy. Different platforms and tools may count slightly differently depending on how they handle punctuation, hyphens, numbers, and whitespace.
Word Count
This tool splits text on whitespace boundaries (spaces, tabs, line breaks) and counts each resulting token as one word. Hyphenated words like "well-known" count as one word. Numbers ("2024") and abbreviations ("HTML") each count as one word. Empty tokens (from multiple spaces) are ignored.
Character Count
Two counts are provided: with spaces and without spaces. The "with spaces" count is what most platforms use (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), while "without spaces" is useful for some publishing contexts and Asian language character limits.
Reading and Speaking Time
Reading time is calculated at 225 words per minute, which is the average silent reading speed for adult English text. Speaking time uses 130 words per minute, a typical pace for presentations and speeches.
Speaking time = Word count ÷ 130 wpm
Common Character Limits
Many platforms impose character or word limits. Here's a quick reference for the most common ones.
| Platform | Limit |
|---|---|
| Twitter / X post | 280 characters |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 characters |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 characters |
| Meta description (SEO) | 155–160 characters |
| Google Ads headline | 30 characters |
| SMS message | 160 characters |
| College essay (Common App) | 650 words |
Keyword Density
The tool also shows the top recurring keywords in your text, excluding common stop words (the, is, and, etc.). This is useful for SEO writing — checking that your target keywords appear frequently enough without over-stuffing. A natural keyword density is typically 1–3% of total words.
Frequently Asked Questions
Words are counted by splitting text on whitespace boundaries. Hyphenated words count as one word. Numbers and abbreviations each count as one word. Multiple consecutive spaces are treated as one separator.
The average adult reads about 200–250 words per minute. This tool uses 225 wpm as the baseline. Speaking time uses 130 wpm, typical for presentations.
Both counts are shown. The main "Characters" stat includes spaces (matching how Twitter and most platforms count). "Characters (no spaces)" is shown in the detail section below.
Sentences are detected by terminal punctuation: periods, question marks, and exclamation marks. Abbreviations like "Dr." may slightly inflate the count, but for most text it's very accurate.
Yes. This tool is commonly used for essays, assignments, blog posts, cover letters, social media posts, and any writing with length requirements. Results match what most word processors report.
The keyword section shows the most frequently used words in your text, excluding common stop words (the, is, and, a, etc.). It's useful for SEO writers checking keyword density and frequency.