A word count is only useful if you know what it is counting and what you are comparing it to. This counter shows the usual numbers, words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, and then the ones that decide whether the text works: how long it takes to read, how hard it is, which words it leans on, and whether it fits the box it is going into.

How the counting works

• Words are runs of letters or digits. A hyphenated word such as well-known and a contraction such as isn't count as one. A price like 5.99 counts as two, since the dot is not part of a word.
• Chinese and Japanese are counted one character to a word, because they do not put spaces between words and a space-based count would call a whole page one word.
• Characters are counted as people see them, so an emoji is one character, not two. The count without spaces drops every space and line break.
• Sentences end at a full stop, question mark, exclamation mark or ellipsis, but not inside a number like 3.5, an abbreviation like Dr. or a web address.
• Paragraphs are separated by a blank line.

Other programs count slightly differently, mostly in how they treat hyphens, numbers and symbols, so a difference of a few words from Word or Google Docs is normal.

Reading, speaking and handwriting time

These use commonly cited averages: about 238 words a minute for silent reading by an adult, 150 for speaking at a comfortable pace, and 13 for writing by hand. They are averages. Technical text reads slower and a skimmable list reads faster, so treat the time as a guide.

What a readability score says

The Flesch reading ease score runs from 0 to 100, and higher is easier. Many web style guides aim for around 60 to 70, which is plain English that most adults follow without effort. The grade levels, Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning fog, Coleman-Liau and the Automated Readability Index, estimate the years of schooling needed to follow the text. All of them look only at sentence length and word length, so they cannot judge whether the writing is good, and they are built for English.

Repeated words and phrases

The Repeated words tab lists the words and two- and three-word phrases you use most, as a share of the whole text. Common words such as the and and are left out unless you choose otherwise. It is a way to spot a word you lean on without noticing. There is no ideal percentage for a keyword. If a phrase takes up several percent of an article and sounds forced when you read it aloud, cut it back.

How long should an article be?

Search engines do not reward a word count. They reward answering the search well, and that sometimes takes 300 words and sometimes 3,000. A useful habit is to open the pages that already rank for your keyword and see how much ground they cover, then cover it, and the length follows. For a closer look at one phrase, use the Keyword Density Checker on a live page.

The length limits

The Length limits tab compares the text with the limits for titles, descriptions, social posts and ads. For social platforms and ads the numbers are hard limits: the platform stops you. For a Google title and description they are guides, because Google cuts by width in pixels, not by characters, and it often rewrites them. To see the real cutoff for a title or description, paste it into the SEO Title Checker or the SERP Preview.

Frequently asked

Is my text uploaded?

No. Everything is counted in your browser. The last text you entered is saved in your browser so it is there next time, and nowhere else.

Can it count part of a text?

Yes. Select any part of the text and the line under the box shows the words and characters in the selection.

Can I open a file?

Yes, a plain text, Markdown, CSV or HTML file. For HTML, the tags, scripts and styles are removed first, so you count what a reader sees. Word documents are not supported; paste the text instead.

Does it check spelling or grammar?

Your browser underlines spelling mistakes in the box. This tool does not check grammar. To find the phrases that make a draft sound machine-written, use the AI Phrase Checker.