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How to Count Words in Your Text
Counting words is essential for meeting requirements in essays, blog posts, articles, cover letters, and social media. Here's how our word counter works:
- Paste or type your text into the box above. The counter updates in real time as you type.
- Read the stats — words, characters (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, and more appear instantly.
- Check reading time — based on average reading speed of 238 words per minute (Brysbaert, 2019) and speaking speed of 150 words per minute.
All counting happens in your browser. Your text is never sent to any server.
Word Count Requirements by Document Type
Not sure how long your text should be? Here are standard word count ranges for common document types:
| Document Type | Word Count | Pages | Read Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twitter / X post | 40-50 | - | 10 sec |
| Instagram caption | 125-150 | - | 30 sec |
| Cover letter | 250-400 | 1 | 1-2 min |
| College essay (Common App) | 250-650 | 1-2 | 2-3 min |
| High school essay | 500-1,000 | 2-4 | 2-4 min |
| Blog post (short) | 600-1,000 | 2-3 | 3-4 min |
| Blog post (long-form) | 1,500-2,500 | 5-8 | 6-10 min |
| Research paper | 3,000-8,000 | 10-25 | 12-32 min |
| Dissertation chapter | 8,000-15,000 | 25-50 | 32-60 min |
| Novel | 70,000-100,000 | 250-400 | 5-7 hours |
Words to Minutes: Speech and Presentation Calculator
Planning a speech or presentation? Use these benchmarks to estimate how long your text will take to deliver:
| Duration | Slow (120 WPM) | Normal (150 WPM) | Fast (170 WPM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 minute | 120 words | 150 words | 170 words |
| 3 minutes | 360 words | 450 words | 510 words |
| 5 minutes | 600 words | 750 words | 850 words |
| 10 minutes | 1,200 words | 1,500 words | 1,700 words |
| 20 minutes | 2,400 words | 3,000 words | 3,400 words |
These speeds are based on research by the National Center for Voice and Speech. Conversational English averages 150 words per minute, while audiobook narration is typically 150-160 WPM.
Character Limits for Social Media Platforms
Each social media platform has different character limits. Use our word counter to make sure your text fits:
| Platform | Character Limit | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Twitter / X | 280 | Posts (free), 25,000 (Premium) |
| 2,200 | Captions | |
| 3,000 | Posts | |
| 63,206 | Posts | |
| TikTok | 4,000 | Captions |
| YouTube | 5,000 | Description |
| 500 | Pin descriptions | |
| 40,000 | Post body |
Frequently Asked Questions
A word counter splits your text by whitespace and counts the resulting non-empty segments. Our tool also counts characters (with and without spaces), sentences (by detecting terminal punctuation), and paragraphs (by counting text blocks separated by blank lines).
A single-spaced page in 12pt font contains approximately 500 words. A double-spaced page contains about 250 words. A standard A4 page with 1-inch margins holds 400-500 words single-spaced.
A 5-minute speech is approximately 625-750 words at a normal speaking pace of 125-150 words per minute. For a relaxed, conversational presentation, aim for 625 words.
Characters with spaces counts every character including spaces. Characters without spaces excludes all whitespace. Twitter counts characters with spaces toward its 280-character limit.
The average adult reads approximately 238 words per minute. So 1,000 words takes about 4-5 minutes to read silently. Speaking aloud, it takes about 7-8 minutes at 130-150 WPM.
Yes. Our word counter works with any language that uses spaces between words (English, Spanish, French, German, etc.). For CJK languages without spaces, character count is more reliable than word count.
Most SEO studies recommend 1,500-2,500 words for competitive keywords. However, the ideal length depends on the topic and search intent. Focus on answering the query thoroughly rather than hitting a specific word count.
No. All word counting happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your text is never sent to any server, stored, or transmitted. Your privacy is fully protected.