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Paste or type and watch your word count update live. This free word counter tracks words, characters (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, reading time, and speaking time — perfect for essays, articles, and social posts. Your text never leaves your browser, and there’s no sign-up.
Any run of characters separated by spaces, tabs, or line breaks. "Hello world." counts as 2 words — punctuation attached to a word stays part of it, and numbers or emoji separated by spaces count as words too.
Sentences are chunks of text ending in a period, exclamation mark, or question mark. Paragraphs are blocks of text separated by blank lines — extra line breaks don't inflate the count.
Reading time assumes an average adult reading speed of 200 words per minute. Speaking time assumes a conversational pace of 150 words per minute — handy for speeches, scripts, and voice-over timing.
No. Everything is counted in your browser by JavaScript on this page — your text never leaves your device. Clear it or close the tab and it's gone.
About 500–600 words. A standard double-spaced page with 1-inch margins and 12-pt font holds roughly 250–300 words, so two pages land around 500–600 depending on paragraph breaks.
This counter shows both totals side by side — “characters” includes every space and line break, while “characters (no spaces)” strips all whitespace first. Use the no-spaces count for platforms and forms with strict limits.
Most college essays run 250–650 words — the Common Application caps the personal statement at 650. Always follow the specific prompt’s limit; going 10% over is a bigger risk than coming in slightly under.