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Word Counter
Paste or type text to see live counts for words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and estimated reading time. Nothing leaves your device.
Runs entirely in your browser — your text is never uploaded
- Words
- 0
- Characters
- 0
- No spaces
- 0
- Sentences
- 0
- Paragraphs
- 0
- Lines
- 0
- Reading time
- 0 sec
- Avg / sentence
- 0
at 200 wpm
words
How to use Word Counter
- Paste or type your text into the box.
- Counts update instantly as you edit.
- Use Copy to grab the text back, or Clear to start over.
Examples
Input
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Result
9 words, 44 characters, 1 sentence
Input
A 500-word blog intro
Result
≈2 minutes reading time
What you can type into Word Counter
- What counts as a word
- Any run of characters separated by whitespace. "Well-known" is one word; "well known" is two; a number such as 2026 counts as a word.
- Spaces and line breaks
- They separate words but are not words themselves. Repeated spaces and blank lines never inflate the word count.
- Punctuation
- Attached punctuation stays part of its word, so "Hello," counts once. Standalone symbols separated by spaces count as words.
- Sentences and paragraphs
- Sentences are split on . ! and ? followed by whitespace. Paragraphs are blocks separated by a blank line.
How the results behave
- Live counting
- Every figure recalculates as you type — there is no button to press and nothing to submit.
- Characters two ways
- The total counts every character including spaces and line breaks; the without-spaces figure removes all whitespace.
- Reading time
- Words divided by 200 words per minute, the common average for adult silent reading of general prose.
Tips
- Word limits usually mean the body text only — paste without titles, captions and reference lists if those are excluded.
- Social platforms and meta tags count characters rather than words; the character counter is the right tool for those.
Common mistakes
- Comparing this count with a word processor's and expecting an exact match: editors differ on hyphenated words, numbers and footnotes.
- Assuming abbreviations do not affect the sentence count — "e.g." and "Dr." can each add one.
About the word counter
Students writing to an essay limit, writers checking article length, applicants filling boxes with a stated maximum, and anyone estimating how long a draft takes to read.
Word counts matter when you are writing to a limit: essays, meta descriptions, social posts, abstracts and application forms all set hard boundaries. Seeing the number update while you edit is faster than pasting into a word processor.
Reading time is estimated at 200 words per minute, a common average for adult silent reading of general prose. Technical writing usually reads slower.
Accuracy and limitations
- Counting happens in your browser, so nothing you paste is uploaded.
- Sentence detection is punctuation-based, which slightly over-counts text full of abbreviations or decimal numbers.
Frequently asked questions
How is a word counted?
Any run of characters separated by whitespace counts as one word, matching how most editors count.
Is my text uploaded?
No. All counting happens in your browser and the text is never sent to a server.
How are sentences detected?
By counting terminators — full stops, question marks and exclamation marks — so abbreviations can slightly inflate the count.
Read more
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