Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs. Readability score, keyword density, and reading time.
All counts update as you type. Here is how this tool gets each one.
| Stat | How it is counted |
|---|---|
| Words | Every group of characters between spaces, tabs or line breaks. Punctuation stays attached to the word. |
| Characters | Everything in the box: letters, spaces, punctuation and line breaks. Each emoji or accented letter counts as 1. |
| No Spaces | The same count with all spaces, tabs and line breaks removed. |
| Sentences | Each . ! or ? mark (or a group such as ... or ?!) that is followed by a space, a line break or the end of the text. A dot after a short form such as Mr., etc. or e.g., or after a single capital letter, is skipped. The Chinese and Japanese marks 。 ！ ？ always end a sentence. If the text has no sentence end, it shows 1. |
| Paragraphs | Blocks of text separated by at least one empty line. A single line break does not start a new paragraph. |
| Read Time | Words divided by 200, rounded up to the next whole minute. |
For example, paste this text, with one empty line before the question:
The tool shows 18 words, 87 characters, 69 without spaces, 3 sentences, 2 paragraphs and 1 min. The gap between 87 and 69 is 16 spaces plus the 2 line breaks that make the empty line.
There is no single official way to count words. Microsoft Word, Google Docs and online counters each follow their own rules, so small differences are normal. These are the cases where this tool may not match what you expect:
If a teacher, editor or form sets a limit, check with the counter they use. Leave yourself a few words of room.
The tool assumes a reader reads 200 words per minute. It divides your word count by 200 and always rounds up. So even one word shows 1 min.
Real reading speed varies, so treat this as a rough guide.
The tool does not show speaking time. People speak more slowly than they read, so work it out with your own pace. Read one paragraph aloud, count the words, and time it. At 130 words per minute, for example, a 650-word speech takes about 5 minutes.
These were correct at the time of writing. Platforms change their rules, so check the current limit before you rely on it.
| Where | Limit | Which number to watch |
|---|---|---|
| X (Twitter) post | 280 characters for standard accounts | Characters |
| SMS text message | 160 characters per message, or 70 if it contains emoji or non-Latin letters. Longer messages are split into parts. | Characters |
| Google search snippet (meta description) | About 150–160 characters are usually shown. This is a guideline, not a hard limit. Google cuts by screen width. | Characters |
| Common App personal essay | 650 words maximum | Words |
Schools often give essay lengths with some room. A 1,500-word essay with 10% leeway means anything from 1,350 to 1,650 words. If the task says no more than, treat the number as a hard limit.
After 10 words, the tool shows a Flesch reading-ease score from 0 to 100. Higher means easier. It uses the standard formula: 206.835 − 1.015 × (words ÷ sentences) − 84.6 × (syllables ÷ words). Syllables are estimated by counting vowel groups in each word, so they are not always exact.
The score uses the sentence count, so a wrong sentence count changes it. Because dots after short forms are skipped, the Mr. Smith example above has 2 sentences and scores 88. Written as Mr Smith and 5 pm, it gives the same 2 sentences and the same 88.
After 5 words, the Top Keywords list shows up to 10 of your most used words, with the count and the share of all words. It skips words shorter than 3 letters and common words such as the, and and is. Punctuation and symbols are removed, but letters from any language are kept, so café stays café. Capital letters are ignored, so Time and time are counted together.
This tool finds words by looking for spaces. Chinese and Japanese do not put spaces between words, so a whole run of text without spaces counts as one word. 我喜欢学习中文。你呢？ shows 1 word and 11 characters. The marks 。 ！ and ？ do end a sentence, so the same text shows 2 sentences. For these languages, use the Characters and Sentences counts, which are correct. Ignore Words, Read Time and the readability score. The Top Keywords list will also show whole runs of text instead of single words.
Here is one sentence before and after:
For character limits, shorter words help as well. The same edit drops the count from 84 to 42 characters.
The tool divides your word count by 200 words per minute and rounds up to the next whole minute. So 150 words shows 1 min, 201 words shows 2 min, and 1,200 words shows 6 min. It does not show speaking time. To estimate that, divide the word count by your own speaking pace.
Yes. Characters counts everything in the box, including spaces, tabs and line breaks. No Spaces removes all of those. Each emoji counts as 1 character, so Hi 👋 there shows 10 characters.
A sentence ends at a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark that is followed by a space, a line break or the end of the text. A group such as ... or ?! counts once. Dots inside numbers, links and emails, such as 3.5, are skipped. The dot after common short forms such as Mr., Dr., etc. and e.g. is skipped too, and so is the dot after a single capital letter. Less common short forms, such as Jan., still add a sentence. Text with no sentence end counts as 1 sentence.
Each program has its own rules. This tool counts every group of characters between spaces or line breaks. So well-known and don’t are one word each, a link is one word, and a dash with spaces on both sides also counts as a word. Other programs may treat dashes, links or symbols differently.
Not the words. The tool finds words by spaces. Chinese and Japanese do not use spaces between words, so a whole run of text counts as one word. The Characters count is correct. The marks 。！？ end a sentence, so the Sentences count is correct too. Use those two counts for these languages.
It appears once you type 10 words. The tool uses the Flesch reading-ease formula, which is based on average words per sentence and average syllables per word, and shows a score from 0 to 100. Higher is easier. Syllables are estimated from vowel groups, so the score is a guide, not an exact number. A wrong sentence count, for example from a short form the tool does not know, also changes the score.