Word counter
Paste your text and watch every count update as you type: words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading time and the words you overuse.
Guide
How to use it
- Type or paste into the box. Nothing is uploaded, so paste freely.
- Read the tiles: words first, then characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and both time estimates.
- Once you pass 20 words, the keyword density table shows your ten most used meaningful words.
- Editing to a limit? The counts update live as you cut.
Examples
Worked examples
Paste your draft: 512 words shows on the first tile, so you trim 12. Reading time about 2 min 9 sec, roughly 25 to 35 sentences for comfortable paragraph flow.
At 130 words per minute, 5 minutes is about 650 words. Write to the speaking time tile, not the word count, and you will not overrun.
The density table shows REALLY at 2.4% of a cover letter, eleven uses. Cut it to two and the letter reads twice as confident.
Method
How it works
Words are runs of characters separated by whitespace. Sentences are detected from ending punctuation, paragraphs from blank lines. Reading time divides your word count by 238 words per minute (the average adult silent reading speed in a 2019 meta-analysis) and speaking time uses 130, a comfortable presentation pace.
Keyword density strips punctuation, drops common function words like THE and AND, then counts what remains. All of it runs in your browser, so your text never leaves your device.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a word?
Any run of characters separated by spaces or line breaks. Hyphenated words count as one, and numbers count as words, which matches how most word processors count.
Why do different tools give slightly different counts?
They disagree on edge cases: hyphens, slashes, numbers and stray punctuation. Differences are usually under one per cent. For a strict limit, check with the tool the judge will use.
How is reading time calculated?
Words divided by 238 per minute, the average adult silent reading speed found in a large 2019 research review. Speaking time uses 130 words per minute, a comfortable presentation pace. The reading time page lets you set your own speed.
What is keyword density for?
It shows which words you lean on. Writers use it to catch repetition, and it flags accidental overuse of a term in a page you intend to publish.
Is my text stored anywhere?
No. Counting happens in your browser, the text is never transmitted and it disappears when you close the tab.
Is there a length limit?
No hard limit. Counts stay instant into hundreds of thousands of words; keyword density switches off on extremely long texts to keep typing smooth.
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