Word & Character Counter
Paste or type your text to count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs instantly, with reading and speaking time, a character limit checker and your most repeated keywords. Your text never leaves the page.
Top keywords
| Word | Count | Density |
|---|
Common words like "the" and "and" are left out.
How it works
- Paste your textOr type directly; every number updates as you write.
- Check the countsWords, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and average word length.
- Set a limitEnter a character limit, or use a preset, to see how much room is left.
- Review keywordsThe top ten words (without common filler words) and how often they appear.
How words and characters are counted
A word is any run of letters or digits, including words joined by an apostrophe or hyphen, so "don't" and "well-known" each count once. This works for accented letters and non-Latin scripts too. Characters include every letter, space, punctuation mark and line break; emoji count as one character each. "Without spaces" removes spaces, tabs and line breaks.
Sentences are counted at full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and ellipses followed by a space or the end of the text. Abbreviations like "e.g." can add an extra sentence, so treat the sentence count as a close estimate. Paragraphs are blocks separated by a blank line.
Reading and speaking time
Reading time assumes 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for adults reading non-fiction in English found in a large 2019 review of reading studies. Speaking time assumes 150 words per minute, a comfortable pace for presentations and podcasts. Use them to size a blog post, a speech or a video script.
Common length limits
- Meta descriptions: about 150 to 160 characters before search engines cut them off.
- Posts on X: 280 characters for standard accounts.
- LinkedIn posts: 3,000 characters.
- SMS: 160 characters per message (70 if it contains emoji or non-Latin characters).
- College application essays: often 250 to 650 words.
Frequently asked questions
Is my text stored or sent anywhere?
No. Counting happens in your browser as you type. Nothing is uploaded or saved.
Why is my count different from Microsoft Word?
Programs differ on details such as hyphenated words, numbers and symbols like "&". Differences are usually one or two percent.
What is keyword density?
How often a word appears as a percentage of all words. Very high density for one word can read as repetitive; aim for natural variety.
Does it count Chinese or Japanese text?
Characters are counted correctly. Word counts for languages written without spaces are approximate, since words are not separated.