Need to count the words in an essay, article, email, or social media post? Use this free online word counter to quickly check your word count and other useful text statistics. Simply type or paste your text into the tool to see your results instantly.
Our word counter helps you check the number of words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in your text. You can also estimate reading and speaking time, review average word length, and find frequently repeated words.
Most-used words
Repeated words will appear here.
How to Use the Word Counter
Using this online word counter is simple:
- Enter your text: Type directly into the text box or paste text from a document, email, or website.
- Check your word count: The tool updates your statistics as you type.
- Review character and sentence counts: See additional information about your text.
- Check reading and speaking time: View an estimated time based on the amount of text.
- Copy or clear your text: Use the available buttons to copy your text or start a new count.
You do not need to create an account to use the tool.
What Does This Word Counter Measure?
The tool provides several text statistics to help you understand the length and structure of your writing.
Word Count
The word counter estimates the number of words in your text. This can help when writing essays, blog posts, reports, assignments, and other content with a word limit.
Character Count
Check how many characters your text contains, including spaces and punctuation. Character counts can be useful for short descriptions, social media posts, forms, and writing tasks with character limits.
Characters Without Spaces
This count shows the number of characters after whitespace is removed. It can help you compare text length when spaces should not be included.
Sentence Count
The sentence counter estimates how many sentences appear in your text by identifying common sentence-ending punctuation, such as periods, question marks, and exclamation marks.
Paragraph Count
The paragraph counter identifies blocks of text separated by blank lines. Use it to review the structure of an article, essay, or other written content.
Reading Time
The tool estimates how long it may take to read your text using the selected reading speed. You can choose a reading speed or enter a custom words-per-minute value.
Reading time is an estimate. Actual reading speed varies depending on the reader, subject, vocabulary, and text difficulty.
Speaking Time
The speaking-time estimate uses an approximate speaking pace of 130 words per minute. It can help you plan a presentation, speech, or narration.
Average Word Length
The tool calculates the average number of letters and numbers in recognized words. This gives you a simple overview of word length, but it is not a complete measure of readability.
Most-Used Words
The tool also displays frequently repeated words in your text. This can help you notice repetition and decide whether some wording could be improved.
Why Use an Online Word Counter?
Word limits and text length matter in many writing situations. A word counter can help you:
- Write essays and assignments: Check whether your work meets a required word range.
- Create blog posts: Monitor article length while drafting or editing.
- Prepare emails: Review the length of professional or personal messages.
- Plan speeches: Estimate how much time your written script may take to deliver.
- Edit website content: Review word counts, sentence counts, and paragraph structure.
- Check short-form content: Count characters when working with text limits.
A word count is only one part of good writing. Clear organization, accurate information, and useful content are also important.
Word Count vs. Character Count
Word count and character count measure different things.
A word count estimates how many words are in a text. A character count measures individual characters, including letters, numbers, punctuation, and spaces.
For example, the sentence:
“Writing clearly helps readers.”
contains four words. Its character count is higher because it includes letters, spaces, and punctuation.
Different tools may treat hyphenated words, contractions, numbers, and punctuation differently. If you are writing for a school, publisher, or platform with strict requirements, check its counting rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this word counter free?
Yes. You can use the word counter on this page without paying or creating an account.
How do I count words online?
Paste or type your text into the input box. The tool automatically updates the word count and other text statistics.
Does the tool count characters with spaces?
Yes. It displays both the total character count and a separate count with whitespace removed.
Can I use this tool to count words in an essay?
Yes. You can paste your essay into the tool to check its approximate word count, characters, sentences, and paragraphs.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time is estimated using the word count and your selected reading speed in words per minute. The result may differ from your actual reading time.
Does the word counter save my text?
The tool processes the text in your browser and does not need to send it to a server for counting. Avoid entering sensitive information into any online tool unless you are comfortable with its privacy practices.
Can I count words on my phone?
Yes. The word counter is designed to work on mobile devices as well as desktop computers. You can type or paste text into the input box and view the results.
Count Your Words Instantly
Use the free online word counter whenever you need to check the length of your writing. Count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs, estimate reading and speaking time, and review repeated words all in one place.
Enter your text above to get started.