How are words counted?

Words are counted by splitting on whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines). Hyphenated words (well-being) count as one word. Contracted words (don't, it's) count as one word. Numbers (1,234) count as one word. An empty document counts as zero words.

What counts as a sentence?

Sentences are detected by counting punctuation marks that typically end sentences: periods, exclamation marks, and question marks. Abbreviations (Mr., Dr., etc.) can cause slight overcounting. This is a heuristic estimate — linguistic sentence detection is a complex NLP problem. The estimate is accurate enough for most practical purposes.

How is reading time estimated?

Reading time is estimated at 200 words per minute, which is the average silent reading speed for adults. Academic research typically uses 200–250 wpm for non-technical text. Technical or complex text is read slower. Silent reading, oral reading for scripts, and scanning have different rates — treat this as an approximation.

How many characters does Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and Instagram allow?

Twitter/X: 280 characters per tweet (premium accounts can post longer threads). LinkedIn: 3,000 characters for posts. Instagram captions: 2,200 characters (only 125 shown before "more"). Facebook posts: 63,206 characters. Meta descriptions for SEO: 155 characters. This word counter's character count matches what these platforms count.

Does the word counter count words the same way as Microsoft Word?

Almost identically. Word and most professional tools count words by splitting on whitespace. Minor differences exist for hyphenated words, numbers with special formatting, and text in tables or text boxes. For official submission purposes (academic papers, legal documents), verify against the submission system's own counter.

Word Counter — Count Words, Characters, and Reading Time

Paste any text and instantly see word count, character count (with and without spaces), sentence count, paragraph count, and estimated reading time based on a 200 words-per-minute average. Updates in real time as you type or paste. Useful for checking essay lengths, social media post limits, subtitle durations, and book chapter sizes. Nothing leaves your browser.

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Paste or type your text
Paste any text into the left area — an essay, blog post, social media caption, script, or any other content. Statistics update instantly in real time.
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Six statistics are shown: words, characters, characters without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, and estimated reading time. All update live as you edit.
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Click Copy to copy all statistics to clipboard as plain text — useful for including in a document or sharing with a client.
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Word Counter — Count Words, Characters, and Reading Time

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