Word counter

Paste any text to instantly count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs. Ideal for writers, students and anyone working to a word limit.

Word and character count
Characters excluding spaces
Sentence and paragraph count
Estimated reading time

0 words

0 characters

0 chars (no spaces)

0 sentences

0 paragraphs

0 min read

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Word count targets by content type

Different types of content have very different word count expectations. Here are the benchmarks most writers and SEO professionals use:

Content type	Typical word count
Tweet / X post	Up to 280 characters
LinkedIn post	150–300 words
Email newsletter	200–500 words
Short blog post	500–800 words
Standard blog post	1,000–1,500 words
In-depth article / guide	1,500–3,000 words
University essay (standard)	1,500–3,000 words
Long-form SEO content	2,000–4,000 words
Novel	80,000–100,000 words

How reading time is estimated

The reading time estimate is based on an average adult reading speed of 200 words per minute — the commonly cited baseline for screen reading. Silent reading of printed text is often faster (250–300 wpm), but screen reading is slightly slower due to reduced contrast and more frequent pauses. For specialist or technical content, actual reading time will be longer than the estimate shown.

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Frequently asked questions

Does it count hyphenated words as one or two?

Hyphenated words (e.g. "well-known") are counted as one word, consistent with Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

How is sentence count calculated?

Sentences are split on full stops, exclamation marks, and question marks. Multiple consecutive punctuation marks (e.g. "...") are counted as one sentence boundary.

How is paragraph count calculated?

A paragraph is defined as a block of text separated by a blank line. Single line breaks without a blank line between them are treated as the same paragraph.

What is the Twitter / X character limit?

The standard character limit for a post on X (formerly Twitter) is 280 characters. The character count shown in this tool includes spaces, which X does count toward the limit.

Does the word count include numbers?

Yes. Any sequence of non-whitespace characters is counted as a word, including numbers, dates, and codes. This matches how Microsoft Word counts.

How accurate is the reading time estimate?

It is an estimate based on 200 words per minute, which is the standard benchmark for screen reading. Technical documents, academic papers, or texts with unfamiliar vocabulary will take longer than the estimate.

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