Word Counter
Paste any text to instantly count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and estimated reading time.
I use this constantly when writing sermons and book chapters. Knowing the word count helps with time estimation, and the reading time estimate is useful for pacing sermon manuscripts. Most people read about 250 words per minute silently; speaking pace is closer to 120-150 words per minute depending on delivery style.
Speaking pace is roughly half of reading pace. A 1,500-word sermon manuscript takes about 10-12 minutes to deliver at a natural pace with pauses. Use the Sermon Time Estimator for speaking-specific calculation.
Word count across contexts
Word count norms by document type: tweet or social post (under 280 characters), email (50-200 words for most business communications), blog post (800-2,000 words), newspaper article (300-800 words), short story (1,000-10,000 words), novel (70,000-100,000 words), academic paper (3,000-8,000 words). These are conventions, not rules. The right length is whatever serves the purpose and audience.
Characters vs words for different purposes
Social media platforms limit by character count. SMS is 160 characters per segment (with additional segments billed separately for longer messages). SEO meta descriptions are ideally under 160 characters. Twitter/X counts 280 characters. URLs in posts count against character limits. Ad copy platforms (Google Ads, Meta) have tight character limits for headlines and descriptions. When character count matters, watch both total characters and characters without spaces.
Readability and sentence length
Average sentence length correlates with readability. Academic writing averages 20-25 words per sentence. Journalism targets 15-18 words. Conversational writing works best at 10-15 words. Very long sentences (over 30 words) are harder to parse. Variety in sentence length, mixing short punchy sentences with longer explanatory ones, produces better rhythm than uniform length regardless of average.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read X words?
Average adult silent reading speed is 200-300 words per minute, with 250 wpm as a common standard. Technical or dense material slows reading to 100-150 wpm. Pleasure reading of simple fiction can reach 300-400 wpm. This calculator uses 250 wpm for the estimate.
Do contractions count as one word or two?
Contractions count as one word in standard word counting conventions. "Don't" is one word. "I've" is one word. This matches how word processors like Microsoft Word count them.