Count words and characters as you type
Type or paste your text. The counts update as you go, and your text stays in your browser.
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How the word counter works
Words are runs of text between spaces or line breaks. Sentences end at a period, question mark, or exclamation point followed by a space, and text after the last one counts as a sentence too. Paragraphs are lines that contain text.
Use it to check an essay, application, or post against a word or character limit. Enter the limit, choose words or characters, and see how many are left or how far over you are. Character limits count spaces. Abbreviations such as Mr. or e.g. can add an extra sentence, so treat the sentence count as a close estimate.
Frequently asked questions
How does the word counter count words?
A word is any run of letters, numbers, or symbols between spaces or line breaks. Hyphenated words such as well-known and contractions such as don't each count as one word.
Do spaces count as characters?
Characters counts every letter, number, symbol, space, and line break. Characters without spaces leaves out spaces, tabs, and line breaks. An emoji counts as one character.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time divides the word count by 238 words a minute, the average silent reading speed for English non-fiction found in a 2019 review of 190 reading studies.
Is my text uploaded?
No. The word counter runs entirely in your browser. Your text is never sent anywhere.