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Word & Character Counter

Count words, characters, sentences, and reading time as you type.

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Words
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Characters
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Characters (no spaces)
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Sentences
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Paragraphs
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Reading time

What this tool does

Counts words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs as you type, and estimates reading time — useful for hitting an essay or assignment word count, staying under a character limit for a bio or meta description, or checking how long a piece will take someone to read.

Every count updates live as you type, entirely in your browser — nothing you write is sent anywhere.

How to use this tool

1Type directly in the box, or paste text in from a document or email.
2Watch the word, character, sentence, and paragraph counts update as you go.
3Use "Characters (no spaces)" when a platform's limit ignores whitespace, and the plain character count when it doesn't.
4Check the reading-time estimate to see how long the piece takes at an average pace.

How each number is counted

  • Words — runs of characters separated by any whitespace. A hyphenated term like “well-known” counts as one word; “New York” counts as two.
  • Characters — every character including spaces, punctuation, and line breaks. The no-spaces figure strips all whitespace.
  • Sentences — text split on ., !, and ?. Abbreviations like “e.g.” can occasionally inflate this by one.
  • Paragraphs — blocks of text separated by one or more blank lines.
  • Reading time — words divided by 200, the average adult silent-reading speed. Read-aloud speed is closer to 130–150 wpm.

For social and ad platforms, the character count is what matters — and note that many count an emoji as two characters, while this tool counts it as one.

FAQ

Does this match Microsoft Word's word count exactly?
It's usually within a word or two. Both split on whitespace, but tools handle edge cases like hyphenated compounds, numbers with separators, and text in tables or footnotes differently.
Does it count words as I type, or only when I stop?
Live, on every keystroke. There's no button to press and nothing to wait for.
What counts as a word for a minimum word count?
Most instructors and platforms count the same way this tool does — whitespace-separated tokens — but some exclude the title, headings, references, or quoted material. Check the specific requirement.
How is reading time worked out?
Word count divided by 200 words per minute, rounded up to at least one minute. It's an estimate for average silent reading; dense or technical text reads slower.
Is my text stored or sent anywhere?
No. Counting happens entirely in your browser as you type — nothing is uploaded, and nothing is kept once you close the page.

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