How To Count Words Calculator
A word count looks trivial until two tools disagree about the same paragraph. The number depends on what counts as a word, and every editor makes that decision slightly differently.
Words
39
- Characters
- 182
- Characters without spaces
- 144
- Sentences
- 2
- Paragraphs
- 1
- Reading time
- 12 sec
Words are split on whitespace, so hyphenated and CJK text is counted differently from space-separated English. Reading time assumes 200 words per minute.
The formula this calculator uses
reading time (minutes) = words / 200
- words
- Whitespace-separated tokens in the text
- wpm
- Reading speed, about 200 words per minute for adults
- time
- Estimated reading time in minutes
How to check the result by hand
- 1
Trim the leading and trailing whitespace
Spaces, tabs and newlines at the very start or end of the text would otherwise create an empty token and inflate the count by one.
- 2
Split on runs of whitespace
Break the text wherever one or more spaces, tabs or newlines appear together. A double space does not create an empty word.
- 3
Count the resulting tokens
The number of pieces is the word count. Punctuation stays attached to its token and never splits a word.
- 4
Count characters separately
Character count is a different metric. It includes spaces and punctuation, which is why a 39-word sample can be 182 characters long.
- 5
Derive the reading time
Divide the word count by 200 for silent reading, or by about 130 for reading aloud. Round up so a short text never reports zero minutes.
For worked examples, common mistakes and the limits of this formula, read the full How To Count Words page.