How is reading time estimated?

Based on an average adult reading speed of 200 words per minute — your word count divided by 200, rounded up to the nearest minute.

How are words counted exactly?

Text is split on whitespace, so a "word" is any sequence of characters between spaces — hyphenated words and contractions each count as one word.

What's the difference between the two character counts?

"Characters" counts every character including spaces. "Characters (no spaces)" excludes whitespace, closer to how many platform character limits are actually measured.

How are paragraphs counted?

By splitting your text on blank lines, so each block of continuous text separated by an empty line counts as one paragraph.

Word Counter

Count words, characters, and reading time instantly.

Text & WritingLast updated August 2026

Words0

Characters0

Characters (no spaces)0

Sentences0

Paragraphs0

Reading time~1 min

How to use it

1Paste or type your text into the box.
2Counts update instantly as you type or edit.
3Read your word count, character counts, sentence and paragraph counts, and estimated reading time.

Supported formats & limits

No character limit — works with anything from a sentence to a full document.

Example

Type or paste any text into the box above and the word, character, sentence, and paragraph counts update immediately — try pasting a paragraph to see the reading time estimate.

How it works

Words are counted by splitting on whitespace, sentences by splitting on ., !, and ?, and paragraphs by splitting on line breaks. Reading time is estimated at 200 words per minute, a commonly used average adult reading speed.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

Wikipedia

Word count

How word counting is used in publishing, writing, and academia.