Word Counter

Count words, characters, lines, and estimated reading time

Runs in your browserUtility05Text & Diff

What is Word Counter?

A word counter instantly reports the character count, characters excluding spaces, CJK character count, word count, line count, and paragraph count for a piece of text, and estimates reading time from typical reading speeds. Counting happens inside the browser and the text is never uploaded.

How to use Word Counter

  1. 1Paste your text into the input box.
  2. 2Read the statistics; words and CJK characters are counted separately.
  3. 3Use the reading-time estimate to keep your copy within a target length.
  4. 4Every figure updates as you type — there is no button to press.

Frequently asked questions

How are words and characters counted?+

Words are split on whitespace, so anything between two spaces counts as one word. CJK text has no spaces between characters, so those are counted individually against the Unicode CJK Unified Ideographs ranges. Mixed text therefore gets both a word count and a CJK character count instead of one number that would misrepresent its length.

How is the reading time calculated?+

From common reading speeds — roughly 200 words per minute for English and about 300 characters per minute for CJK text — so treat it as a rough guide. Technical documentation and anything containing code is read considerably more slowly than that.

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