Text tool / 01
Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, lines, and reading time as you type.
Word Counter: TOEA uses Unicode-aware word matching and simple punctuation and paragraph heuristics to calculate practical writing metrics. Runs 100% locally in your browser with zero server file uploads.
- Category
- Text tools
- Runs
- In your browser
- Cost
- Free · no sign-up
- Availability
- Ready to use
Runs entirely in your browser
Why word counts differ between tools
There is no single rule for what a word is. Tools disagree on hyphenated words, numbers, URLs, and words joined by slashes, so the same essay can differ by a few percent between Word, Google Docs, and this counter. When a limit is strict, count with the tool the reader will use.
For languages written without spaces, such as Chinese and Japanese, a word count means little; limits in those languages are set in characters, which the character counter measures.
Reading time and speaking time
The reading time here assumes 225 words a minute, a common figure for adults reading on screen. Speech is slower: 130–150 words a minute is typical for a presentation, so a five-minute talk is roughly 700 words. To rehearse a script at a steady pace, load it into the teleprompter.
How to use it
- Type or paste text into the editor.
- Read the live metrics below it.
- Revise the text and watch every count update instantly.
Privacy & limitations
The text remains in your browser and is not saved. Sentence and reading-time values are useful estimates, not linguistic analysis.
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Frequently asked questions
How is reading time calculated?
It uses an estimate of 225 words per minute, rounded up.
Are hyphenated words counted once?
Common hyphenated and apostrophe-containing word forms are counted as one word.
How are accented letters, ñ, and Spanish punctuation counted?
Letters from any alphabet count as word characters, so años and canción are one word each. The inverted marks ¿ and ¡ are punctuation, not letters, and never add a word. Sentences are split only at . ! and ?, so a question that opens with ¿ still counts as one sentence.
How are characters counted?
By Unicode code point: an accented letter is one character. Flags and some emoji are built from several code points and count as more than one.
Free tool · runs in your browser · no account required