Word Counter

Words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and reading time

Text

Characters without spaces0
Characters with spaces0
Words0
Sentences0
Paragraphs0
Reading Time0m 0s

Word Counter guide

Essays, cover letters, meta descriptions, and social posts often come with a word or character limit. Type or paste your text and the Word Counter shows words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, and reading time as you type.

How each count works

  • Words: anything separated by spaces or line breaks, so well-known counts as one word.
  • Characters: every character including spaces and line breaks, plus a second count with all whitespace removed.
  • Sentences: counted by ending punctuation (. ! ?), so abbreviations such as e.g. can add to the count.
  • Paragraphs: blocks of text separated by a blank line.
  • Reading time: based on 200 words per minute, an average reading speed for adults.

Common limits

  • Google usually shows about 150 to 160 characters of a meta description.
  • A post on X (Twitter) allows 280 characters.
  • A single SMS holds 160 characters of plain text.

Emoji and special characters

Characters are counted the way the browser stores them, so some emoji and rare symbols count as two. Platforms count these differently, so leave a small margin when you are close to a limit.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Word Counter tool do?
The Word Counter tool analyzes your text and provides detailed statistics including word count, character count (with and without spaces), sentence count, paragraph count, and estimated reading time based on average reading speed.
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time is calculated based on an average reading speed of 200 words per minute. This gives you a realistic estimate of how long it would take to read your content aloud or silently.
Why use a Word Counter?
A Word Counter is essential for writers, students, and content creators who need to meet specific word or character limits for essays, articles, social media posts, or any content with length requirements.
What's the difference between characters with and without spaces?
Characters with spaces counts every character including spaces, tabs, and line breaks. Characters without spaces only counts visible characters, excluding all whitespace. Different platforms may have different character limits based on these counts.