About Word Counter
A word counter tells you how many words your text contains, and this one updates the number on every keystroke. It is free, needs no sign-up and runs in your browser, so the essay, article or message you paste is never uploaded.
Beside the word count you get characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, lines, the longest word, the average word and sentence length, and a keyword density list for single words and two or three word phrases. Reading time uses 238 words per minute and speaking time uses 150, and the page estimate assumes 500 words per single-spaced page and 250 per double-spaced page.
Set a word goal and a bar shows how far you have come, and turns red when you go over. That is the quickest way to hit an essay limit, a 150-word abstract or a 60-second script.
How to use Word Counter
- Type in the box or paste your text. The counts update as you edit, with no button to press.
- Read the tiles above the box: words, characters, characters without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, reading time, speaking time and pages.
- Enter a number in Word goal to track a target. The bar shows the percentage, how many words are left, or how many you are over.
- Scroll to Keyword density and pick 1-word, 2-word or 3-word phrases. Leave Ignore common words ticked to hide filler such as "the" and "and".
- Edit your text and watch the numbers change. Use Clear to empty the box. Your text is kept in this browser so a reload does not lose it.
Features
- Live counts for words, characters, characters without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and lines.
- Reading time at 238 words per minute and speaking time at 150.
- Page estimate for single spacing (500 words a page) and double spacing (250).
- A word goal with a progress bar that turns red when you pass the target.
- Keyword density for 1, 2 and 3 word phrases, with an option to ignore common words.
- Longest word, average word length and average sentence length.
- Counts characters as people see them, so an emoji or a Bangla conjunct letter counts once.
- Handles Chinese, Japanese, Thai and other scripts written without spaces, and treats the Bangla danda as the end of a sentence.
- Text is saved in your browser only, so you can come back to it.
How the numbers are worked out
Reading time is words divided by 238, in minutes. Speaking time is words divided by 150. Pages are words divided by 500 for single spacing or by 250 for double spacing.
A word is a run of characters between spaces. A chunk with no letter or digit, such as a lone dash, is not counted. Dashes (en and em) also separate words.
reading seconds = round(words / 238 * 60)
speaking seconds = round(words / 150 * 60)
pages = words / 500 (single) words / 250 (double)Worked examples
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Is it well-known? Yes! It's a pangram. gives 16 words, 4 sentences, 83 characters; "well-known" and "It's" each count as one word
Hyphenated and apostrophe words stay whole, the same way Microsoft Word and Google Docs count them.
আমি বাংলায় গান গাই। তুমি কি শুনবে? gives 7 words, 2 sentences, 23 characters
The danda (।) ends a sentence, and each conjunct letter is one character.
Reading time, speaking time and pages by word count
| Words | Reading time | Speaking time | Pages (single) | Pages (double) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | 1 min 3 sec | 1 min 40 sec | 0.5 | 1 |
| 500 | 2 min 6 sec | 3 min 20 sec | 1 | 2 |
| 750 | 3 min 9 sec | 5 min | 1.5 | 3 |
| 1000 | 4 min 12 sec | 6 min 40 sec | 2 | 4 |
| 1500 | 6 min 18 sec | 10 min | 3 | 6 |
| 2000 | 8 min 24 sec | 13 min 20 sec | 4 | 8 |
| 3000 | 12 min 36 sec | 20 min | 6 | 12 |
| 5000 | 21 min 1 sec | 33 min 20 sec | 10 | 20 |
Good to know
Why two word counters can disagree
There is no single rule for what a word is. This counter splits on spaces and dashes and keeps hyphens and apostrophes inside a word, so "mother-in-law" is one word and "cat-dog" is one, while two words joined by an em dash are counted as two. Other tools split at every hyphen and give a higher number.
Numbers count as words, and so do things like "3.5" and "$20". A bare symbol with no letter or digit, such as "&" on its own, does not. If a teacher or a publisher sets a limit, check which tool they use. A gap of a few words on an essay is normal.
Sentences are split on a full stop, question mark, exclamation mark, ellipsis or danda that is followed by a space. An abbreviation such as "Dr. Smith" therefore counts as two sentences. Words and characters are unaffected.
What the keyword density list shows
For each word or phrase the list gives how many times it appears and what share of all phrases of that size it makes up. Single words appear once they occur at all, and 2 and 3 word phrases only once they repeat. The top ten are shown.
Ignore common words hides phrases that start or end with a word from a built-in English and Bangla list, which is why "of the" does not crowd the top. It is a writing aid, not a ranking target: repeating a phrase to raise its percentage does not make text better.
Privacy: how it works
- The counting runs in your browser tab. Your text is not sent to Ulkaa or to any other server.
- The text box is saved to your browser local storage so a refresh does not wipe it. That copy stays on your device. Press Clear, or clear site data, to remove it.
Tips
- Count only what the limit counts. If an essay limit excludes the title, references or a bibliography, delete them from the box first.
- Aim a little under a hard word limit, because a different tool may count a few more.
- For a spoken piece, use the speaking time and read the text aloud once. Pauses, slides and questions make real talks longer than the number shows.
- Use the 2-word and 3-word keyword views to spot a phrase you repeat without meaning to.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free?
Yes. There is no price, no trial and no credit card. Ulkaa Tool does the work with your own device, so there is no server bill to pass on to you.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no sign-up and no login. Open the page and use it. An Ulkaa account is not needed for anything on this tool.
Does it run in my browser?
Yes. Your text are processed by code running in your browser tab, on your own device.
Is my data uploaded?
No. Your text are never sent to Ulkaa or to anyone else. You can check this yourself by watching the Network tab in your browser developer tools while you use the tool.
How does a word counter count words?
It splits the text where there is white space or a dash and counts each piece that contains a letter or a digit. Punctuation attached to a word is ignored, and a hyphenated word counts as one.
How many words is a page?
About 500 words for a single-spaced page and 250 for a double-spaced page in a 12 point font with standard margins. Font, size and margins change this, so treat it as an estimate.
How long does it take to read 1,000 words?
At 238 words per minute, 1,000 words takes about 4 min 12 sec. Slow readers and technical text take longer.
How many words is a 5 minute speech?
At 150 words per minute, 5 minutes is about 750 words. A slower, deliberate delivery is nearer 120 words per minute, which gives about 600.
Does a hyphenated word count as one word?
Yes. "Well-known" and "mother-in-law" each count as one word here, as they do in Word and Google Docs. A dash with spaces around it is not a word.
Do spaces count in the character count?
The Characters tile includes spaces and line breaks. The No spaces tile leaves out every space, tab and line break.
Can it count the words in just part of a text?
There is no selection mode. Paste only the part you want to count into the box and the numbers refer to that part.
Does it work for Bangla and other languages?
Yes for the counting itself. Bangla words are separated by spaces, the danda ends a sentence, and Chinese, Japanese and Thai text is split into words by the browser. The keyword list also knows common Bangla words. Reading and speaking time use English rates, so treat them as rough for other languages.
Popular Word Counter pages
- Essay Word CounterPaste your essay, set the word limit and see how many words you have left.
- Words to Pages ConverterPaste your text to see how many pages it fills, or use the table to convert a word count.
- How Many Pages Is 500 Words?See how 500 words fits on a page, then count your own text.
- How Many Pages Is 1000 Words?See how many pages 1000 words fills, then count your own text.
- Sentence CounterPaste your text to count its sentences and see the average sentence length.
- Paragraph CounterPaste your text to count paragraphs, lines, sentences and words.
- Reading Time CalculatorPaste your text to see how many minutes it takes to read.
- Speaking Time CalculatorPaste your speech or script to see how long it takes to say.