Free tool
Word counter
Type or paste into this free word counter to see the word count, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, reading and speaking time, and the words you use most, updated as you type.
- Free
- Counts as you type
- Nothing is uploaded
Words
0
- Characters
- 0
- Without spaces
- 0
- Sentences
- 0
- Paragraphs
- 0
- Reading time
- 0 s
- at 238 words a minute
- Speaking time
- 0 s
- at 130 words a minute
Set a limit (optional)
Most-used words
Words you use more than once appear here, without “the”, “and” and other common words.
Writing something long? Talking is quicker. NoteOwl’s free dictation types what you say into any app on your Mac, and keeps every dictation so nothing you said is lost.
How it works
How are words and characters counted?
A word is any run of letters or numbers with a space on each side, so “e-mail” is one word and a lone dash is none. Characters include spaces and punctuation; the second figure leaves out spaces and line breaks.
- 1
Add your text
Type straight into the box, or paste an essay, a cover letter, a post or a script. Counting happens in your browser as you go.
- 2
Read the counts
Words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, and how long the text takes to read and to say out loud.
- 3
Trim to a limit
Enter a word or character limit and the bar shows how much room is left, or how far over you are.
What counts as a word or a character?
Hyphenated words, numbers and times are one word each; punctuation on its own isn’t a word. Every space, letter and mark is a character, and an emoji counts as one, the way you see it. These are the counter’s own results:
- “Twenty-five people came.”
- Words3
- Characters24
- Without spaces22
- “Call me at 9:30 :)”
- Words4
- Characters18
- Without spaces14
- “New York, NY 10001”
- Words4
- Characters18
- Without spaces15
- “Café — open late”
- Words3
- Characters16
- Without spaces13
- “I ❤️ notes”
- Words2
- Characters9
- Without spaces7
| Text | Words | Characters | Without spaces |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Twenty-five people came.” | 3 | 24 | 22 |
| “Call me at 9:30 :)” | 4 | 18 | 14 |
| “New York, NY 10001” | 4 | 18 | 15 |
| “Café — open late” | 3 | 16 | 13 |
| “I ❤️ notes” | 2 | 9 | 7 |
How do you see the word count in Word, Google Docs or Pages?
Word shows it in the status bar, Google Docs under Tools → Word count, and Pages under View → Show Word Count. Paste here instead when you also want reading time, a limit or the words you repeat.
- 1
Microsoft Word
The count sits in the status bar at the bottom of the window. Review → Word Count adds characters, paragraphs and lines.
- 2
Google Docs
Tools → Word count, or ⌘⇧C on a Mac (Ctrl+Shift+C on Windows). Tick “Display word count while typing” to keep it on screen.
- 3
Pages on a Mac
View → Show Word Count puts the count at the bottom of the page; click it to switch to characters or paragraphs.
Can you write by talking instead of typing?
Yes, and it’s quicker: people talk at about 150 words a minute[1] and type at about 52[2]. On a Mac, NoteOwl’s free dictation types what you say into any app, unlimited, with the speech recognition on the Mac.
Then paste the draft here to check its length, or see how long it takes to read with the reading time calculator.
FAQ
Questions about counting words
How do I count the words in my text?
Paste the text into NoteOwl’s free word counter, or type straight into it. The word count appears at once and updates as you type, beside the characters, sentences, paragraphs and the time the text takes to read.
Are characters counted with spaces?
Both ways. You see characters with spaces and characters without them, which leaves out spaces, tabs and line breaks. An emoji or an accented letter counts as one character, the way you see it on screen.
How are sentences and paragraphs counted?
A sentence ends with a full stop, a question mark, an exclamation mark or an ellipsis; the counter doesn’t end one at “Dr.” or inside a number like 3.5. Every line with text on it counts as a paragraph.
Why is my count different from Microsoft Word’s?
Editors treat a few things differently, such as dashes between words, web addresses and numbers with spaces in them, so two counters can differ by a word or two in a long text. This counter counts the same way every time, so use one counter for a whole piece.
What does the list of most-used words show?
The list shows the words you repeat most, without common words like “the” and “and”, with how many times each appears and its share of all your words. It shows a word you lean on too often, or how often a keyword appears in a web page.
Is my text saved or uploaded?
No. The counting happens in your browser, and your text never leaves the page. Nothing is stored, so closing or reloading the tab clears it; copy your text somewhere safe first.
Sources
Last checked .
- [1]VirtualSpeech, Average speaking rate and words per minute — about 150 words a minute in American English conversation; presentations 100–150, citing the National Center for Voice and Speech
- [2]Dhakal, Feit, Kristensson and Oulasvirta, Aalto University, Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes (CHI 2018) — 168,000 volunteers copying sentences online: 51.56 words a minute on average (SD 20.2), the fastest 120 or more; uncorrected errors 1.17%; a word is any five characters
Keep exploring
More free tools
- Reading time calculatorHow long a text, a word count or a book takes to read silently, at the adult average of 238 words a minute or your own measured speed
- Typing testA 30-second to 5-minute typing test that scores words per minute and accuracy word by word, with how your speed compares
- Words per minute calculatorWork out typing speed (gross and net WPM) from words or characters and time, or a speaking rate from a talk or a timed read-aloud
- Speech time calculatorHow long a speech takes to say from its word count, at a slow, average or fast pace, and how many words fit in a set time
Related
- Free dictation into any appFree, unlimited speech to text in every app on your Mac: tap fn, talk, and the words type at your cursor; one tap polishes them in the right tone for that app
- Dictation on MacApple’s built-in Dictation on macOS 26: settings, shortcuts, fixes when it isn’t working, and when an app helps
- Export your notesExport meetings, dictations and notes as Markdown or PDF, imported transcripts as text or SRT, or everything as plain files; nothing is locked in
Write it by talking, free on your Mac
Free to download. Runs entirely on your Mac.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) · 16 GB memory minimum, 24 GB recommended
About NoteOwl
NoteOwl is private AI meeting notes and memory for the Mac. It captures meetings without a bot joining the call, labels every speaker, writes summaries and action items, and builds a memory of every conversation that you can chat with — fully offline, because the speech recognition and the AI run on the Mac itself. Dictation into any app is free; Pro is a one-time purchase.
NoteOwl pricing: what’s free and what Pro adds
Last updated