Word & Character Counter

Why word counts matter

Many tasks come with limits: essays and assignments (500 words), college application statements, job application answers, exam descriptive papers, social media posts, meta descriptions, SMS and ads. Staying within the limit shows you can follow instructions, and some forms simply cut off extra text.

What is counted

• Words: sequences of letters and numbers, including hyphenated words and contractions. Hindi and other Indian scripts are counted correctly, with matras kept inside their words.
• Characters: every character including spaces and line breaks, which is what most character-limited fields count.
• Characters without spaces: sometimes required by translators and publishers.
• Sentences: split at full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and the Hindi purna viram (।).
• Paragraphs: blocks separated by blank lines.
• Reading time: based on about 200 words per minute, a typical silent reading speed.

Common limits

Writing tips

If you’re over the limit, cut filler words (“very”, “really”, “in order to”), replace phrases with single words, and remove repeated points. If you’re under, add a specific example or result rather than padding.

Private

Your text is counted in your browser and never sent anywhere. For other text tasks, try the case converter or remove extra spaces.

Quick answers

Does it count numbers as words? Yes, “2026” counts as one word. Are hyphenated words one word? Yes, “well-known” counts as one. How are emojis counted? Each emoji counts as one character but not as a word. Does it save my text if I refresh? No, copy your text somewhere safe before closing or refreshing the page. Can I count words in a PDF? Copy the text from the PDF and paste it here.

Tip: paste final drafts here before submitting.