Tool workspace
Words0
Characters with spaces0
Characters without spaces0
Sentences0
Paragraphs0
Reading time0
Free Word Counter Online
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and estimated reading time from one pasted draft. The page states the counting assumptions so the numbers can be checked before they are used for a submission limit.
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What this tool is for
Count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and estimated reading time from one pasted draft. The page states the counting assumptions so the numbers can be checked before they are used for a submission limit.
How to use
- Paste the complete draft, including the paragraph breaks you want counted.
- Compare word and character totals with the limit that applies to your form or publication.
- Edit the draft in place and recheck the live totals before copying it elsewhere.
Example
Paste a 250-word application statement and trim it until both the word total and the character total fit the form's published limits.
FAQ
What counts as a word?
The tool splits text on whitespace. Hyphenated terms and contractions remain one token unless spaces separate them.
Why can another editor show a different sentence count?
Sentence detection is heuristic. Abbreviations and unusual punctuation can produce different results in different editors.
Reproducible examples
Known inputs and expected results
Run these examples in the workspace above and compare the result with the documented output.
Punctuation and paragraph breaks
- Input
- One two. Three!
- Options
- Use the default 200
WPMestimate. - Action
- Paste the text and read the live counters.
- Expected output
- 3 words, 17 characters with spaces, 13 without whitespace, 2 sentences, and 2 paragraphs.
- Explanation
- Repeated spaces do not create words; the blank line separates paragraphs and punctuation supplies two heuristic sentence boundaries.
Contractions, hyphens, and emoji
- Input
- Don't re-enter 🚀 next
- Options
- Keep the text exactly as written.
- Action
- Compare the word and character counters before editing.
- Expected output
- 3 word tokens; the contraction and hyphenated term each remain one token, next is one token, and the emoji is not counted as a word.
- Explanation
- The word rule recognizes Unicode letters and numbers with internal apostrophes or hyphens; emoji still contributes to character counts.
Error or unsupported case
Official submission counts
- Input
- A legal filing with a regulator-specific word limit
- Expected error or limit
- The page can calculate its own heuristic total but cannot certify the regulator's counting method.
- Safer alternative
- Use the regulator's validator or the receiving submission system for the official count.
When not to use this tool
- Certified legal, academic, or platform-specific counting rules
- Linguistic tokenization for scripts that do not use spaces
Algorithm and assumptions
Words are non-empty whitespace-delimited tokens; sentence count uses terminal punctuation; paragraphs are non-empty newline groups; reading time divides the word total by the displayed WPM.
Input and output
Input is plain text. Output is six live counts; the tool does not rewrite, summarize, or judge the text.
Supported formats and behavior
- Unicode text and multiline paragraphs
- Counts with and without spaces
- Reading-time estimate based on the displayed words-per-minute assumption
Limits
- Sentence boundaries are estimated from punctuation
- The reading-time value is a planning estimate, not an accessibility measurement
Edge cases and common errors
- Empty input returns zero for every count
- Repeated spaces do not create extra words
- Emoji count as characters, and may use more than one Unicode code point
Release testing
Release checks cover empty text, repeated whitespace, punctuation, multiline text, and a known four-word sample.
Privacy boundary
The input and result stay in this browser session. ZZP Box does not upload or store the values entered in this tool.
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