Daily · Free tool
Word Counter
Paste any text — get word count, character count (with and without spaces), sentence count, paragraph count, and estimated reading / speaking time.
How counts and times are computed
Words are non-whitespace runs separated by spaces, tabs or newlines — Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Marathi are counted the same way using Unicode segmentation. Reading time assumes 230 words per minute (adult silent reading), and speaking time assumes 130 wpm (a natural Hindi/English speech rate). Sentences are bounded by ., ?, ! or the Devanagari purna viram ।.
Worked example
A UPSC Mains 250-word answer takes roughly 65 seconds to read silently and 1 min 55 sec to deliver as a speech. A typical 1,500-word SOP for a US master's programme reads in about 6.5 minutes — a useful sanity check against the “under 2 pages” rule of thumb. A 280-character Twitter post is about 40–50 words, well under the 15-second skim threshold.
When to use this
- UPSC, CAT or board exam answer drafting where word limits are hard caps
- SOP / LOR drafts for higher-studies applications (usually 800–1,500 words)
- Blog posts, newsletters and LinkedIn essays — reading time helps engagement
- Voiceover scripts where a fixed runtime in seconds is required
For numeric utilities, see lakh / crore converter or the rupees-in-words tool used for cheques and invoices.
FAQ
Why does word count matter?
Essays, applications, content writing — most have word/character limits. UPSC essay: 1000-1200 words. SOPs for foreign universities: typically 500-1000.
Words vs characters?
Words: separated by spaces. Characters: every keystroke (with or without spaces). Twitter uses chars (280); Indian SMS uses chars (160 per pulse).
Does it count formatting?
Plain text only. Markdown / HTML / formatting commands are stripped before counting.