# Word counter and reading time calculator

> Word counter: words, characters with and without spaces, sentences and paragraphs, plus reading time at 238 wpm and speaking time at 150 wpm.

Interactive version: https://www.calcopenly.com/everyday/word-count-and-reading-time
Subject: Everyday calculators

The counter splits the text at spaces, and any run that contains a letter or digit is a word, so "well-known" counts once and a lone dash not at all. Characters are counted with and without spaces, a sentence ends at . ! ? or …, and each non-empty line is a paragraph. Reading and speaking times are the word count divided by a words-per-minute rate.

The default rates are 238 words a minute for silent reading, the average for English non-fiction in Brysbaert's 2019 review of 190 studies, and 150 words a minute for speech, the US average given by the National Center for Voice and Speech. The sample text has 41 words: about 10 seconds to read and 16 seconds to say aloud.

Other tools treat dashes, slashes and web addresses differently, so their totals can differ by a few words. The chart marks sentences longer than 25 words.

## Inputs

- **Text**
- **Reading speed**: 238 words a minute is the average silent reading rate for English non-fiction (Brysbaert, 2019).
- **Speaking speed**: About 150 words a minute is typical conversational English (National Center for Voice and Speech).

## Results

- Words — main result
- Characters (with spaces)
- Characters (without spaces)
- Sentences
- Paragraphs
- Reading time
- Speaking time
- Average words per sentence

## Formula

$$
\begin{gathered}t_{\text{read}} = \frac{\text{words}}{\text{reading wpm}}\ \text{min} \\ t_{\text{speak}} = \frac{\text{words}}{\text{speaking wpm}}\ \text{min}\end{gathered}
$$

## Worked examples

### Default two-paragraph text

- Text: Measure twice, cut once. The old carpenter's rule applies to writing too: pla…
- **Words: 41**
- **Characters (with spaces): 234**
- **Characters (without spaces): 195**
- **Sentences: 4**
- **Paragraphs: 2**
- **Reading time: 10.33 s**
- **Speaking time: 16.4 s**
- **Average words per sentence: 10.3**
- Checked against: Python 3.8 re/str implementation of the same counting rules: 41 words; 41/238 × 60 s

### Two words, no end punctuation

- Text: Hello world
- Reading speed: 120 words/min
- Speaking speed: 60 words/min
- **Words: 2**
- **Characters (with spaces): 11**
- **Characters (without spaces): 10**
- **Sentences: 1**
- **Reading time: 1 s**
- **Speaking time: 2 s**
- Checked against: Hand count; 2/120 min = 1 s, 2/60 min = 2 s

### Accents, a dash, a hyphenated word and double spaces

- Text: Café au lait — a well-known  drink! / Is it naïve? Yes.
- **Words: 10**
- **Characters (with spaces): 52**
- **Characters (without spaces): 42**
- **Sentences: 3**
- **Paragraphs: 2**
- Checked against: Python 3.8 str.split/isalnum count: the lone dash is not a word, well-known is one

### Quotes, ellipsis and brackets end sentences

- Text: She said "Stop." Then she left… Really?! (Yes.) End
- **Words: 9**
- **Sentences: 5**
- Checked against: Python 3.8 re.split on [.!?…] plus closing quote/bracket and whitespace

## Questions

### How long does it take to read 1,000 words?

About 4 minutes 12 seconds at 238 words a minute, the average adult silent reading rate for English non-fiction in Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies. Most adults read non-fiction at 175–300 words a minute, so the same text takes between 3 minutes 20 seconds and 5 minutes 43 seconds; fiction averages 260 words a minute.

### How many words is a 5-minute speech?

About 750 words at 150 words a minute, the average speaking rate for US English given by the National Center for Voice and Speech. Reading a script aloud averages 183 words a minute (Brysbaert, 2019), so 5 minutes of reading aloud covers about 915 words. Pauses for slides, questions or applause reduce the word budget.

### Do spaces count as characters?

In "characters with spaces", yes: every letter, digit, punctuation mark and space counts, but line breaks do not. "Characters without spaces" leaves out all whitespace. The default text has 234 characters with spaces and 195 without, so check which of the two a length limit refers to before trimming.

### What counts as a word?

Any run of characters between spaces that contains at least one letter or digit. "Well-known" and "don't" are one word each, "2026" is one word, and a standalone dash or bullet is none. "Café au lait — a well-known drink!" therefore counts as 6 words. Word processors can differ by a few words on dashes, slashes and web addresses.

### How accurate is the word counter and reading time calculator?

Accuracy depends on your inputs and the method's assumptions. Decimal arithmetic uses 50 significant digits, but estimates, numerical methods and source data can be less precise; the displayed rounding does not remove those limits. It is checked against 4 worked examples whose answers come from independent sources; for example, “Default two-paragraph text” is checked against Python 3.8 re/str implementation of the same counting rules: 41 words; 41/238 × 60 s.

### Where does the method come from?

Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? Journal of Memory and Language 109, 104047; National Center for Voice and Speech — speaking rate.

## Sources

- [Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? Journal of Memory and Language 109, 104047](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047)
- [National Center for Voice and Speech — speaking rate](https://ncvs.org/)