Word Counter & Reading Time Calculator
Paste text, upload a .txt or .docx file, or type your text to count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs. The calculator updates instantly and converts the current word count into reading time and speaking time using the speed profiles below.
Supports .txt and .docx files up to 10 MB.
Your text is processed in your browser. The tool does not save or send the text you enter.
What the Word Counter Shows
The tool counts total words, all characters, characters excluding whitespace, sentences, and paragraphs. It also estimates reading time and speaking time from the current word count.
Reading speed defaults to 238 words per minute. Speaking speed defaults to 140 words per minute. You can switch either control to slow, average, or fast without re-entering the text.
Convert Word Count to Minutes
Use the Reading Time and Speaking Time cards when you need a words-to-minutes estimate for a draft, article, script, or speech. Once your text is in the box, the current word count is converted into time estimates automatically.
The speaking estimate is useful for planning presentations and voice-over scripts. The reading estimate is useful for articles, study notes, essays, and any text where readers need a quick time expectation.
Reading Time by Word Count
Use these fixed word-count estimates when you need a quick answer before pasting your own text into the calculator.
About 26 seconds at the default average reading speed.
About 1 min 4 secs at the default average reading speed.
About 2 mins 7 secs at the default average reading speed.
About 3 mins 10 secs at the default average reading speed.
About 4 mins 13 secs at the default average reading speed.
About 6 mins 19 secs at the default average reading speed.
About 8 mins 25 secs at the default average reading speed.
About 12 mins 37 secs at the default average reading speed.
About 21 mins 1 sec at the default average reading speed.
About 42 mins 2 secs at the default average reading speed.
Speech Length by Minutes
For scripts, talks, and voice-over drafts, these estimates use the default average speaking speed of 140 words per minute.
About 700 words at average speaking speed.
About 1400 words at average speaking speed.
About 2100 words at average speaking speed.
About 2800 words at average speaking speed.
About 4200 words at average speaking speed.
Reading and Speaking Speeds
Slow: 175 WPM. Average: 238 WPM. Fast: 300 WPM.
Slow: 110 WPM. Average: 140 WPM. Fast: 170 WPM.
The estimates are rounded to plain time labels such as 45 seconds, 1 min, 2 mins, 5 mins 30 secs, or 1 hr 5 mins.