The six counts
The panel shows more than a word count, and each figure answers a different question:
- Words — runs of letters and numbers. A word with an internal apostrophe or hyphen still counts as one, so "state-of-the-art" is a single word and "don't" is a single word.
- Characters — every character in the text, spaces included.
- No spaces — the same count with whitespace removed. Useful for platforms that bill by the character.
- Sentences — the text is split on full stops, question marks and exclamation marks that are followed by a space or end the text.
- Paragraphs — the text is split on blank lines. A block of text with no empty line between the ideas reads as one paragraph, however many separate thoughts it contains.
- Lines — simply the number of line breaks in the text.
Where the time estimates come from
Reading time is calculated at 225 words per minute, the rate most publishing tools use for silent reading of general prose. Speaking time uses 130 words per minute, which leaves room for the pauses, the slide changes and the sentence you trip over.
Both are averages, and both move when the material does. Technical documentation with unfamiliar terms and code blocks reads closer to 150 words per minute. A first read aloud lands nearer 120. Light fiction can pass 250 without the reader noticing.
That is also why the reading estimate is worth treating as a label rather than a measurement. It tells a reader what to expect before they start, which is the job it is being used for.
The most-used words
The row of chips under the counts lists the words you repeat most, after two filters: words shorter than three letters are ignored, and common words such as "the", "and" or "with" are left out so the list shows something you can act on.
This is the fastest way to spot a draft that is circling the same idea. If a chip reads like the subject of the piece, it may be worth cutting a sentence or two around it.
How to use it
- Paste the draft into the text panel. The counts update on every keystroke, so you can watch them move while you cut.
- Read the two time figures as a sense of scale. The panel shows minutes and seconds — something like "3m 20s" to read and "5m 05s" to speak — and the two numbers tell you very different things about the same text.
- Scan the word chips and see whether anything is dominating the draft.
- Use the sentence and paragraph counts to sanity-check structure. A paragraph that reads as thirty sentences usually means the line breaks got mangled somewhere upstream, and the Word Counter & Reading Time tool is a quick way to notice.
- Fix those line breaks before you trust the counts. The Text Cleanup tool repairs the spacing, and the counts below it settle down.
Good to know
- Counts are computed in the browser, so the text is not sent anywhere.
- Characters are counted as they are typed, including the spaces you are about to delete. That is why the character figure often sits above what you expect.
- Sentence counting follows punctuation, not grammar. An abbreviation such as "e.g." followed by a space ends a sentence as far as the counter is concerned.
- The estimate is a fixed rate, not a measurement of your particular reader.