Word Counter Online
Count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs as you type or paste, with a selection counted on its own when you only need part of the text.
Browser tool
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Counts update as you type. Select part of the text to count only the selection.
Counts
Pasted text
About Word Counter
Words, characters, sentences and paragraphs counted as you type or paste, with a selection counted on its own — which is the feature you want when only one section has a limit to meet. Counting is free, needs no sign up, and happens online. Whatever you paste stays in the page and is never uploaded.
How to use Word Counter
- Type or paste the textEvery figure updates as you write, so there is no button to press and no stale count to mistrust.
- Select part of it for a partial countThe selection is counted separately, without losing the total.
- Check which count the limit refers toWords and characters are different limits, and character limits sometimes include spaces and sometimes do not.
Why two tools disagree about the word count
There is no single definition of a word. Hyphenated compounds may be one or two, numbers may or may not count, and em-dashes without spaces around them can join two words into one. A difference of a percent or so between tools is normal and not a defect in either. Where a limit is strict, count with whatever the assessor will use.
How each figure is counted
A word is a run of letters, digits or accents, so words in any script count; an apostrophe, hyphen or full stop inside a word keeps it whole, which makes don’t, e-mail and 3.5 one word each. Characters are counted as you see them, so an emoji or an accented letter counts once, with and without spaces. Paragraphs are separated by blank lines. Reading time assumes 238 words a minute and speaking time 150. You can also open a TXT or Markdown file of up to 10 MB.
What it does not do
- Sentence detection uses punctuation. Common abbreviations such as Mr, Dr, etc., e.g. and i.e. are recognised, but a less common one can still end a sentence early.
- Counting is done in your browser. Nothing you type is transmitted, which matters for unpublished writing.
Word Counter: questions people ask
- Why does my word processor give a different number?
- Because it defines a word slightly differently — usually around hyphenation, numbers and what counts as punctuation. A small discrepancy is expected; a large one usually means headers, footnotes or captions being included by one and not the other.
- Does the character count include spaces?
- Both figures are shown, because limits differ about it. Social platforms generally count every character including spaces; some academic limits exclude them.
- Can I count the words in a PDF?
- Not by uploading the PDF itself, because the upload accepts TXT and Markdown files only. Copy the text out of the PDF and paste it into the box instead; the Notes Formatter can repair the broken line breaks that a PDF copy often leaves behind.
Questions about ToolsVerse itself — privacy, cost, what happens to your files — are answered in the frequently asked questions.
Related tools
The tools people most often need alongside Word Counter.
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