Word & Character Counter

Any run of characters separated by whitespace counts as one word, which is how word processors do it. Hyphenated compounds count as one word, an em dash between two words does not join them, and numbers count. Different tools disagree by a percent or two on the same text, so treat a word count as a close approximation rather than an exact figure.

One includes spaces and one does not. Publishers and university word limits usually mean characters including spaces; some ad platforms and older database fields count only the visible characters. The distinction routinely decides whether a piece fits.

At 238 words per minute, the average adult silent reading speed for non-technical prose established by Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies. Technical or unfamiliar material runs considerably slower, so treat the estimate as a floor rather than a target.

It shows which words dominate your text after common words are filtered out — useful for spotting unintentional repetition. It is not an SEO target. Writing to hit a density percentage produces text that reads badly and has not helped rankings for well over a decade.