Word Counter: Everything You Need to Know About This Powerful Tool
In this video, I explain how to use Twaino’s word and character counter. A free online tool.
Manually, it is very difficult and tedious to accurately assess the number of words or characters in a text. This task becomes very time-consuming for a document of several pages. However, it sometimes proves essential to know the number of words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, for several reasons. This is the case, for example, for certain professionals such as web writers or journalists who are often paid on this basis, as well as for students who must submit a thesis or assignment with a minimum number of pages required to validate their exams. Thus, limits are sometimes imposed for documents such as essays, theses, cover letters, dissertations and many others. Furthermore, social networks set a character limit for publications, for example 250 for Facebook and 280 for Twitter. Therefore, it is very important to have an effective solution to easily and quickly know the number of letters, words, characters in a text or web page.
Several tools have been created for this purpose, but one of the most powerful is: the online word counter. In addition to counting words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, this tool sometimes evaluates silent and oral reading time. It can therefore be very useful for both writing and preparing a speech. For perfect mastery of this system, I give you all the useful information accompanied by a few practical examples.
Twaino’s Free Online Word and Web Page Counter
There are several online counters that are completely free. The one from SEO agency Twaino is also, and you therefore have no subscription or fees to pay to benefit from its two different counters:
- a word counter;
- a web page counter.
Word Counting
The Twaino word counter provides instantly several pieces of data without you having to press a button. These are:
- the number of words;
- the number of characters;
- the number of paragraphs;
- reading time;
- speaking time;
- word density, with the five words that appeared most in the text.
To get this information, you simply need to enter your text directly in the designated field or do a simple copy-paste in the same field.
This copy can be made from any word processing software, as mentioned in the chapter on how word counters work.
Also note that the tool performs the calculation almost instantly and you have no other action to take.
Furthermore, the Twaino word counter makes no distinction between languages and you therefore have reliable statistics even for text in English, Spanish, Portuguese…
The Web Page Counter
This counter works in a slightly different way, although the results provided are the same.
Indeed, it also allows you to know exactly for a web page:
- the number of words;
- the number of characters;
- the number of paragraphs;
- reading time;
- speaking time;
- word density, with the five words that appeared most often in the text.
To use it, you must have the URL or link of the web page you want to analyze. This is usually in the form “https://…………./” such as “https://www.twaino.com/blog/” which leads directly to the “Blog” page of the Twaino.com website.
Once you have retrieved the page link, you must paste it in the designated area. Then click the “Count” button and the interface displays all the statistics you need.
Rating that you do not need to be the owner of the website and that you can get statistics for any website.
Twaino’s Free Online Counter: A Very Effective Tool
Twaino’s free online counter is a tool designed for both professionals such as webmasters, community managers, web and print writers, writers, translators, and anyone wishing to control the length of their text.
Furthermore, you get other types of information such as density, reading time and speaking time. Better yet, the second counter allows you to get the same data for a web page, thanks to its URL alone.
My Twaino counter is obviously not the only one to evaluate the number of words or characters in your texts, since there are already several word processing software that offer this functionality.
What is a Word Counter?
Writing is an activity that involves many rules to follow. It requires in particular a good sense of analysis, a good understanding of the subject matter, concentration and a good ability to express ideas clearly.
This understanding will be formalized in particular in the layout which includes the size, font, line spacing, layout and number of words or characters in the text.
Out of simple curiosity or to precisely follow imposed rules, you may need to know the length of a text. For example, you may have a limit to respect, such as for social media posts, or you may need to establish billing per word/character, as journalists or web writers do.
Know the Exact Number of Words and Avoid Guessing
In these circumstances, it is crucial to closely monitor the number of characters or words during writing. Otherwise you risk not following the instructions given, which can lead to disqualification of your work. You can also waste a lot of time by far exceeding the required limit or falling well short.
Follow Imposed Guidelines and Save Time
If you have a 1,000-word text to write and you exceed this limit, you will waste time at two levels. First, by exceeding the required limit and second, by having to delete certain parts of your text afterwards.
Furthermore, if you fall short of the required limit, you will be forced to redo some research. You may thus be led to return to pages you had already visited to find other information that will flesh out your text.
In either situation, you will waste precious time that could have been used for something else. To avoid these mishaps, I invite you to use a counter, which is by far the best solution since it often goes beyond simply determining the number of words or characters.
What Information Does a Word Counter Provide?
In addition to the number of words and characters, a word counter can help you determine for a text or web page the following information:
- the number of characters;
- the number of lines;
- the number of paragraphs;
- word density;
- silent reading time;
- aloud reading time.
The Number of Characters
The notions of character and sign are sometimes confused, but there is indeed a subtle difference between the two. Indeed, the character is considered the basic element of a writing system and includes letters, punctuation, numbers…
In reality, note that a space (in the feminine, when it comes to typography!) between two words is also often considered a character. This means that you will in principle have two pieces of information: the number of characters and the number of characters “including spaces”.
Moreover, it is the latter that is generally taken into account for social media limitations and certain software, which is the case in our tool.
In addition to its subheading, this subsection contains exactly 804 characters with spaces.
The Number of Characters
The character, on the other hand, is defined as a graphic convention serving as a basic unit of a text and can be:
- handwritten;
- typographic or printed.
Therefore, the notion of character is somewhat broader than that of the character since it does not stop only at the elements constituting a writing system, but also at symbols, pictograms, etc.
Nevertheless, they merge in the field of computer-assisted publishing. This means that for this article, the number of characters equals the number of characters.
Furthermore, note that the term “character” is part of the jargon of writing and journalism professionals. Indeed, a print journalist uses a unit in order to be paid for writing an article. This is the sheet which is generally composed of 1,500 characters (including spaces), with 15 lines of 100 characters or 25 lines of 60 characters.
This subsection contains 1,014 characters or characters with spaces.
The Number of Words
In most languages, words are separated by spaces and/or punctuation. Articles and prepositions are also included in the word count: “the”, “of”, “to”…
Furthermore, you can use texts in other languages and get results as accurate as in French, thanks to our tool.
You have just read 82 words with these three paragraphs, including the words in the subheading.
The Number of Lines
Some word counters can help you know exactly how many lines your text contains, even though it largely depends on the font size and layout used. This can be very useful, especially when you have a graphic limit to respect.
If you paid attention, you are on the sixth line, taking into account the subheading as well.
The Number of Paragraphs
A long text generally contains several paragraphs in order to facilitate its reading. Thanks to this tool, you know the exact number of paragraphs that the entire text contains.
Depending on its length, you can decide to space it out a bit more by increasing the number of paragraphs.
Taking into account the subtitle of this section, you are currently on the fourth paragraph.
Word Density
This is very interesting data, especially if you have used keywords in your text. Indeed, you will be able to know the total number of occurrences of such and such a word. This allows you to optimize your text for SEO for example, by increasing the number of keywords or decreasing it.
Also keep in mind that Google’s robots seek to understand the web pages they analyze to determine the expressions and words that appear most often, that is, the words whose density is highest.
Also be careful not to go overboard with keyword repetition which could be considered by Google’s robots as Spam.
It is interesting to be able to use a word counter focused on keyword density, without taking into account pronouns, prepositions, articles… This is exactly how our Twaino tool works.
For this subsection, the 5 most frequently used words are:
- words: 10 times with 23.3%;
- with: 6 times with 14%;
- times: 5 times with 11.8%;
- density: 4 times with 9.3%;
- keywords: 4 times with 9.3%.
Reading Time
This is a function offered by some word counters, like ours. Rating first that standard word processing tools such as Word, Excel, Google Docs… do not offer the ability to know reading time.
Indeed, adding average reading time to blog articles has become an increasingly common practice and is very valuable. It is about allowing readers to know the average time it will take them to read your articles.
In 2016, a NewsCred study of 10,000 articles indicates that the average reading time by users is 37 seconds. Furthermore, HubSpot shows the same year that 43% of them skim articles.
It is therefore obvious that internet users have very little time to devote to content. Telling them an average reading time is a strong argument that allows them to know what to expect. This information is likely to help them quickly in the next decision: read your article or not.
In addition to indicating the average reading time of your article, you can use the Readism extension for Google Chrome. This tool displays a small scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen that estimates the time needed to finish the page.
Reading this section silently took you a little less than 2 minutes.
Speaking Time
Reading aloud is slower than silent reading.
Indeed, according to Wikipedia, an adult has the ability to read between 250 and 300 words per minute when it comes to silent reading and 200 words per minute for reading aloud. Rating that the maximum speed for reading aloud is 210 words per minute if you want to be understood by your audience. Furthermore, a range of 150 to 160 words per minute is recommended for audiobooks.
This data is therefore very useful when you want to give a speech, because an oral presentation requires careful preparation to be a success. In most cases, speaking time is limited and it is unfortunate not to finish properly.
For this, you can resort to timing with a timer or training, with software like PowerPoint. However, this step comes after writing the text. And it often happens that you are forced to delete portions or add some to adjust to a given duration.
This process is cumbersome and sometimes leads to considerable loss of time. I rather recommend that you use upstream a word counter like Twaino’s tool, which can also serve as a speaking time counter.
You automatically see the duration in minutes as soon as you paste your text into the designated space. You can also check this information as you write the text directly in the provided field.
At the end, don’t hesitate to practice with your timer, to make sure your presentation respects the time constraints imposed. This step is all the more necessary because the word counter only gives an approximation and speaking speed can vary considerably from person to person.
You just spent about 3 minutes reading this subsection aloud.
Statistics for This Chapter
Without taking into account the statistics of this present subsection, the chapter “What Information Does a Word Counter Provide?” includes:
- 1,458 words;
- 8,097 characters with spaces;
- 60 paragraphs;
- 98 sentences.
Silent reading time is approximately 8 minutes and aloud reading time is approximately 11 minutes.
Word density is as follows:
- words: 27 with 16.8%;
- number: 19 with 11.8%;
- that: 19 with 11.8%;
- time: 16 with 9.9%;
- reading: 15 with 9.3%.
How to Use a Word Counter?
Counting each word or character in a text is obviously cumbersome and the risk of making many errors is high. This method is not very effective.
This is why the word and character counter is the ideal solution. Indeed, this tool instantly calculates the number of characters, characters, paragraphs, letters, words, sentences, silent and aloud reading time of a text or web page. Even better, its operation is very simple and sometimes requires no clicks at all.
How an Online Word Counter Works
This online tool works exactly like a powerful calculator and it is important to note that some offer additional features. Indeed, the most basic only count the number of letters, words or characters, others go further by evaluating reading time, speaking time, word density, or even including a spell checker or other options.
With some, results are automatic and immediate, with others you need to click a button. Know, however, that word or character counters generally do not take into account the language of the text or the font used, its size, lowercase and uppercase letters…
The entire process happens instantly with almost no effort. You have four options.
Copy and Paste Your Text
The first option is to simply copy and paste, in case you have already written your text:
- in Ratingpad;
- in Word;
- in Excel;
- in Dreamweaver;
- in a PDF editor;
- in Wordpad;
- in an email
- etc.
To do this, simply use your keyboard with the “Ctrl+a” shortcut to select all the text in the document, then copy with the “Ctrl+c” shortcut. If you want to use your mouse and/or want to analyze only part of the text:
1- select the text with your cursor;
2- right-click on the highlighted part and choose “Copy”.
After copying the text, place your cursor in the text field of the word counter, right-click and select “Paste”. You can also use the “Ctrl + v” shortcut to paste the text.
In some word counters, statistics appear as soon as the text is pasted. In others, you must click a button such as “Count”.
Write Your Text Directly on the Word Counter
The second option you have is to write your text directly on the tool, in the designated field. I recommend using a word counter that does not require pressing a button to provide statistics.
Indeed, it is much more interesting to instantly get the number of words, characters, reading time… as you write.
I especially recommend using this option for short texts, intended for social media for example.
On the other hand, know that you will have none of the options offered by a special word processing tool. If you are already used to this type of software, you can choose the first method.
Insert Your Text File Directly
After writing your text with word processing software, some tools give you the ability to insert the text file directly. You will find in this case a button such as “Upload your text”, which allows you to search for and load the file from your computer or mobile device.
Thus, you no longer have to copy and paste. However, keep in mind that the entire document will be analyzed and if you want statistics for only one part, you must choose one of the two previous options.
Furthermore, the types of files accepted by these tools are limited to certain formats: Word, PDF, plain text, Excel, etc.
Insert the URL or Link of the Page in the Word Counter
To get information about an entire web page, simply paste the link or URL of one of your website pages (or any page!), and press the “Count” button.
You then collect the same statistics as for a text, that is:
- the number of characters;
- the number of lines;
- the number of paragraphs;
- word density;
- reading time;
- speaking time.
Twaino’s tool offers this functionality and allows you to display this information in a few seconds.
Who Should Use a Word Counter?
The word or character counter is for everyone. Those who are likely to use it frequently in their professional activity are:
- webmasters/website administrators;
- web and print writers;
- translators;
- writers;
- community managers or social media influencers;
- etc.
Indeed, most of these professionals must control the length of their text, since they often have to respect an exact number of characters, for social media for example.
Know for example that Google imposes a maximum number of characters for tags. There are also registration procedures in directories, web page labels, articles or blog posts, etc. that have limits to respect.
In addition to these professionals who need this information almost all the time, there are also:
- students who want to know the number of letters or words for a thesis, dissertation, essay…
- speakers who want to know the speaking time of their speech text;
- job seekers who want to write a proper cover letter.
More generally, anyone can need such a tool for writing an email, a text message, a forum post… which sometimes require the use of a word counter.
Thus, the word counter is a tool intended for almost everyone, as long as you want to control the size of a text.
Some Practical Examples to Evaluate the Number of Words or Pages in a Document
Whether you are a professional, student or individual, knowing in advance the approximate number of words or pages in a text can be very useful for tracking the progress of your writing. In addition to practical examples, here are some recommendations for certain types of documents.
How Many Characters or Characters on a Page?
It is very often useful to know the number of pages, characters and characters you devote to writing.
This could be, for example, a competition, a school assignment or even a professional report.
And in order to know the number of pages, you must first determine the number of characters on a page, knowing that the final result depends on the layout of your text.
Layout
Layout is the operation that consists of organizing and structuring the different elements of a page, intended for printing or the web, in order to obtain a harmonious and coherent result. It thus includes formatting and adding illustrations or animations to your text. In other words, it takes into account elements such as:
- font;
- character size;
- spacing and line spacing;
- headings and drop caps;
- illustrations and their wrapping.
Number of Characters or Characters per Page: Practical Example
If you work on an A4 sheet with 12-pixel font, standard 2.5 cm margins and 1.5 line spacing, each page will contain approximately 36 lines of 90 characters or characters (including spaces). Therefore, this sheet will contain 3,000 characters with spaces.
Keep in mind that this is an approximation and that paragraph breaks or subheadings are not taken into account.
This means that your document written on an A4 format like with Microsoft Word software will contain approximately 2,500 characters per page. In the same logic, you can estimate the number of characters at 500,000 for a 200-page book. On the other hand, the number of words will obviously be different.
How Many Pages is 1,000 Words?
Do you need to write an article, blog post or essay that should be less than 1,000 words, for example? It sometimes happens that a limit must be respected and it is necessary to be able to quickly evaluate the number of pages corresponding.
However, the result also depends on the medium and final layout of the text. Thus, you will not have the same results if you use Microsoft Word, Google Docs or a web page. With Microsoft Word, for example, the number of pages corresponding to a 1,000-word text depends on:
- font size;
- font type;
- margins;
- spacing;
- paragraph structure;
- illustrations (if any).
Here are some basic calculations to give you an idea of the number of pages for 1,000 words. Your text is:
- two pages when the font size is 12 pt, the font type is Arial and the spacing is single;
- two pages when the font size is 10 pt, the font type is Calibri and the spacing is double.
- four pages when the font size is 12 pt, the font type is Times New Roman and the spacing is double.
To go further, here are some practical examples.
Example 1: 1,000 Words for an Admission Application
Suppose a high school senior wants to apply for admission to university. To do this, he must write a 1,000-word essay on a given topic.
The number of pages corresponding depends on the university’s requirements regarding formatting. However, he can use a word counter to closely monitor the number of words he writes and also get an estimate of the number of pages.
In case the high school student is required to write his essay by hand, the number of pages for the 1,000 words will depend on his handwriting.
On average, note, however, that a 1,000-word text corresponds to 2 to 4 pages.
Example 2: 500 Words for a Blog Article
If you want to write a 500-word blog article and you do it in advance in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, it will be 1 to 2 pages. But the 500 words can well occupy a section or the entire page of your website. The key element here is the layout of your website which will determine the final appearance of the text.
You can therefore use a word counter first to track the length of your text and second, refine the layout directly on the site.
Example 3: 50,000 Words for a Novel
If an author writes a 50,000-word novel with Calibri font, 12-point size and double line spacing, his manuscript will be approximately 172 pages. However, this approximation does not take into account line breaks and the fact that his story is divided into several chapters.
Therefore, the number of pages of two different novels will probably not be identical even if they both have 50,000 words, since the layout must be taken into account.
Example 4: 500 Words for a Children’s Book
Children’s books generally contain images and the character size is rather large. This is why you can easily reach about twenty pages for a small 500-word text.
The Number of Pages is Relative
Respecting a certain number of pages can be a professional or school requirement, or even a personal need.
Furthermore, it is a relative element that depends on the type of medium and layout, which takes into account size, font, spacing, margins and paragraph structure.
Moreover, the final format and destination also matter. Indeed, even with an equivalent number of words, the number of pages will not be identical on a website, a printed Word document, a magazine article, a novel or a children’s book.
How Many Words on a Page?
When a certain number of pages is required, it is sometimes useful to know how many words you will be writing per page. This section is correlated with the previous one and in the same way, the number of words on a page depends on several factors.
Text Formatting
Text formatting is one of the elements that determines the number of words on a page. It takes into account:
- font;
- character size;
- margins;
- paragraph length;
- spacing and line spacing.
In addition to these elements, the way the final work will be presented has a direct impact on the number of words you will find on a page.
The Document Contains Images, Tables, Graphics…
The number of words on a page containing only words differs from that of a page containing elements such as images, graphics, tables…
Type of Medium
The number of words on a web page is not comparable to that of an A4 page or a book, regardless of its size.
You must therefore consider the type of physical or virtual medium of the text before determining the number of words per page.
Reading Level of the Book
The difference between the number of words per page of a children’s book and that of a book for adults can be considerable. The former generally contains many illustrations and very few words, the latter may contain no illustrations and a small font size.
The Number of Words per Page is Relative
Knowing the number of words per page is often very interesting. Indeed, this data allows a student to easily track his progress towards the page or word limit required for his assignment.
If you are an author, for example, you can also easily track the progress of your manuscript. But note that this information is relative and depends on several factors, as we have seen.
How Many Words for a 5-Minute Speech?
When you prepare to write a speech of a set duration, you may wonder how many words you should use. There is no exact answer, but you can get an approximation.
Indeed, Daphne Gray-Grant, publication coach, indicates that on average, a person can speak 125 to 150 words per minute. Thus, 5 minutes of conversation represents approximately 625 to 750 words.
Keep in mind that several factors obviously come into play. This includes of course the speed, since some people speak more slowly than others, even if both are understood.
The most important thing is to communicate the essence of your speech clearly and eloquently.
After writing your speech with a word counter that automatically tells you the duration of reading aloud, also practice with your timer to make sure you are actually on time and make adjustments if necessary.
How Many Words Should You Write?
Writing is a practice common to almost everyone: some use it professionally, others for assignments or for personal reasons.
Although it is almost impossible to precisely state how many words a text will contain, there are averages for common types of writing.
Word Count for Essays
At some point in your life, you will likely have to write an essay for professional purposes, standardized tests or university assignments. There are several types of essays whose choice depends on the objective:
- exposition;
- narration;
- persuasion;
- analysis.
In addition to exploring these four types of essays, here are some recommendations on the usual word count for each.
The Expository Essay
This type of essay allows you to convey a brief explanation of an idea, question or topic. According to Purdue OWL, it presents some standard requirements, which can be considered as steps:
- studying an idea;
- evaluating evidence;
- systematic and detailed explanation of the idea;
- clear and concise statement of an argument about the idea.
In fact, conciseness is the main element required by these essays and, for this, the recommended length is 500 to 800 words. If you want to be effective, your essay should have:
- a clear and precise thesis statement, statement of intent or research question;
- a simple and straightforward approach to answer the question or your thesis with factual evidence supporting your position;
- great conciseness.
The Narrative Essay
The narrative essay consists of a recount of experiences from real or abstract life and is usually a personal narrative. Like any story, this type of essay requires a structure: a beginning, middle and end. Furthermore, it has the following characteristics:
- generally written from a first-person point of view;
- vivid images and sensory details;
- essential story components: theme, style, plot, character, setting, tone…
To tell a complete story, approximately 1,000 words are needed. This is actually the short version of a novel and each paragraph of this essay represents a chapter of the story.
To make this type of text captivating and interesting, it is recommended to add dialogue or anecdotes to the narrative and end with a personal statement or conclusion. You will thus have something to offer your readers a memorable story.
The Persuasive Essay
Also called an argumentative essay, it is based on logical reasoning, to lead readers to adopt the author’s point of view. Since it serves as an instrument of persuasion, its writing requires much more effort than other types of essays.
Indeed, an argument or definitive justification is necessary when you want to be eloquent and convincing. And for your persuasive text to be of quality, it must:
- present factual evidence;
- maintain reader interest;
- have valid reasoning;
- present a natural progression from one idea to another;
- have a strong and convincing conclusion.
If you want to produce an effective argument, a text of approximately 2,500 words is recommended by Scribbr.
However, you should not limit yourself to length, you should avoid filler that could discredit your arguments. Try, however, to provide as much relevant explanation as possible and provide substantial evidence to support your argument.
The Analytical Essay
The analytical essay, on the other hand, consists of presenting an argument by breaking down and examining the essential elements of an idea, question or work of art such as a book, film, painting, etc.
It is characterized by:
- an introduction and presentation of the argument, which highlights the text of the literary work you want to discuss;
- maintaining reader interest;
- analysis of the text, which must be relevant and supported by examples;
- a personal response that demonstrates your deep understanding, positive or negative, of the text.
The recommended word count for an analytical essay is 500 to 700. The key is to cover all the main points, not to have a long text. Furthermore, you should focus mainly on analysis rather than telling a story.
Word Count for Novels
Novels are categorized into two types of works. Fiction works are considered inventions and non-fiction works generally provide information about a historical event.
If you are writing your novel for the first time, you are certainly asking yourself many questions, including how many words your work should contain. The answer to this question depends on the type of work (fiction or non-fiction) and its genre. I explain everything.
Fiction Works
In this category, the recommended word count is different depending on the fiction genre. Furthermore, the reading level (adult, teen or child) also has an important impact.
Commercial Fiction for Adults
These fiction works are the most numerous, including most bestsellers. There are several genres:
- mainstream;
- thriller;
- horror;
- romance;
- suspense;
- mystery;
- literary;
- etc.
When writing novels of this type, Writer’s Digest recommends 80,000 to 89,999 words. You should still be careful to get straight to the point since these types of books are not meant to be sagas.
Science Fiction and Adult Fiction
In terms of length, these two genres are exceptions since they contain 100,000 to 115,000 words. Furthermore, some can far exceed these figures: George R. R. Martin’s epic series, A Song of Ice and Fire is a good example. Indeed, his five published books contain a combined total of 1,770,000 words.
Fiction for Teens
Although very similar to adult fiction, teen fiction is adapted to their age.
The middle grade level is aimed at readers aged 8 to 12, according to Writer’s Digest: this type of novel contains no sexuality, graphic violence, or profanity. Its length varies from 20,000 to 50,000 words depending on age group and subject. However, the length can approach 40,000 to 50,000 words for 12-year-olds.
Young adult books: they contain 55,000 to 80,000 words. However, science fiction and heroic fantasy stories for this category often exceed 80,000 words.
Take the example of the very famous teen fiction: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. The total of the seven books in the series is exactly 1,084,170 words.
Furthermore, the word count differs from one book to another: 257,045 words for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and 76,944 words for “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”.
Fiction for Children
Word Counter: Everything You Need to Know About This Powerful Tool
In this video, I explain how to use Twaino’s word and character counter. A free online tool.
Manually, it is very difficult and tedious to accurately assess the number of words or characters in a text. This task becomes very time-consuming for a document of several pages. However, it sometimes proves essential to know the number of words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, for several reasons. This is the case, for example, for certain professionals such as web writers or journalists who are often paid on this basis, as well as for students who must submit a thesis or assignment with a minimum number of pages required to validate their exams. Thus, limits are sometimes imposed for documents such as essays, theses, cover letters, dissertations and many others. Furthermore, social networks set a character limit for publications, for example 250 for Facebook and 280 for Twitter. Therefore, it is very important to have an effective solution to easily and quickly know the number of letters, words, characters in a text or web page.
Several tools have been created for this purpose, but one of the most powerful is: the online word counter. In addition to counting words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, this tool sometimes evaluates silent and oral reading time. It can therefore be very useful for both writing and preparing a speech. For perfect mastery of this system, I give you all the useful information accompanied by a few practical examples.
Twaino’s Free Online Word and Web Page Counter
There are several online counters that are completely free. The one from SEO agency Twaino is also, and you therefore have no subscription or fees to pay to benefit from its two different counters:
- a word counter;
- a web page counter.
Word Counting
The Twaino word counter provides instantly several pieces of data without you having to press a button. These are:
- the number of words;
- the number of characters;
- the number of paragraphs;
- reading time;
- speaking time;
- word density, with the five words that appeared most in the text.
To get this information, you simply need to enter your text directly in the designated field or do a simple copy-paste in the same field.
This copy can be made from any word processing software, as mentioned in the chapter on how word counters work.
Also note that the tool performs the calculation almost instantly and you have no other action to take.
Furthermore, the Twaino word counter makes no distinction between languages and you therefore have reliable statistics even for text in English, Spanish, Portuguese…
The Web Page Counter
This counter works in a slightly different way, although the results provided are the same.
Indeed, it also allows you to know exactly for a web page:
- the number of words;
- the number of characters;
- the number of paragraphs;
- reading time;
- speaking time;
- word density, with the five words that appeared most often in the text.
To use it, you must have the URL or link of the web page you want to analyze. This is usually in the form “https://…………./” such as “https://www.twaino.com/blog/” which leads directly to the “Blog” page of the Twaino.com website.
Once you have retrieved the page link, you must paste it in the designated area. Then click the “Count” button and the interface displays all the statistics you need.
Rating that you do not need to be the owner of the website and that you can get statistics for any website.
Twaino’s Free Online Counter: A Very Effective Tool
Twaino’s free online counter is a tool designed for both professionals such as webmasters, community managers, web and print writers, writers, translators, and anyone wishing to control the length of their text.
Furthermore, you get other types of information such as density, reading time and speaking time. Better yet, the second counter allows you to get the same data for a web page, thanks to its URL alone.
My Twaino counter is obviously not the only one to evaluate the number of words or characters in your texts, since there are already several word processing software that offer this functionality.
What is a Word Counter?
Writing is an activity that involves many rules to follow. It requires in particular a good sense of analysis, a good understanding of the subject matter, concentration and a good ability to express ideas clearly.
This understanding will be formalized in particular in the layout which includes the size, font, line spacing, layout and number of words or characters in the text.
Out of simple curiosity or to precisely follow imposed rules, you may need to know the length of a text. For example, you may have a limit to respect, such as for social media posts, or you may need to establish billing per word/character, as journalists or web writers do.
Know the Exact Number of Words and Avoid Guessing
In these circumstances, it is crucial to closely monitor the number of characters or words during writing. Otherwise you risk not following the instructions given, which can lead to disqualification of your work. You can also waste a lot of time by far exceeding the required limit or falling well short.
Follow Imposed Guidelines and Save Time
If you have a 1,000-word text to write and you exceed this limit, you will waste time at two levels. First, by exceeding the required limit and second, by having to delete certain parts of your text afterwards.
Furthermore, if you fall short of the required limit, you will be forced to redo some research. You may thus be led to return to pages you had already visited to find other information that will flesh out your text.
In either situation, you will waste precious time that could have been used for something else. To avoid these mishaps, I invite you to use a counter, which is by far the best solution since it often goes beyond simply determining the number of words or characters.
What Information Does a Word Counter Provide?
In addition to the number of words and characters, a word counter can help you determine for a text or web page the following information:
- the number of characters;
- the number of lines;
- the number of paragraphs;
- word density;
- silent reading time;
- aloud reading time.
The Number of Characters
The notions of character and sign are sometimes confused, but there is indeed a subtle difference between the two. Indeed, the character is considered the basic element of a writing system and includes letters, punctuation, numbers…
In reality, note that a space (in the feminine, when it comes to typography!) between two words is also often considered a character. This means that you will in principle have two pieces of information: the number of characters and the number of characters “including spaces”.
Moreover, it is the latter that is generally taken into account for social media limitations and certain software, which is the case in our tool.
In addition to its subheading, this subsection contains exactly 804 characters with spaces.
The Number of Characters
The character, on the other hand, is defined as a graphic convention serving as a basic unit of a text and can be:
- handwritten;
- typographic or printed.
Therefore, the notion of character is somewhat broader than that of the character since it does not stop only at the elements constituting a writing system, but also at symbols, pictograms, etc.
Nevertheless, they merge in the field of computer-assisted publishing. This means that for this article, the number of characters equals the number of characters.
Furthermore, note that the term “character” is part of the jargon of writing and journalism professionals. Indeed, a print journalist uses a unit in order to be paid for writing an article. This is the sheet which is generally composed of 1,500 characters (including spaces), with 15 lines of 100 characters or 25 lines of 60 characters.
This subsection contains 1,014 characters or characters with spaces.
The Number of Words
In most languages, words are separated by spaces and/or punctuation. Articles and prepositions are also included in the word count: “the”, “of”, “to”…
Furthermore, you can use texts in other languages and get results as accurate as in French, thanks to our tool.
You have just read 82 words with these three paragraphs, including the words in the subheading.
The Number of Lines
Some word counters can help you know exactly how many lines your text contains, even though it largely depends on the font size and layout used. This can be very useful, especially when you have a graphic limit to respect.
If you paid attention, you are on the sixth line, taking into account the subheading as well.
The Number of Paragraphs
A long text generally contains several paragraphs in order to facilitate its reading. Thanks to this tool, you know the exact number of paragraphs that the entire text contains.
Depending on its length, you can decide to space it out a bit more by increasing the number of paragraphs.
Taking into account the subtitle of this section, you are currently on the fourth paragraph.
Word Density
This is very interesting data, especially if you have used keywords in your text. Indeed, you will be able to know the total number of occurrences of such and such a word. This allows you to optimize your text for SEO for example, by increasing the number of keywords or decreasing it.
Also keep in mind that Google’s robots seek to understand the web pages they analyze to determine the expressions and words that appear most often, that is, the words whose density is highest.
Also be careful not to go overboard with keyword repetition which could be considered by Google’s robots as Spam.
It is interesting to be able to use a word counter focused on keyword density, without taking into account pronouns, prepositions, articles… This is exactly how our Twaino tool works.
For this subsection, the 5 most frequently used words are:
- words: 10 times with 23.3%;
- with: 6 times with 14%;
- times: 5 times with 11.8%;
- density: 4 times with 9.3%;
- keywords: 4 times with 9.3%.
Reading Time
This is a function offered by some word counters, like ours. Rating first that standard word processing tools such as Word, Excel, Google Docs… do not offer the ability to know reading time.
Indeed, adding average reading time to blog articles has become an increasingly common practice and is very valuable. It is about allowing readers to know the average time it will take them to read your articles.
In 2016, a NewsCred study of 10,000 articles indicates that the average reading time by users is 37 seconds. Furthermore, HubSpot shows the same year that 43% of them skim articles.
It is therefore obvious that internet users have very little time to devote to content. Telling them an average reading time is a strong argument that allows them to know what to expect. This information is likely to help them quickly in the next decision: read your article or not.
In addition to indicating the average reading time of your article, you can use the Readism extension for Google Chrome. This tool displays a small scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen that estimates the time needed to finish the page.
Reading this section silently took you a little less than 2 minutes.
Speaking Time
Reading aloud is slower than silent reading.
Indeed, according to Wikipedia, an adult has the ability to read between 250 and 300 words per minute when it comes to silent reading and 200 words per minute for reading aloud. Rating that the maximum speed for reading aloud is 210 words per minute if you want to be understood by your audience. Furthermore, a range of 150 to 160 words per minute is recommended for audiobooks.
This data is therefore very useful when you want to give a speech, because an oral presentation requires careful preparation to be a success. In most cases, speaking time is limited and it is unfortunate not to finish properly.
For this, you can resort to timing with a timer or training, with software like PowerPoint. However, this step comes after writing the text. And it often happens that you are forced to delete portions or add some to adjust to a given duration.
This process is cumbersome and sometimes leads to considerable loss of time. I rather recommend that you use upstream a word counter like Twaino’s tool, which can also serve as a speaking time counter.
You automatically see the duration in minutes as soon as you paste your text into the designated space. You can also check this information as you write the text directly in the provided field.
At the end, don’t hesitate to practice with your timer, to make sure your presentation respects the time constraints imposed. This step is all the more necessary because the word counter only gives an approximation and speaking speed can vary considerably from person to person.
You just spent about 3 minutes reading this subsection aloud.
Statistics for This Chapter
Without taking into account the statistics of this present subsection, the chapter “What Information Does a Word Counter Provide?” includes:
- 1,458 words;
- 8,097 characters with spaces;
- 60 paragraphs;
- 98 sentences.
Silent reading time is approximately 8 minutes and aloud reading time is approximately 11 minutes.
Word density is as follows:
- words: 27 with 16.8%;
- number: 19 with 11.8%;
- that: 19 with 11.8%;
- time: 16 with 9.9%;
- reading: 15 with 9.3%.
How to Use a Word Counter?
Counting each word or character in a text is obviously cumbersome and the risk of making many errors is high. This method is not very effective.
This is why the word and character counter is the ideal solution. Indeed, this tool instantly calculates the number of characters, characters, paragraphs, letters, words, sentences, silent and aloud reading time of a text or web page. Even better, its operation is very simple and sometimes requires no clicks at all.
How an Online Word Counter Works
This online tool works exactly like a powerful calculator and it is important to note that some offer additional features. Indeed, the most basic only count the number of letters, words or characters, others go further by evaluating reading time, speaking time, word density, or even including a spell checker or other options.
With some, results are automatic and immediate, with others you need to click a button. Know, however, that word or character counters generally do not take into account the language of the text or the font used, its size, lowercase and uppercase letters…
The entire process happens instantly with almost no effort. You have four options.
Copy and Paste Your Text
The first option is to simply copy and paste, in case you have already written your text:
- in Ratingpad;
- in Word;
- in Excel;
- in Dreamweaver;
- in a PDF editor;
- in Wordpad;
- in an email
- etc.
To do this, simply use your keyboard with the “Ctrl+a” shortcut to select all the text in the document, then copy with the “Ctrl+c” shortcut. If you want to use your mouse and/or want to analyze only part of the text:
1- select the text with your cursor;
2- right-click on the highlighted part and choose “Copy”.
After copying the text, place your cursor in the text field of the word counter, right-click and select “Paste”. You can also use the “Ctrl + v” shortcut to paste the text.
In some word counters, statistics appear as soon as the text is pasted. In others, you must click a button such as “Count”.
Write Your Text Directly on the Word Counter
The second option you have is to write your text directly on the tool, in the designated field. I recommend using a word counter that does not require pressing a button to provide statistics.
Indeed, it is much more interesting to instantly get the number of words, characters, reading time… as you write.
I especially recommend using this option for short texts, intended for social media for example.
On the other hand, know that you will have none of the options offered by a special word processing tool. If you are already used to this type of software, you can choose the first method.
Insert Your Text File Directly
After writing your text with word processing software, some tools give you the ability to insert the text file directly. You will find in this case a button such as “Upload your text”, which allows you to search for and load the file from your computer or mobile device.
Thus, you no longer have to copy and paste. However, keep in mind that the entire document will be analyzed and if you want statistics for only one part, you must choose one of the two previous options.
Furthermore, the types of files accepted by these tools are limited to certain formats: Word, PDF, plain text, Excel, etc.
Insert the URL or Link of the Page in the Word Counter
To get information about an entire web page, simply paste the link or URL of one of your website pages (or any page!), and press the “Count” button.
You then collect the same statistics as for a text, that is:
- the number of characters;
- the number of lines;
- the number of paragraphs;
- word density;
- reading time;
- speaking time.
Twaino’s tool offers this functionality and allows you to display this information in a few seconds.
Who Should Use a Word Counter?
The word or character counter is for everyone. Those who are likely to use it frequently in their professional activity are:
- webmasters/website administrators;
- web and print writers;
- translators;
- writers;
- community managers or social media influencers;
- etc.
Indeed, most of these professionals must control the length of their text, since they often have to respect an exact number of characters, for social media for example.
Know for example that Google imposes a maximum number of characters for tags. There are also registration procedures in directories, web page labels, articles or blog posts, etc. that have limits to respect.
In addition to these professionals who need this information almost all the time, there are also:
- students who want to know the number of letters or words for a thesis, dissertation, essay…
- speakers who want to know the speaking time of their speech text;
- job seekers who want to write a proper cover letter.
More generally, anyone can need such a tool for writing an email, a text message, a forum post… which sometimes require the use of a word counter.
Thus, the word counter is a tool intended for almost everyone, as long as you want to control the size of a text.
Some Practical Examples to Evaluate the Number of Words or Pages in a Document
Whether you are a professional, student or individual, knowing in advance the approximate number of words or pages in a text can be very useful for tracking the progress of your writing. In addition to practical examples, here are some recommendations for certain types of documents.
How Many Characters or Characters on a Page?
It is very often useful to know the number of pages, characters and characters you devote to writing.
This could be, for example, a competition, a school assignment or even a professional report.
And in order to know the number of pages, you must first determine the number of characters on a page, knowing that the final result depends on the layout of your text.
Layout
Layout is the operation that consists of organizing and structuring the different elements of a page, intended for printing or the web, in order to obtain a harmonious and coherent result. It thus includes formatting and adding illustrations or animations to your text. In other words, it takes into account elements such as:
- font;
- character size;
- spacing and line spacing;
- headings and drop caps;
- illustrations and their wrapping.
Number of Characters or Characters per Page: Practical Example
If you work on an A4 sheet with 12-pixel font, standard 2.5 cm margins and 1.5 line spacing, each page will contain approximately 36 lines of 90 characters or characters (including spaces). Therefore, this sheet will contain 3,000 characters with spaces.
Keep in mind that this is an approximation and that paragraph breaks or subheadings are not taken into account.
This means that your document written on an A4 format like with Microsoft Word software will contain approximately 2,500 characters per page. In the same logic, you can estimate the number of characters at 500,000 for a 200-page book. On the other hand, the number of words will obviously be different.
How Many Pages is 1,000 Words?
Do you need to write an article, blog post or essay that should be less than 1,000 words, for example? It sometimes happens that a limit must be respected and it is necessary to be able to quickly evaluate the number of pages corresponding.
However, the result also depends on the medium and final layout of the text. Thus, you will not have the same results if you use Microsoft Word, Google Docs or a web page. With Microsoft Word, for example, the number of pages corresponding to a 1,000-word text depends on:
- font size;
- font type;
- margins;
- spacing;
- paragraph structure;
- illustrations (if any).
Here are some basic calculations to give you an idea of the number of pages for 1,000 words. Your text is:
- two pages when the font size is 12 pt, the font type is Arial and the spacing is single;
- two pages when the font size is 10 pt, the font type is Calibri and the spacing is double.
- four pages when the font size is 12 pt, the font type is Times New Roman and the spacing is double.
To go further, here are some practical examples.
Example 1: 1,000 Words for an Admission Application
Suppose a high school senior wants to apply for admission to university. To do this, he must write a 1,000-word essay on a given topic.
The number of pages corresponding depends on the university’s requirements regarding formatting. However, he can use a word counter to closely monitor the number of words he writes and also get an estimate of the number of pages.
In case the high school student is required to write his essay by hand, the number of pages for the 1,000 words will depend on his handwriting.
On average, note, however, that a 1,000-word text corresponds to 2 to 4 pages.
Example 2: 500 Words for a Blog Article
If you want to write a 500-word blog article and you do it in advance in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, it will be 1 to 2 pages. But the 500 words can well occupy a section or the entire page of your website. The key element here is the layout of your website which will determine the final appearance of the text.
You can therefore use a word counter first to track the length of your text and second, refine the layout directly on the site.
Example 3: 50,000 Words for a Novel
If an author writes a 50,000-word novel with Calibri font, 12-point size and double line spacing, his manuscript will be approximately 172 pages. However, this approximation does not take into account line breaks and the fact that his story is divided into several chapters.
Therefore, the number of pages of two different novels will probably not be identical even if they both have 50,000 words, since the layout must be taken into account.
Example 4: 500 Words for a Children’s Book
Children’s books generally contain images and the character size is rather large. This is why you can easily reach about twenty pages for a small 500-word text.
The Number of Pages is Relative
Respecting a certain number of pages can be a professional or school requirement, or even a personal need.
Furthermore, it is a relative element that depends on the type of medium and layout, which takes into account size, font, spacing, margins and paragraph structure.
Moreover, the final format and destination also matter. Indeed, even with an equivalent number of words, the number of pages will not be identical on a website, a printed Word document, a magazine article, a novel or a children’s book.
How Many Words on a Page?
When a certain number of pages is required, it is sometimes useful to know how many words you will be writing per page. This section is correlated with the previous one and in the same way, the number of words on a page depends on several factors.
Text Formatting
Text formatting is one of the elements that determines the number of words on a page. It takes into account:
- font;
- character size;
- margins;
- paragraph length;
- spacing and line spacing.
In addition to these elements, the way the final work will be presented has a direct impact on the number of words you will find on a page.
The Document Contains Images, Tables, Graphics…
The number of words on a page containing only words differs from that of a page containing elements such as images, graphics, tables…
Type of Medium
The number of words on a web page is not comparable to that of an A4 page or a book, regardless of its size.
You must therefore consider the type of physical or virtual medium of the text before determining the number of words per page.
Reading Level of the Book
The difference between the number of words per page of a children’s book and that of a book for adults can be considerable. The former generally contains many illustrations and very few words, the latter may contain no illustrations and a small font size.
The Number of Words per Page is Relative
Knowing the number of words per page is often very interesting. Indeed, this data allows a student to easily track his progress towards the page or word limit required for his assignment.
If you are an author, for example, you can also easily track the progress of your manuscript. But note that this information is relative and depends on several factors, as we have seen.
How Many Words for a 5-Minute Speech?
When you prepare to write a speech of a set duration, you may wonder how many words you should use. There is no exact answer, but you can get an approximation.
Indeed, Daphne Gray-Grant, publication coach, indicates that on average, a person can speak 125 to 150 words per minute. Thus, 5 minutes of conversation represents approximately 625 to 750 words.
Keep in mind that several factors obviously come into play. This includes of course the speed, since some people speak more slowly than others, even if both are understood.
The most important thing is to communicate the essence of your speech clearly and eloquently.
After writing your speech with a word counter that automatically tells you the duration of reading aloud, also practice with your timer to make sure you are actually on time and make adjustments if necessary.
How Many Words Should You Write?
Writing is a practice common to almost everyone: some use it professionally, others for assignments or for personal reasons.
Although it is almost impossible to precisely state how many words a text will contain, there are averages for common types of writing.
Word Count for Essays
At some point in your life, you will likely have to write an essay for professional purposes, standardized tests or university assignments. There are several types of essays whose choice depends on the objective:
- exposition;
- narration;
- persuasion;
- analysis.
In addition to exploring these four types of essays, here are some recommendations on the usual word count for each.
The Expository Essay
This type of essay allows you to convey a brief explanation of an idea, question or topic. According to Purdue OWL, it presents some standard requirements, which can be considered as steps:
- studying an idea;
- evaluating evidence;
- systematic and detailed explanation of the idea;
- clear and concise statement of an argument about the idea.
In fact, conciseness is the main element required by these essays and, for this, the recommended length is 500 to 800 words. If you want to be effective, your essay should have:
- a clear and precise thesis statement, statement of intent or research question;
- a simple and straightforward approach to answer the question or your thesis with factual evidence supporting your position;
- great conciseness.
The Narrative Essay
The narrative essay consists of a recount of experiences from real or abstract life and is usually a personal narrative. Like any story, this type of essay requires a structure: a beginning, middle and end. Furthermore, it has the following characteristics:
- generally written from a first-person point of view;
- vivid images and sensory details;
- essential story components: theme, style, plot, character, setting, tone…
To tell a complete story, approximately 1,000 words are needed. This is actually the short version of a novel and each paragraph of this essay represents a chapter of the story.
To make this type of text captivating and interesting, it is recommended to add dialogue or anecdotes to the narrative and end with a personal statement or conclusion. You will thus have something to offer your readers a memorable story.
The Persuasive Essay
Also called an argumentative essay, it is based on logical reasoning, to lead readers to adopt the author’s point of view. Since it serves as an instrument of persuasion, its writing requires much more effort than other types of essays.
Indeed, an argument or definitive justification is necessary when you want to be eloquent and convincing. And for your persuasive text to be of quality, it must:
- present factual evidence;
- maintain reader interest;
- have valid reasoning;
- present a natural progression from one idea to another;
- have a strong and convincing conclusion.
If you want to produce an effective argument, a text of approximately 2,500 words is recommended by Scribbr.
However, you should not limit yourself to length, you should avoid filler that could discredit your arguments. Try, however, to provide as much relevant explanation as possible and provide substantial evidence to support your argument.
The Analytical Essay
The analytical essay, on the other hand, consists of presenting an argument by breaking down and examining the essential elements of an idea, question or work of art such as a book, film, painting, etc.
It is characterized by:
- an introduction and presentation of the argument, which highlights the text of the literary work you want to discuss;
- maintaining reader interest;
- analysis of the text, which must be relevant and supported by examples;
- a personal response that demonstrates your deep understanding, positive or negative, of the text.
The recommended word count for an analytical essay is 500 to 700. The key is to cover all the main points, not to have a long text. Furthermore, you should focus mainly on analysis rather than telling a story.
Word Count for Novels
Novels are categorized into two types of works. Fiction works are considered inventions and non-fiction works generally provide information about a historical event.
If you are writing your novel for the first time, you are certainly asking yourself many questions, including how many words your work should contain. The answer to this question depends on the type of work (fiction or non-fiction) and its genre. I explain everything.
Fiction Works
In this category, the recommended word count is different depending on the fiction genre. Furthermore, the reading level (adult, teen or child) also has an important impact.
Commercial Fiction for Adults
These fiction works are the most numerous, including most bestsellers. There are several genres:
- mainstream;
- thriller;
- horror;
- romance;
- suspense;
- mystery;
- literary;
- etc.
When writing novels of this type, Writer’s Digest recommends 80,000 to 89,999 words. You should still be careful to get straight to the point since these types of books are not meant to be sagas.
Science Fiction and Adult Fiction
In terms of length, these two genres are exceptions since they contain 100,000 to 115,000 words. Furthermore, some can far exceed these figures: George R. R. Martin’s epic series, A Song of Ice and Fire is a good example. Indeed, his five published books contain a combined total of 1,770,000 words.
Fiction for Teens
Although very similar to adult fiction, teen fiction is adapted to their age.
The middle grade level is aimed at readers aged 8 to 12, according to Writer’s Digest: this type of novel contains no sexuality, graphic violence, or profanity. Its length varies from 20,000 to 50,000 words depending on age group and subject. However, the length can approach 40,000 to 50,000 words for 12-year-olds.
Young adult books: they contain 55,000 to 80,000 words. However, science fiction and heroic fantasy stories for this category often exceed 80,000 words.
Take the example of the very famous teen fiction: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. The total of the seven books in the series is exactly 1,084,170 words.
Furthermore, the word count differs from one book to another: 257,045 words for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and 76,944 words for “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”.
Fiction for Children
Word Counter: Everything You Need to Know About This Powerful Tool
In this video, I explain how to use Twaino’s word and character counter. A free online tool.
Manually, it is very difficult and tedious to accurately assess the number of words or characters in a text. This task becomes very time-consuming for a document of several pages. However, it sometimes proves essential to know the number of words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, for several reasons. This is the case, for example, for certain professionals such as web writers or journalists who are often paid on this basis, as well as for students who must submit a thesis or assignment with a minimum number of pages required to validate their exams. Thus, limits are sometimes imposed for documents such as essays, theses, cover letters, dissertations and many others. Furthermore, social networks set a character limit for publications, for example 250 for Facebook and 280 for Twitter. Therefore, it is very important to have an effective solution to easily and quickly know the number of letters, words, characters in a text or web page.
Several tools have been created for this purpose, but one of the most powerful is: the online word counter. In addition to counting words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, this tool sometimes evaluates silent and oral reading time. It can therefore be very useful for both writing and preparing a speech. For perfect mastery of this system, I give you all the useful information accompanied by a few practical examples.
Twaino’s Free Online Word and Web Page Counter
There are several online counters that are completely free. The one from SEO agency Twaino is also, and you therefore have no subscription or fees to pay to benefit from its two different counters:
- a word counter;
- a web page counter.
Word Counting
The Twaino word counter provides instantly several pieces of data without you having to press a button. These are:
- the number of words;
- the number of characters;
- the number of paragraphs;
- reading time;
- speaking time;
- word density, with the five words that appeared most in the text.
To get this information, you simply need to enter your text directly in the designated field or do a simple copy-paste in the same field.
This copy can be made from any word processing software, as mentioned in the chapter on how word counters work.
Also note that the tool performs the calculation almost instantly and you have no other action to take.
Furthermore, the Twaino word counter makes no distinction between languages and you therefore have reliable statistics even for text in English, Spanish, Portuguese…
The Web Page Counter
This counter works in a slightly different way, although the results provided are the same.
Indeed, it also allows you to know exactly for a web page:
- the number of words;
- the number of characters;
- the number of paragraphs;
- reading time;
- speaking time;
- word density, with the five words that appeared most often in the text.
To use it, you must have the URL or link of the web page you want to analyze. This is usually in the form “https://…………./” such as “https://www.twaino.com/blog/” which leads directly to the “Blog” page of the Twaino.com website.
Once you have retrieved the page link, you must paste it in the designated area. Then click the “Count” button and the interface displays all the statistics you need.
Rating that you do not need to be the owner of the website and that you can get statistics for any website.
Twaino’s Free Online Counter: A Very Effective Tool
Twaino’s free online counter is a tool designed for both professionals such as webmasters, community managers, web and print writers, writers, translators, and anyone wishing to control the length of their text.
Furthermore, you get other types of information such as density, reading time and speaking time. Better yet, the second counter allows you to get the same data for a web page, thanks to its URL alone.
My Twaino counter is obviously not the only one to evaluate the number of words or characters in your texts, since there are already several word processing software that offer this functionality.
What is a Word Counter?
Writing is an activity that involves many rules to follow. It requires in particular a good sense of analysis, a good understanding of the subject matter, concentration and a good ability to express ideas clearly.
This understanding will be formalized in particular in the layout which includes the size, font, line spacing, layout and number of words or characters in the text.
Out of simple curiosity or to precisely follow imposed rules, you may need to know the length of a text. For example, you may have a limit to respect, such as for social media posts, or you may need to establish billing per word/character, as journalists or web writers do.
Know the Exact Number of Words and Avoid Guessing
In these circumstances, it is crucial to closely monitor the number of characters or words during writing. Otherwise you risk not following the instructions given, which can lead to disqualification of your work. You can also waste a lot of time by far exceeding the required limit or falling well short.
Follow Imposed Guidelines and Save Time
If you have a 1,000-word text to write and you exceed this limit, you will waste time at two levels. First, by exceeding the required limit and second, by having to delete certain parts of your text afterwards.
Furthermore, if you fall short of the required limit, you will be forced to redo some research. You may thus be led to return to pages you had already visited to find other information that will flesh out your text.
In either situation, you will waste precious time that could have been used for something else. To avoid these mishaps, I invite you to use a counter, which is by far the best solution since it often goes beyond simply determining the number of words or characters.
What Information Does a Word Counter Provide?
In addition to the number of words and characters, a word counter can help you determine for a text or web page the following information:
- the number of characters;
- the number of lines;
- the number of paragraphs;
- word density;
- silent reading time;
- aloud reading time.
The Number of Characters
The notions of character and sign are sometimes confused, but there is indeed a subtle difference between the two. Indeed, the character is considered the basic element of a writing system and includes letters, punctuation, numbers…
In reality, note that a space (in the feminine, when it comes to typography!) between two words is also often considered a character. This means that you will in principle have two pieces of information: the number of characters and the number of characters “including spaces”.
Moreover, it is the latter that is generally taken into account for social media limitations and certain software, which is the case in our tool.
In addition to its subheading, this subsection contains exactly 804 characters with spaces.
The Number of Characters
The character, on the other hand, is defined as a graphic convention serving as a basic unit of a text and can be:
- handwritten;
- typographic or printed.
Therefore, the notion of character is somewhat broader than that of the character since it does not stop only at the elements constituting a writing system, but also at symbols, pictograms, etc.
Nevertheless, they merge in the field of computer-assisted publishing. This means that for this article, the number of characters equals the number of characters.
Furthermore, note that the term “character” is part of the jargon of writing and journalism professionals. Indeed, a print journalist uses a unit in order to be paid for writing an article. This is the sheet which is generally composed of 1,500 characters (including spaces), with 15 lines of 100 characters or 25 lines of 60 characters.
This subsection contains 1,014 characters or characters with spaces.
The Number of Words
In most languages, words are separated by spaces and/or punctuation. Articles and prepositions are also included in the word count: “the”, “of”, “to”…
Furthermore, you can use texts in other languages and get results as accurate as in French, thanks to our tool.
You have just read 82 words with these three paragraphs, including the words in the subheading.
The Number of Lines
Some word counters can help you know exactly how many lines your text contains, even though it largely depends on the font size and layout used. This can be very useful, especially when you have a graphic limit to respect.
If you paid attention, you are on the sixth line, taking into account the subheading as well.
The Number of Paragraphs
A long text generally contains several paragraphs in order to facilitate its reading. Thanks to this tool, you know the exact number of paragraphs that the entire text contains.
Depending on its length, you can decide to space it out a bit more by increasing the number of paragraphs.
Taking into account the subtitle of this section, you are currently on the fourth paragraph.
Word Density
This is very interesting data, especially if you have used keywords in your text. Indeed, you will be able to know the total number of occurrences of such and such a word. This allows you to optimize your text for SEO for example, by increasing the number of keywords or decreasing it.
Also keep in mind that Google’s robots seek to understand the web pages they analyze to determine the expressions and words that appear most often, that is, the words whose density is highest.
Also be careful not to go overboard with keyword repetition which could be considered by Google’s robots as Spam.
It is interesting to be able to use a word counter focused on keyword density, without taking into account pronouns, prepositions, articles… This is exactly how our Twaino tool works.
For this subsection, the 5 most frequently used words are:
- words: 10 times with 23.3%;
- with: 6 times with 14%;
- times: 5 times with 11.8%;
- density: 4 times with 9.3%;
- keywords: 4 times with 9.3%.
Reading Time
This is a function offered by some word counters, like ours. Rating first that standard word processing tools such as Word, Excel, Google Docs… do not offer the ability to know reading time.
Indeed, adding average reading time to blog articles has become an increasingly common practice and is very valuable. It is about allowing readers to know the average time it will take them to read your articles.
In 2016, a NewsCred study of 10,000 articles indicates that the average reading time by users is 37 seconds. Furthermore, HubSpot shows the same year that 43% of them skim articles.
It is therefore obvious that internet users have very little time to devote to content. Telling them an average reading time is a strong argument that allows them to know what to expect. This information is likely to help them quickly in the next decision: read your article or not.
In addition to indicating the average reading time of your article, you can use the Readism extension for Google Chrome. This tool displays a small scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen that estimates the time needed to finish the page.
Reading this section silently took you a little less than 2 minutes.
Speaking Time
Reading aloud is slower than silent reading.
Indeed, according to Wikipedia, an adult has the ability to read between 250 and 300 words per minute when it comes to silent reading and 200 words per minute for reading aloud. Rating that the maximum speed for reading aloud is 210 words per minute if you want to be understood by your audience. Furthermore, a range of 150 to 160 words per minute is recommended for audiobooks.
This data is therefore very useful when you want to give a speech, because an oral presentation requires careful preparation to be a success. In most cases, speaking time is limited and it is unfortunate not to finish properly.
For this, you can resort to timing with a timer or training, with software like PowerPoint. However, this step comes after writing the text. And it often happens that you are forced to delete portions or add some to adjust to a given duration.
This process is cumbersome and sometimes leads to considerable loss of time. I rather recommend that you use upstream a word counter like Twaino’s tool, which can also serve as a speaking time counter.
You automatically see the duration in minutes as soon as you paste your text into the designated space. You can also check this information as you write the text directly in the provided field.
At the end, don’t hesitate to practice with your timer, to make sure your presentation respects the time constraints imposed. This step is all the more necessary because the word counter only gives an approximation and speaking speed can vary considerably from person to person.
You just spent about 3 minutes reading this subsection aloud.
Statistics for This Chapter
Without taking into account the statistics of this present subsection, the chapter “What Information Does a Word Counter Provide?” includes:
- 1,458 words;
- 8,097 characters with spaces;
- 60 paragraphs;
- 98 sentences.
Silent reading time is approximately 8 minutes and aloud reading time is approximately 11 minutes.
Word density is as follows:
- words: 27 with 16.8%;
- number: 19 with 11.8%;
- that: 19 with 11.8%;
- time: 16 with 9.9%;
- reading: 15 with 9.3%.
How to Use a Word Counter?
Counting each word or character in a text is obviously cumbersome and the risk of making many errors is high. This method is not very effective.
This is why the word and character counter is the ideal solution. Indeed, this tool instantly calculates the number of characters, characters, paragraphs, letters, words, sentences, silent and aloud reading time of a text or web page. Even better, its operation is very simple and sometimes requires no clicks at all.
How an Online Word Counter Works
This online tool works exactly like a powerful calculator and it is important to note that some offer additional features. Indeed, the most basic only count the number of letters, words or characters, others go further by evaluating reading time, speaking time, word density, or even including a spell checker or other options.
With some, results are automatic and immediate, with others you need to click a button. Know, however, that word or character counters generally do not take into account the language of the text or the font used, its size, lowercase and uppercase letters…
The entire process happens instantly with almost no effort. You have four options.
Copy and Paste Your Text
The first option is to simply copy and paste, in case you have already written your text:
- in Ratingpad;
- in Word;
- in Excel;
- in Dreamweaver;
- in a PDF editor;
- in Wordpad;
- in an email
- etc.
To do this, simply use your keyboard with the “Ctrl+a” shortcut to select all the text in the document, then copy with the “Ctrl+c” shortcut. If you want to use your mouse and/or want to analyze only part of the text:
1- select the text with your cursor;
2- right-click on the highlighted part and choose “Copy”.
After copying the text, place your cursor in the text field of the word counter, right-click and select “Paste”. You can also use the “Ctrl + v” shortcut to paste the text.
In some word counters, statistics appear as soon as the text is pasted. In others, you must click a button such as “Count”.
Write Your Text Directly on the Word Counter
The second option you have is to write your text directly on the tool, in the designated field. I recommend using a word counter that does not require pressing a button to provide statistics.
Indeed, it is much more interesting to instantly get the number of words, characters, reading time… as you write.
I especially recommend using this option for short texts, intended for social media for example.
On the other hand, know that you will have none of the options offered by a special word processing tool. If you are already used to this type of software, you can choose the first method.
Insert Your Text File Directly
After writing your text with word processing software, some tools give you the ability to insert the text file directly. You will find in this case a button such as “Upload your text”, which allows you to search for and load the file from your computer or mobile device.
Thus, you no longer have to copy and paste. However, keep in mind that the entire document will be analyzed and if you want statistics for only one part, you must choose one of the two previous options.
Furthermore, the types of files accepted by these tools are limited to certain formats: Word, PDF, plain text, Excel, etc.
Insert the URL or Link of the Page in the Word Counter
To get information about an entire web page, simply paste the link or URL of one of your website pages (or any page!), and press the “Count” button.
You then collect the same statistics as for a text, that is:
- the number of characters;
- the number of lines;
- the number of paragraphs;
- word density;
- reading time;
- speaking time.
Twaino’s tool offers this functionality and allows you to display this information in a few seconds.
Who Should Use a Word Counter?
The word or character counter is for everyone. Those who are likely to use it frequently in their professional activity are:
- webmasters/website administrators;
- web and print writers;
- translators;
- writers;
- community managers or social media influencers;
- etc.
Indeed, most of these professionals must control the length of their text, since they often have to respect an exact number of characters, for social media for example.
Know for example that Google imposes a maximum number of characters for tags. There are also registration procedures in directories, web page labels, articles or blog posts, etc. that have limits to respect.
In addition to these professionals who need this information almost all the time, there are also:
- students who want to know the number of letters or words for a thesis, dissertation, essay…
- speakers who want to know the speaking time of their speech text;
- job seekers who want to write a proper cover letter.
More generally, anyone can need such a tool for writing an email, a text message, a forum post… which sometimes require the use of a word counter.
Thus, the word counter is a tool intended for almost everyone, as long as you want to control the size of a text.
Some Practical Examples to Evaluate the Number of Words or Pages in a Document
Whether you are a professional, student or individual, knowing in advance the approximate number of words or pages in a text can be very useful for tracking the progress of your writing. In addition to practical examples, here are some recommendations for certain types of documents.
How Many Characters or Characters on a Page?
It is very often useful to know the number of pages, characters and characters you devote to writing.
This could be, for example, a competition, a school assignment or even a professional report.
And in order to know the number of pages, you must first determine the number of characters on a page, knowing that the final result depends on the layout of your text.
Layout
Layout is the operation that consists of organizing and structuring the different elements of a page, intended for printing or the web, in order to obtain a harmonious and coherent result. It thus includes formatting and adding illustrations or animations to your text. In other words, it takes into account elements such as:
- font;
- character size;
- spacing and line spacing;
- headings and drop caps;
- illustrations and their wrapping.
Number of Characters or Characters per Page: Practical Example
If you work on an A4 sheet with 12-pixel font, standard 2.5 cm margins and 1.5 line spacing, each page will contain approximately 36 lines of 90 characters or characters (including spaces). Therefore, this sheet will contain 3,000 characters with spaces.
Keep in mind that this is an approximation and that paragraph breaks or subheadings are not taken into account.
This means that your document written on an A4 format like with Microsoft Word software will contain approximately 2,500 characters per page. In the same logic, you can estimate the number of characters at 500,000 for a 200-page book. On the other hand, the number of words will obviously be different.
How Many Pages is 1,000 Words?
Do you need to write an article, blog post or essay that should be less than 1,000 words, for example? It sometimes happens that a limit must be respected and it is necessary to be able to quickly evaluate the number of pages corresponding.
However, the result also depends on the medium and final layout of the text. Thus, you will not have the same results if you use Microsoft Word, Google Docs or a web page. With Microsoft Word, for example, the number of pages corresponding to a 1,000-word text depends on:
- font size;
- font type;
- margins;
- spacing;
- paragraph structure;
- illustrations (if any).
Here are some basic calculations to give you an idea of the number of pages for 1,000 words. Your text is:
- two pages when the font size is 12 pt, the font type is Arial and the spacing is single;
- two pages when the font size is 10 pt, the font type is Calibri and the spacing is double.
- four pages when the font size is 12 pt, the font type is Times New Roman and the spacing is double.
To go further, here are some practical examples.
Example 1: 1,000 Words for an Admission Application
Suppose a high school senior wants to apply for admission to university. To do this, he must write a 1,000-word essay on a given topic.
The number of pages corresponding depends on the university’s requirements regarding formatting. However, he can use a word counter to closely monitor the number of words he writes and also get an estimate of the number of pages.
In case the high school student is required to write his essay by hand, the number of pages for the 1,000 words will depend on his handwriting.
On average, note, however, that a 1,000-word text corresponds to 2 to 4 pages.
Example 2: 500 Words for a Blog Article
If you want to write a 500-word blog article and you do it in advance in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, it will be 1 to 2 pages. But the 500 words can well occupy a section or the entire page of your website. The key element here is the layout of your website which will determine the final appearance of the text.
You can therefore use a word counter first to track the length of your text and second, refine the layout directly on the site.
Example 3: 50,000 Words for a Novel
If an author writes a 50,000-word novel with Calibri font, 12-point size and double line spacing, his manuscript will be approximately 172 pages. However, this approximation does not take into account line breaks and the fact that his story is divided into several chapters.
Therefore, the number of pages of two different novels will probably not be identical even if they both have 50,000 words, since the layout must be taken into account.
Example 4: 500 Words for a Children’s Book
Children’s books generally contain images and the character size is rather large. This is why you can easily reach about twenty pages for a small 500-word text.
The Number of Pages is Relative
Respecting a certain number of pages can be a professional or school requirement, or even a personal need.
Furthermore, it is a relative element that depends on the type of medium and layout, which takes into account size, font, spacing, margins and paragraph structure.
Moreover, the final format and destination also matter. Indeed, even with an equivalent number of words, the number of pages will not be identical on a website, a printed Word document, a magazine article, a novel or a children’s book.
How Many Words on a Page?
When a certain number of pages is required, it is sometimes useful to know how many words you will be writing per page. This section is correlated with the previous one and in the same way, the number of words on a page depends on several factors.
Text Formatting
Text formatting is one of the elements that determines the number of words on a page. It takes into account:
- font;
- character size;
- margins;
- paragraph length;
- spacing and line spacing.
In addition to these elements, the way the final work will be presented has a direct impact on the number of words you will find on a page.
The Document Contains Images, Tables, Graphics…
The number of words on a page containing only words differs from that of a page containing elements such as images, graphics, tables…
Type of Medium
The number of words on a web page is not comparable to that of an A4 page or a book, regardless of its size.
You must therefore consider the type of physical or virtual medium of the text before determining the number of words per page.
Reading Level of the Book
The difference between the number of words per page of a children’s book and that of a book for adults can be considerable. The former generally contains many illustrations and very few words, the latter may contain no illustrations and a small font size.
The Number of Words per Page is Relative
Knowing the number of words per page is often very interesting. Indeed, this data allows a student to easily track his progress towards the page or word limit required for his assignment.
If you are an author, for example, you can also easily track the progress of your manuscript. But note that this information is relative and depends on several factors, as we have seen.
How Many Words for a 5-Minute Speech?
When you prepare to write a speech of a set duration, you may wonder how many words you should use. There is no exact answer, but you can get an approximation.
Indeed, Daphne Gray-Grant, publication coach, indicates that on average, a person can speak 125 to 150 words per minute. Thus, 5 minutes of conversation represents approximately 625 to 750 words.
Keep in mind that several factors obviously come into play. This includes of course the speed, since some people speak more slowly than others, even if both are understood.
The most important thing is to communicate the essence of your speech clearly and eloquently.
After writing your speech with a word counter that automatically tells you the duration of reading aloud, also practice with your timer to make sure you are actually on time and make adjustments if necessary.
How Many Words Should You Write?
Writing is a practice common to almost everyone: some use it professionally, others for assignments or for personal reasons.
Although it is almost impossible to precisely state how many words a text will contain, there are averages for common types of writing.
Word Count for Essays
At some point in your life, you will likely have to write an essay for professional purposes, standardized tests or university assignments. There are several types of essays whose choice depends on the objective:
- exposition;
- narration;
- persuasion;
- analysis.
In addition to exploring these four types of essays, here are some recommendations on the usual word count for each.
The Expository Essay
This type of essay allows you to convey a brief explanation of an idea, question or topic. According to Purdue OWL, it presents some standard requirements, which can be considered as steps:
- studying an idea;
- evaluating evidence;
- systematic and detailed explanation of the idea;
- clear and concise statement of an argument about the idea.
In fact, conciseness is the main element required by these essays and, for this, the recommended length is 500 to 800 words. If you want to be effective, your essay should have:
- a clear and precise thesis statement, statement of intent or research question;
- a simple and straightforward approach to answer the question or your thesis with factual evidence supporting your position;
- great conciseness.
The Narrative Essay
The narrative essay consists of a recount of experiences from real or abstract life and is usually a personal narrative. Like any story, this type of essay requires a structure: a beginning, middle and end. Furthermore, it has the following characteristics:
- generally written from a first-person point of view;
- vivid images and sensory details;
- essential story components: theme, style, plot, character, setting, tone…
To tell a complete story, approximately 1,000 words are needed. This is actually the short version of a novel and each paragraph of this essay represents a chapter of the story.
To make this type of text captivating and interesting, it is recommended to add dialogue or anecdotes to the narrative and end with a personal statement or conclusion. You will thus have something to offer your readers a memorable story.
The Persuasive Essay
Also called an argumentative essay, it is based on logical reasoning, to lead readers to adopt the author’s point of view. Since it serves as an instrument of persuasion, its writing requires much more effort than other types of essays.
Indeed, an argument or definitive justification is necessary when you want to be eloquent and convincing. And for your persuasive text to be of quality, it must:
- present factual evidence;
- maintain reader interest;
- have valid reasoning;
- present a natural progression from one idea to another;
- have a strong and convincing conclusion.
If you want to produce an effective argument, a text of approximately 2,500 words is recommended by Scribbr.
However, you should not limit yourself to length, you should avoid filler that could discredit your arguments. Try, however, to provide as much relevant explanation as possible and provide substantial evidence to support your argument.
The Analytical Essay
The analytical essay, on the other hand, consists of presenting an argument by breaking down and examining the essential elements of an idea, question or work of art such as a book, film, painting, etc.
It is characterized by:
- an introduction and presentation of the argument, which highlights the text of the literary work you want to discuss;
- maintaining reader interest;
- analysis of the text, which must be relevant and supported by examples;
- a personal response that demonstrates your deep understanding, positive or negative, of the text.
The recommended word count for an analytical essay is 500 to 700. The key is to cover all the main points, not to have a long text. Furthermore, you should focus mainly on analysis rather than telling a story.
Word Count for Novels
Novels are categorized into two types of works. Fiction works are considered inventions and non-fiction works generally provide information about a historical event.
If you are writing your novel for the first time, you are certainly asking yourself many questions, including how many words your work should contain. The answer to this question depends on the type of work (fiction or non-fiction) and its genre. I explain everything.
Fiction Works
In this category, the recommended word count is different depending on the fiction genre. Furthermore, the reading level (adult, teen or child) also has an important impact.
Commercial Fiction for Adults
These fiction works are the most numerous, including most bestsellers. There are several genres:
- mainstream;
- thriller;
- horror;
- romance;
- suspense;
- mystery;
- literary;
- etc.
When writing novels of this type, Writer’s Digest recommends 80,000 to 89,999 words. You should still be careful to get straight to the point since these types of books are not meant to be sagas.
Science Fiction and Adult Fiction
In terms of length, these two genres are exceptions since they contain 100,000 to 115,000 words. Furthermore, some can far exceed these figures: George R. R. Martin’s epic series, A Song of Ice and Fire is a good example. Indeed, his five published books contain a combined total of 1,770,000 words.
Fiction for Teens
Although very similar to adult fiction, teen fiction is adapted to their age.
The middle grade level is aimed at readers aged 8 to 12, according to Writer’s Digest: this type of novel contains no sexuality, graphic violence, or profanity. Its length varies from 20,000 to 50,000 words depending on age group and subject. However, the length can approach 40,000 to 50,000 words for 12-year-olds.
Young adult books: they contain 55,000 to 80,000 words. However, science fiction and heroic fantasy stories for this category often exceed 80,000 words.
Take the example of the very famous teen fiction: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. The total of the seven books in the series is exactly 1,084,170 words.
Furthermore, the word count differs from one book to another: 257,045 words for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and 76,944 words for “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”.
Fiction for Children
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