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Count the words in your text

Clean, convert and count text

Word limits are enforced literally, whether it is a 500-word essay, a 150-word abstract or a job application with a hard character cap. Paste your text below for a live count of words, characters, sentences and paragraphs — and, because the text stays in your browser, an unpublished draft is not sitting in someone's log file.

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How to use it
  1. 01Paste or type your text into the box.
  2. 02Read the live word and character counts.
  3. 03Trim until you are under the limit.
  4. 04Copy the finished text back out.
Questions
Is my writing sent anywhere?
No. It never leaves the tab, which matters if you are pasting in an unpublished manuscript, a legal draft or a job application.
How does it decide what a word is?
Runs of characters separated by whitespace. Hyphenated words count as one, which matches how most style guides and markers count them.
Does the character count include spaces?
Both figures are shown — with and without spaces — because forms are inconsistent about which one they mean.
Is there a limit on how much I can paste?
Hundreds of thousands of characters are fine. A full novel may make typing feel sluggish as the count re-renders, so work chapter by chapter.
Free, no signup?
Free, no account, and no ads wrapped around the counter.
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