Word Counter
Count words, characters (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, and reading time.
Free browser-based tool. Files are processed locally in your browser.
Open the Word CounterInteractive Word Counter workspace loads in your browser.
How to Use the Word Counter
Analyze words, characters (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, lines, and estimated reading time in real time across English, Khmer, and multilingual Unicode text.
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Type or paste your text into the editor
Click inside the main text editor and start typing or paste your draft. You can also click Load English Sample or Load Khmer Sample (ភាសាខ្មែរ) when the editor is empty to test how metrics are calculated.
- 2
Review the 6 live statistical cards
As you type or edit, the workspace immediately recalculates Words, Characters (with spaces), Characters (no spaces), Sentences, Paragraphs, and Lines, along with the Estimated Reading Time badge at the top right.
- 3
Edit, copy, or download your text as a .txt file
Revise your draft directly inside the resizable editor until it meets your target word or character limit, then click Copy Text to copy it to your clipboard or Download .txt to save a UTF-8 text file (`alltoolsfree-word-counter-text.txt`).
- 4
Clear the workspace safely when finished
Click Clear Text to reset all counters to zero. If your editor contains 40 or more characters, a confirmation prompt protects you from clearing a long draft by mistake.
Understanding Word, Character, Structure, and Reading-Time Metrics
Academic essays, grant proposals, SEO titles and meta descriptions, social media posts, and legal filings all enforce strict length rules—some measured by word count, others by total characters including spaces, and others by characters excluding whitespace. The AllToolsFree Word Counter computes all six structural metrics simultaneously in real time.
Unlike basic JavaScript counters that simply split strings on spaces (`text.split(" ")`) and fail on non-Latin scripts or count standalone punctuation marks as words, this tool combines Unicode grapheme/code-point awareness with ECMAScript `Intl.Segmenter` word segmentation.
Common Practical Use Cases
- Checking academic essays, abstracts, and scholarship applications against minimum and maximum word limits.
- Verifying character counts (with and without spaces) for SEO page titles (30–60 chars), meta descriptions (120–160 chars), ad copy, and social media bios.
- Counting words and characters in Khmer (`ភាសាខ្មែរ`) and multilingual passages where words are written continuously without spaces between every word.
- Estimating speech or article reading time (calculated at the standard adult silent reading rate of 200 words per minute) before publishing a blog post or newsletter.
How Word, Sentence, Paragraph, and Unicode Counts Are Calculated
When `Intl.Segmenter` is supported by your browser, the counter segments text using word granularity (`granularity: "word"`) and counts only segments where `isWordLike` is true (or that contain Unicode letters/numbers `[\p{L}\p{N}]`), automatically excluding standalone punctuation marks like em-dashes or bullet symbols. Character counts are measured by Unicode code points (`Array.from(text).length`) rather than raw UTF-16 code units, so emojis and non-BMP symbols are not double-counted.
Lines are counted after normalizing Windows (`\r\n`) and classic Mac (`\r`) line breaks to `\n`. Paragraphs are defined as non-empty text blocks separated by one or more blank lines (`\n\s*\n`), and sentences are segmented by terminal punctuation (`.`, `!`, `?`, plus Khmer `។`, `៕`, and CJK `。`, `！`, `？`) or line breaks when no terminal punctuation is present.
Helpful Tips to Avoid Common Mistakes
- Watch both Characters (with spaces) and Characters (no spaces) when submitting translations or academic forms, as different institutions specify one or the other.
- Notice the Estimated Reading Time badge: texts under 200 words display an exact second estimate (e.g., `~45 sec read`), while longer articles round to minutes at 200 words per minute.
- If you paste a list where every item is on a single line without periods, each non-empty line is counted as 1 sentence and 1 line; add a blank line between blocks to separate paragraphs.
- Use Download .txt to save a clean UTF-8 backup of your draft before closing your browser tab.
Word Counter Frequently Asked Questions
How does the Word Counter handle Khmer (ភាសាខ្មែរ) and other languages without spaces between words?
Modern browsers provide the built-in Intl.Segmenter API, which uses linguistic dictionaries to identify word boundaries in scripts like Khmer, Thai, Japanese, and Chinese even when words are not separated by spaces. Because dictionary boundaries can vary slightly across browser versions, non-spaced script word counts should be treated as a helpful estimate.
Does standalone punctuation (like "---" or "•") count as a word?
No. The word counter filters out whitespace-only and punctuation-only segments, counting only segments that contain actual Unicode letter or number characters.
How is Estimated Reading Time calculated?
Reading time is calculated at 200 words per minute (WPM). Passages with fewer than 200 words display an estimate in seconds (minimum 1 sec when at least 1 word is present), while longer passages display minutes.
What is the difference between Paragraphs and Lines?
Lines count every single line break (Enter/Return) in your text, including blank lines. Paragraphs count only non-empty blocks of text that are separated by one or more empty/blank lines.
Related Browser Utilities for Word Counter
Explore complementary AllToolsFree utilities that pair directly with Word Counter:
Case Converter – Format Headlines & Paragraph Casing
Convert your text between Title Case, Sentence case, UPPERCASE, lowercase, and 3 more modes.
Duplicate Line & Whitespace Cleaner – Clean Up Lists & Spaces
Remove duplicate lines, extra spaces between words, and blank lines from your draft.
Text Diff Checker – Compare Two Draft Revisions
Compare your original draft and edited draft line by line to see every addition and removal.