More
More
Word Counter & Readability
Words, characters, sentences and reading time, plus reading ease, grade level, long sentences and passive voice.
Free tools that run in your browser. Nothing you type, open or create is uploaded to NerdBible or anyone else.
Most used words
Common words such as the, and or of are left out so the words that carry your text stand out.
| Word | Times | Share of words |
|---|
Scores appear here as you type.
Your text, marked up
Long sentence Possible passiveReadability scores are for English text and are more reliable with at least 100 words. The formulas count words, sentences and syllables, and syllables are estimated with English spelling rules, so the scores are a guide rather than a verdict. Passive voice is spotted by a simple pattern (a form of to be followed by a past participle), which misses some cases and flags a few that are fine.
Reading time assumes 238 words a minute, a common average for adults reading silently. Speaking time assumes 150 words a minute, a relaxed pace for a talk or a video script. Characters are counted as you see them, so an emoji or an accented letter counts as one.
How to use it
- Type in the box or paste text from anywhere.
- The counts update as you type: words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs and time to read or say it aloud. Check the most used words to spot repetition.
- Open Readability for the reading ease score and grade level. For a general audience, aim for a reading ease of 60 or more and a grade of 8 or below.
- Look at the highlighted sentences, split the long ones and rewrite passive phrases where an active one reads better.
Questions
How are words counted?
A word is a run of letters or numbers. Contractions such as don't count as one word, and hyphenated words such as well-known count as two, which matches most word processors closely. Other programs draw the line a little differently around hyphens, decimals and links, usually by less than one percent.
Is my text saved or sent anywhere?
No. The counting and scoring happen in your browser as you type. Nothing is uploaded, stored or logged, so you can paste drafts and private documents safely.
How long should a meta description or a tweet be?
Search results usually show about 150 to 160 characters of a meta description. A post on X allows 280 characters. Use the characters count to stay inside those limits.
What is a good Flesch reading ease score?
Scores of 60 to 70 read as plain English that most adults follow easily. 70 and above is easy. Below 50 is hard going and usually needs shorter sentences and simpler words.
What does the grade level mean?
It is the number of years of US schooling a reader needs to follow the text on first reading. Grade 8 means a typical 13 to 14 year old could follow it, which suits most web pages. The formulas were built for English, so other languages will not score the same way.
Is passive voice always wrong?
No. It is useful when the person doing the action is unknown or unimportant. It becomes a problem when it piles up and hides who did what, so treat the highlights as prompts to check.
About this tool
About the word counter
Paste or type any text and the counts update as you go: words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, and how long the text takes to read silently or say aloud. A list of the most used words helps you spot repetition before you publish.
Reading time assumes 238 words a minute, a common adult average; speaking time assumes 150, a relaxed pace for a talk or a video script. A word is a run of letters or numbers, so most word processors agree with the count to within about one percent.
Readability
The readability tab scores how easy the text is to follow, using two long-established formulas:
- Flesch reading ease: 60 to 70 reads as plain English most adults follow easily; below 50 is hard going.
- Grade level: the years of US schooling needed to follow the text on first reading. Grade 8 or below suits most web pages.
Long sentences and passive phrases are highlighted so you can split or rewrite them. Passive voice is not wrong in itself; treat the highlights as prompts to check. The formulas count syllables using English spelling rules, so the scores are a guide for English text rather than a verdict, and they do not carry over to other languages.
Counting happens in your browser; nothing is uploaded, stored or logged.
Related tools
- Case Converter & SlugUPPER, lower, Title, camelCase, snake_case and URL slugs.
- Diff CheckerSee what changed between two texts or two JSON files.
- Text to SpeechRead text aloud with the voices built into your device.
- Meta Tag Generator & Social PreviewTitle, description and social tags for a page, with Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and X previews.
- Typing Speed TestWords per minute and accuracy.