Word Counter

Word Counter

Word Counter reports words, characters, sentences and paragraphs as you type or paste. It is the quickest way to check a draft against a limit before you submit it.

What counts as a word

Words are counted by splitting on whitespace, which is the same rule word processors use. Hyphenated compounds count as one word, and a number counts as a word.

Sentence counting looks for terminal punctuation, so abbreviations like Dr. and e.g. can inflate the count slightly. Paragraph counting splits on blank lines, which is why a document using single line breaks between paragraphs will report fewer paragraphs than you see.

When it helps

• Checking an essay or article against a word limit before submitting.
• Trimming copy to fit a fixed space in a layout.
• Measuring a draft against a target length while writing.
• Comparing two versions of the same piece for bloat.

Common mistakes

• Assuming every word counter agrees. Different tools handle hyphens, numbers and em dashes differently, so check against the counter your marker or editor uses when a hard limit matters.
• Counting a draft that still contains notes and placeholders.