Free tool Word counter and sentence counter with reading time
Paste a draft and see its words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and estimated reading time as you type. English is counted by word, Chinese, Japanese and Korean by character, so mixed text gets one sensible total.
- Eight counts at once
- Updates as you type
- Runs locally
Count words and characters
Type or paste below. Every count refreshes as you edit, and the rules behind each number are listed further down the page.
Paste an article, an essay, a product description or a caption. Nothing leaves this browser tab.
Words
66
CJK characters plus words in other scripts. Punctuation is not counted.
Characters
358
Letters, digits, spaces and punctuation; line breaks excluded.
Characters (no spaces)
294
Spaces, tabs and line breaks removed.
CJK characters
0
Chinese characters, Japanese kana and Korean Hangul, one each.
Words (non-CJK)
66
Runs of letters or digits. "e-mail" and "don't" count as one.
Sentences
5
Split at . ! ? … 。！？ and line breaks.
Paragraphs
2
Lines that contain any text.
Reading time
0:17
Minutes:seconds at 230 words or 400 CJK characters a minute.
Version v1.0Updated Update history
What each count means
Different editors and platforms count text in different ways. These are the rules this counter uses, so you know which number to compare with which limit.
Words
The headline number. Each Chinese, Japanese or Korean character counts as one; English and other alphabetic text counts by word; numbers such as 2026 or 3.14 count as one word each. Punctuation and emoji add nothing.
Characters, with and without spaces
Use these for limits that are set in characters, such as titles, meta descriptions and form fields. "With spaces" includes punctuation and spaces but ignores line breaks; "no spaces" also drops spaces and tabs.
Sentences and paragraphs
Sentences end at . ! ? … or their full-width forms, and at a line break. Abbreviations like "Mr." end a sentence too, so treat this as an estimate. A paragraph is any line with text on it.
Reading time
An estimate for silent reading of body text: 230 English words or 400 CJK characters per minute, added together. Shown as minutes and seconds, so 0:17 means seventeen seconds.
Reading time is an expectation, not a measurement. To see how long people actually stay on a page, look at time on page in your analytics.
Check a draft against a limit
Most people arrive with a target: an essay length, a title limit, a post that has to fit.
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1
Paste the text
Copy straight from your editor. Formatting is dropped; only the characters count.
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2
Pick the right number
Word targets compare with "Words". Limits written as characters compare with "Characters", or "no spaces" if the rule says so.
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3
Edit in place
Trim or expand inside the box and watch the counts change. Reading time tells you whether the piece fits the attention you expect.
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4
Copy it back
The text stays in this tab only. Copy it back to your editor when you are done; reloading the page restores the example.
Words = CJK characters + other words
One formula covers English, Chinese and mixed text. The other counts follow simple, published rules.
- Letters and digits joined by an apostrophe, hyphen or full stop form one word:
e-mail,don't,3.14 - Accented letters and other alphabets (Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic) count by word like English
- Microsoft Word, WPS and Google Docs may report different numbers, mainly because punctuation, spaces and mixed CJK and English text are treated differently
| Count | Rule | Example → result |
|---|---|---|
| Words | CJK characters + other words, no punctuation | "Hello 世界" → 3 |
| Characters | Everything except line breaks | "Hello, world!" → 13 |
| No spaces | Spaces, tabs and line breaks removed | "Hello, world!" → 12 |
| Words (non-CJK) | Letters or digits, joined by ' - . | "e-mail 3.14 don't" → 3 |
| Sentences | Ends at . ! ? … 。！？ or a line break | "Wait... what?! Yes." → 3 |
| Reading time | words ÷ 230 + CJK ÷ 400, in minutes | 1,500 words → 6:31 |
Four texts, counted the same way
Short English, mixed English and Chinese, the example on this page, and a Chinese paragraph of similar length. The totals show why one rule for "words" works across languages.
| Text | Words | Characters | No spaces | Sentences | Reading time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Hello, world!" | 2 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 0:01 |
| "Hello 世界" | 3 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0:01 |
| Landing page example (2 paragraphs) | 66 | 358 | 294 | 5 | 0:17 |
| Chinese paragraph (3 paragraphs) | 118 | 139 | 136 | 4 | 0:18 |
The Chinese paragraph has 116 characters and two non-CJK words, so it reads in about the same time as 66 English words. Its character count is far lower, which is why character limits feel generous in Chinese and tight in English.
Where word counts get misread
The counting is mechanical. The confusion comes from comparing numbers produced under different rules.
Expecting an exact match with Word
Word processors have their own rules for punctuation, dashes, URLs and CJK text. If a teacher or editor names a tool, check the final count in that tool.
Using words for a character limit
Titles, descriptions and app store fields are usually limited in characters. A 10-word title can still be over a 60-character limit.
Assuming platforms count alike
Some social platforms count a CJK character as two, and some count links as a fixed length. Use their own editor for the last check.
Treating reading time as fact
Readers skim, stop and come back. Compare the estimate with time on page and scroll depth before rewriting.
From words written to words read
A word count tells you how long a page is. TapCub shows what happens when people open it: how long they stay, how far they scroll, and whether search sends them there.
Page reports
Visitors, views, average time, bounce and exit rate for every page, with high exit rates highlighted.
Learn moreHeatmaps and scroll depth
Where people click and how far down a long article they actually get.
Learn moreSearch performance
Google Search Console and Bing clicks, impressions and position per page, with alerts for content that is losing traffic.
Learn moreWord counter questions
Still have a question?
Chat with the team behind TapCub — we usually reply within a few hours on business days.
How does this tool count words?
It adds the number of Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters to the number of words in every other script. A word is a run of letters or digits; an apostrophe, hyphen or full stop inside it does not split it. Punctuation, symbols and emoji are not counted.
Why is my count different from Microsoft Word or Google Docs?
Each program decides for itself how to treat punctuation, dashes, URLs, numbers and text that mixes CJK with English. Differences of a few words are normal. When a submission has to meet a limit, use the tool the requirement names for the final check.
How are Chinese, Japanese and Korean counted?
One character, one word, because these languages are not written with spaces between words. In mixed text such as "Hello 世界" you get 1 English word plus 2 characters, a total of 3.
Do spaces count as characters?
In "Characters", yes: spaces and punctuation are included and only line breaks are left out. "Characters (no spaces)" removes spaces, tabs and line breaks. Check which one a limit means; many forms count spaces.
How is reading time calculated?
Non-CJK words are divided by 230 and CJK characters by 400, giving minutes, which are shown as minutes and seconds. A 1,500-word article comes to about 6:31. It is an average for body text; technical or dense writing takes longer.
How does the sentence counter work?
A sentence ends at . ! ? … or their full-width forms 。！？, and at every line break, so a heading or a list item on its own line counts as one sentence. Abbreviations such as "Mr." or "e.g." also end a sentence, so the figure is a close estimate rather than a grammatical count.
Are numbers and hyphenated words counted?
Yes. 2026, 3.14, e-mail and well-known each count as one word. A URL like tapcub.com also counts as one.
Is my text uploaded or saved?
No. Counting happens in your browser, the text is not added to the page address, and nothing is sent to TapCub. Reloading the page brings back the example text.
Update history
New features, fixes and data refreshes for this tool, newest first.
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· v1.0
LaunchedFirst release.
Missing something or found an error? Tell us — requests that come up often go into the next update. All tool updates
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