Word Counter & Readability Tools
Count what an assignment, an abstract or a post limits you on — words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, pages, LaTeX source — and measure how hard the text is to read and how varied its vocabulary is. Paste your text and the counts come back at once, worked out in your browser. Free, no sign-up.
Counters & Readability
17 tools · free, no sign-up
Word Counter
Count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in your text. Get reading time estimates and readability scores instantly.
Readability Score Checker
Check the readability of your writing with Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog, Coleman-Liau, and SMOG readability scores.
Character Counter
Count characters with and without spaces, unique characters, and character frequency. Track character limits for social media, essays, and abstracts.
Sentence Counter
Count sentences in your text. Get average sentence length, longest and shortest sentences, and sentence variety analysis for better writing.
Reading Time Calculator
Estimate how long it takes to read or speak your text aloud. Perfect for blog posts, presentations, speeches, and podcast scripts.
Word Frequency Counter
Analyze word frequency in your text. Find the most common words, identify overused phrases, and improve vocabulary variety in your writing.
Keyword Density Analyzer
Analyze keyword density and word distribution in your text. Find overused words, check keyword frequency percentages, and optimize content for SEO and readability.
Paragraph Counter
Count paragraphs in your text and see words and sentences per paragraph. Find overly long or short paragraphs to improve structure and flow.
Syllable Counter
Count syllables in words, lines, and full text. Check haiku structure, meter in poetry, and syllable-based readability instantly.
Words Per Page Calculator
Convert a word count to pages, or pages to words — for any font, size, and spacing. Know exactly how long your 1,000-word essay will be.
Letter Frequency Counter
Count how often each letter appears in your text. See letter frequency as counts and percentages — useful for cryptography, linguistics, and word games.
Vowel & Consonant Counter
Count vowels and consonants in your text. See totals, percentages, and a per-vowel breakdown instantly.
Line Counter
Count lines in your text — total lines, non-empty lines, and blank lines. Perfect for code, lists, poetry, and data files.
Lexical Diversity Calculator
Measure the vocabulary variety of your writing with type-token ratio (TTR) and root TTR — see unique word counts and how repetitive your text is.
Phrase Frequency Counter
Find your most repeated two- and three-word phrases. Spot overused expressions and repetitive patterns that single-word counters miss.
Academic Word Counter
Count the words that usually count toward an essay limit: leave out the reference list, in-text citations, headings, quotations, or numeric citations, rule by rule.
LaTeX Word Counter
Count words in .tex source with TeXcount's rules: text, headers and captions counted separately, commands and math left out, with a section breakdown and the counted words highlighted.
Which Counter to Use
| Your limit is… | Use | Note |
|---|---|---|
| A word count for an essay | Academic Word Counter | Check the brief for what counts — references are usually excluded, in-text citations vary. |
| A plain word count | Word Counter | Words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and reading time in one go. |
| A thesis or paper written in LaTeX | LaTeX Word Counter | Counts body text, headers, captions and math from the .tex source, by section, rather than markup. |
| A character count (abstract field, social post) | Character Counter | Forms may count spaces; the counter shows the total with and without them. |
| A page count | Words Per Page Calculator | A rough guide: about 500 words single-spaced or 250 double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman. |
| A time slot for a talk | Reading Time Calculator | Speaking is slower than silent reading; rehearse once with a timer. |
| A reading level | Readability Score Checker | Grade-level formulas estimate; they do not judge clarity. |
Length, Structure and Readability
- Length. The Word Counter, Character Counter, Sentence Counter, Paragraph Counter and Line Counter.
- Length as the grader counts it. The Academic Word Counter can leave out the reference list, in-text citations, headings and quotations — the parts many assignments exclude from the limit — and shows exactly what was excluded.
- Readability. The Readability Score Checker gives Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch–Kincaid grade, Gunning Fog, Coleman–Liau and SMOG; the Syllable Counter shows the syllables behind them.
- Repetition and variety. The Word Frequency Counter and Phrase Frequency Counter show what you lean on, the Keyword Density Analyzer gives each term's share of the text, and the Lexical Diversity Calculator measures the type-token ratio.
- Letters. The Letter Frequency Counter and Vowel & Consonant Counter, for linguistics exercises and cipher work.
Why Two Counters Can Disagree
Word counts differ between tools because "word" has no single definition. Hyphenated compounds (well-known), numbers, URLs, abbreviations with periods and text in footnotes are all handled differently by different programs. Microsoft Word, Google Docs and these counters will usually agree to within a few words on ordinary prose and drift further on text full of citations and numbers. If a limit is strict, use the count from the program your instructor or journal uses, and leave a small margin.
Readability formulas count sentence length and syllables or letters per word, nothing more. A short, plain sentence can still be unclear, and an accurate technical term will always score as "hard". Use the scores to compare drafts of the same text, not to rank different texts against each other. To act on a score, the Writing Analysis & Editing shelf finds the long sentences, wordy phrases and passive constructions that drive it.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Do in-text citations count toward the word limit?
- It depends on the assignment. Most instructors exclude the reference list; in-text citations, headings, tables and appendices are counted by some and excluded by others. The Academic Word Counter lets you switch each part on or off so you can report the count the brief asks for.
- How many pages is a 1,000-word essay?
- About two pages single-spaced or four pages double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman with one-inch margins. Larger fonts, wider spacing and headings add pages; the Words Per Page Calculator works it out for your settings.
- What is a good readability score?
- For general readers, a Flesch Reading Ease of 60–70 and a grade level around 8 or 9 is a common target. Academic writing usually scores lower and harder, and that is expected. Aim for shorter sentences where you can, not for a number.
- How do I count words in a LaTeX document?
- Counting the raw .tex file overstates the total, because commands and markup look like words. Paste the source into the LaTeX Word Counter, which counts body text, headers, captions and math separately and by section, so you can report the figure your department asks for.
- Why does my word count differ from Microsoft Word's?
- Programs split words differently around hyphens, dashes, numbers, URLs and symbols. On ordinary prose the difference is a few words. If your limit is strict, use the program your instructor uses for the official count.
- Is my text saved or uploaded?
- No. The counters run in your browser, so the text you paste is not sent to CitationEasy or stored anywhere.