Word Counter — Words, Characters, Sentences & Reading Time
Paste or type your text and see the counts update live — words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading time, and a flag for sentences that run too long.
Why writers count more than words
A word count answers the obvious question — «is this long enough?» — but the numbers around it tell you more. Character count matters for anything with a hard limit: a meta description, a tweet, a LinkedIn headline, a university abstract capped at 250 words. Sentence and paragraph counts, and especially average sentence length, are a quick readability signal: long average sentences are the single most common reason English «reads heavy», and they are doubly common for non-native writers who carry longer sentence structures over from their first language.
How to read the long-sentence flag
This counter flags every sentence over 40 words. A 40+ word sentence is not wrong, but if several pile up the reader loses the thread. When a sentence trips the flag, look for the join — usually an «and», «which», or a comma where a full stop would do — and split it. Shorter sentences are clearer in English even in formal and academic writing, where many languages favour a single long, subordinate-clause-heavy sentence.
Counts are private — nothing leaves your browser
Everything here runs locally in your browser. Your text is never uploaded, stored, or sent to a server — paste a draft, a confidential email, or an unpublished manuscript without worry. When you want the next step — fixing the long sentences, tightening the grammar, or making the whole thing sound less translated — that is where Diglot's editor comes in.
Take it further with Diglot
This free tool runs in your browser. When you want to act on what it shows — fix the grammar, tighten the phrasing, or make your English read like a native wrote it — that is what Diglot is built for. The free tier is meaningful for daily writing, no card required.
Frequently asked questions
- How does the word counter count words?
- It counts runs of non-space characters — the same way most editors and academic word limits do. Numbers and hyphenated words («well-known») count as one word; punctuation on its own does not count.
- What counts as a sentence?
- A sentence ends at a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark. Abbreviations and decimals can occasionally inflate the count slightly, so treat the sentence number as a close estimate rather than an exact figure.
- How is reading time calculated?
- Reading time assumes about 200 words per minute, a common average for adult silent reading. Dense or technical text reads slower, so use it as a guide for blog posts, emails, and presentations rather than a precise stopwatch.
- Is my text saved or uploaded?
- No. The counter runs entirely in your browser with JavaScript — your text never leaves your device and nothing is stored. You can safely paste confidential or unpublished writing.
