WriteMyPapers.net Word counter for essays
Paste or type your text to count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, estimate reading and speaking time, and see how close you are to your word limit.
What this tool does, and what it doesn’t
- It helps you do your own work: it measures text you have written. It does not rewrite, paraphrase or check your text against other sources.
- WriteMyPapers.net does not write, sell or edit essays or papers, and never will. No tool here writes your essay for you.
- Submitting work you did not write yourself, whether bought, copied or generated by AI without permission, is academic misconduct at almost every university. Check your institution’s academic integrity policy, especially on AI tools.
Privacy: everything runs in your browser. What you type is not sent to us or to anyone else, and it is not stored: reload the page and it is gone. This page loads no analytics, advertising or third-party scripts.
How it counts
- Words: anything between spaces that contains a letter or a digit, the way word processors count. “Well-known” is one word; a dash on its own is not a word.
- Sentences: detected with your browser’s built-in sentence segmentation, which handles most abbreviations; very unusual punctuation can shift the count by one or two.
- Reading time: 238 words per minute for silent reading and 183 for reading aloud, the averages for adults reading English non-fiction found by Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies. Change the speeds if you know your own.
- Citations: many courses exclude the reference list, and some exclude in-text citations, from the word limit. Tick the box to see the count without bracketed citations, and check your course handbook for the rule that applies.
Example
A 1,500-word essay takes about 6 minutes to read silently and about 8 minutes to read aloud. If your limit is 1,500 words and the handbook allows 10% either way, anything between 1,350 and 1,650 words is within range; the bar turns green in that zone.
Frequently asked questions
Is my text saved or uploaded?
No. The counting happens in your browser; the text is never sent anywhere and is lost when you reload the page.
Why does my word processor give a slightly different number?
Programs treat dashes, slashes, numbers and URLs differently. The difference is usually a handful of words; for an official count, use the method your course specifies.
Does the reference list count towards my word limit?
Usually not, but rules vary between universities and even between modules. Check the assignment brief or ask your tutor.
Guides that go with this tool
Sources and licences
- Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, Article 104047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047