Word Count Calculator

Tweet: 280 characters (~50 words). Blog post: 300-2,500 words. Short story: 1,000-7,500 words. Novella: 20,000-50,000 words. Novel: 50,000-100,000+ words. Academic essay: 500-5,000 words. Research paper: 3,000-8,000 words. PhD dissertation: 80,000-100,000 words.

Average adult: 238-250 words per minute (wpm) for comprehension. Faster readers with training: 300-400 wpm. Speed readers: 500-1,500 wpm (with reduced comprehension). Children: 100-200 wpm. Audio books typical speed: 150-160 wpm. This calculator uses 238 wpm for reading time estimates.

Studies suggest: long-form content (1,500-2,500 words) often ranks better for competitive keywords. Short posts (300-500 words) can rank for specific low-competition queries. Quality and relevance matter more than word count. Google prefers content that fully answers user intent, regardless of length.

Microsoft Word: Review tab → Word Count (or Ctrl+Shift+G). Google Docs: Tools → Word Count (or Ctrl+Shift+C). Both show words, characters with/without spaces, and pages. Select text first to count only a portion. Many writing apps display word count in the bottom status bar.

Twitter: 280 characters. Instagram captions: 2,200. Meta descriptions (SEO): 150-160 characters. SMS: 160 characters (GSM) or 70 (Unicode). Database fields often have varchar limits. Email subject lines: ~50-60 characters to avoid truncation in email clients. Knowing character limits helps craft concise, effective content.