Word Count Calculator
Count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in your text. Supports English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and mixed-language content.
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How to Use This Word Counter
Simply paste or type your text in the input area above. The tool will automatically:
- Count words — Including English words and CJK characters (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
- Detect languages — Shows the percentage breakdown of each language in your text
- Estimate reading time — Based on average reading speeds for each language
No buttons to click. Results update instantly as you type.
How Words Are Counted
Word counting varies by language:
| Language | How It's Counted |
|---|---|
| English | Words separated by spaces |
| Chinese | Each character = 1 word |
| Japanese | Hiragana/Katakana characters individually |
| Korean | Each syllable block = 1 word |
Example: "Hello 你好" = 1 English word + 2 Chinese characters = 3 words
How Reading Time Is Calculated
Reading speed varies significantly by language:
| Language | Reading Speed | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| English | ~200 words/min | Alphabetic, requires word parsing |
| Chinese | ~300 chars/min | High information density per character |
| Japanese | ~400 chars/min | Mixed scripts, practiced readers scan quickly |
| Korean | ~300 chars/min | Syllable blocks are efficient |
Speaking time is typically 25-30% slower than reading time.
Common Use Cases
✍️ Writers & Bloggers
- Check article length for SEO (aim for 1,500-2,500 words)
- Estimate reading time for your audience
- Meet word count requirements
📱 Social Media
- Twitter/X: 280 characters max
- Instagram bio: 150 characters
- LinkedIn posts: 3,000 characters
🎓 Students
- Essay word count verification
- Thesis length tracking
- Assignment requirements
🌍 Translators
- Compare source vs translated text length
- Mixed-language document analysis
- Quote pricing based on word count
Pro Tips
-
For accurate CJK counts — This tool counts each character individually, which is the standard for Chinese/Japanese/Korean
-
Excluding headers/footers — Copy only the body text you want to count
-
Code snippets — Technical content may have different reading times; adjust expectations accordingly
-
Mixed content — The language breakdown helps you understand the composition of multilingual documents