Word Counter
Paste or type your text to see the number of words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, plus an estimated reading time. It works for Vietnamese and English, updates as you type and needs no sign-up.
How words are counted
The counter uses the Unicode word segmentation built into your browser, the same rules that decide where a word ends when you double-click text. Every run of letters or digits counts as one word, while spaces and punctuation marks such as commas and dashes are ignored. This matters for Vietnamese, where each syllable is written as a separate unit separated by spaces. A phrase like "Xin chào thế giới" therefore counts as four words, which is how most Vietnamese editors, schools and publishers count too.
Some word processors count differently, so a small gap between tools is normal. Hyphenated terms, numbers with separators and URLs can be treated as one or several words. For a strict limit, check the number against the tool the recipient uses and keep a small margin.
How characters, sentences and paragraphs are counted
Characters are counted as visible units called graphemes, after the text is normalized to the standard composed form. Vietnamese letters with several diacritics, such as "ế", can be stored as one code point or as a base letter plus combining marks. Both forms give the same result here, so text copied from different sources never inflates the total. An emoji with a skin tone counts as a single character, not two. The second figure leaves out all spaces and line breaks.
Sentences are counted from sentence boundaries after periods, question marks and exclamation marks, and only segments that contain at least one word are included. A paragraph is a block of text separated from the next by one or more blank lines, and blocks containing only spaces are ignored.
Reading time estimate
Reading time assumes an average silent reading speed of 200 words per minute and is rounded up to the next whole minute, so any non-empty text shows at least one minute. Treat it as a rough guide: dense technical writing takes longer, and a light blog post may take less. For a spoken speech, expect a slower pace of roughly 130 words per minute.
Common uses
Writers use the counter to stay within essay or assignment limits. Marketers use the character count for SEO titles and meta descriptions, which search engines tend to truncate at around 60 and 160 characters, and for social posts that have hard limits. Translators and freelancers check word totals to quote a price or confirm a delivered volume. Because everything runs locally, you can safely paste drafts, contracts or private notes.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a Vietnamese phrase count as several words?
Vietnamese writes each syllable separately with spaces between them, so the tool counts every syllable as a word. This matches the convention used by most Vietnamese schools, publishers and text editors.
Do spaces count as characters?
Yes, the main character figure includes spaces and line breaks. The separate figure without spaces ignores all whitespace.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. The counting runs entirely in your browser, and nothing is sent to a server or saved after you close the tab.
How accurate is the reading time?
It is an estimate based on 200 words per minute. Real speed varies with the topic, your familiarity with it and the reader's habits.
Why do other tools show a slightly different number?
Tools disagree on how to treat hyphens, numbers, URLs and symbols. For strict limits, compare with the tool your recipient uses.