Count words and characters instantly
Paste or type a draft and the totals update automatically. The main count includes words, characters with and without whitespace, sentences, paragraphs, lines and unique words. You can also set a word goal, estimate reading or speaking time, and review frequently used words and phrases.
What counts as a word?
FigureOwl uses the browser’s Unicode-aware word-boundary rules when they are available. This handles letters and numbers across many writing systems more reliably than splitting only at spaces. Punctuation by itself does not count as a word.
Word processors, publishers and academic style guides can apply different rules to contractions, hyphenated terms, numbers and symbols. For a strict submission requirement, treat the counter built into the required writing or submission software as the final authority.
How the other counts work
- Characters counts visible Unicode characters, spaces, punctuation and line breaks. Combined emoji are treated as one character where the browser supports grapheme segmentation.
- Characters without spaces removes spaces, tabs and line breaks before counting.
- Sentences uses browser sentence boundaries, so abbreviations and unusual punctuation can produce a different total from an editor’s house rules.
- Paragraphs counts non-empty blocks separated by a blank line. Lines are counted separately.
- Unique words compares words without regard to uppercase or lowercase.
Reading and speaking time
The tool estimates silent reading at 225 words per minute and speaking at 130 words per minute. These are planning assumptions, not measurements of a particular reader or speaker. Dense technical material, unfamiliar vocabulary, pauses, emphasis and audience interaction can all add time.
Use the word goal
Enter the target for an essay, article, report or script. The progress bar shows how much of the target is complete and whether the draft is under, exactly at or over the goal. The text is not cut off when you pass the target, so you can edit naturally.
Understand keyword and phrase frequency
The frequency panel lists the most common single words, two-word phrases or three-word phrases. Common English function words are removed from the single-word view so repeated subject terms are easier to see. The percentage is the term’s share of the eligible words or phrases analyzed in that view.
Frequency is an editing signal, not a search-ranking target. There is no universal “ideal keyword density.” Write for clarity and intent, use natural terminology, and remove repetition only when it makes the text less useful.
Private browser-local analysis
Your entered text is analyzed in memory by your browser. FigureOwl does not upload or store the draft. Site analytics record ordinary page and tool interactions, not the words, characters or phrases you enter.