Key takeaways
- About 500 words fill a single-spaced page and 250 words a double-spaced page (12 pt font).
- Adults read non-fiction silently at about 238 words per minute on average.
- Search results show roughly 50–60 characters of a title and about 150–160 of a description.
- Social platform limits change: check them before planning long posts.
On this page
Count words and characters
Paste or type your text into the word and character counter. It shows words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, and reading and speaking time. Text is counted in your browser and not saved.
Words per page
| Words | Single-spaced pages | Double-spaced pages |
|---|---|---|
| 250 | ½ | 1 |
| 500 | 1 | 2 |
| 1,000 | 2 | 4 |
| 1,500 | 3 | 6 |
| 2,000 | 4 | 8 |
Based on a 12-point font such as Times New Roman or Arial with 2.5 cm (1 inch) margins. Headings, short paragraphs and larger fonts mean fewer words per page.
Reading and speaking time
A 2019 review of 190 studies found that adults read English non-fiction silently at about 238 words per minute on average, and fiction slightly faster. Reading aloud and presenting is much slower, typically 130–160 words per minute, so a 5-minute speech needs roughly 650–800 words.
Characters for search and social
| Text | Practical length |
|---|---|
| Page title in search results | About 50–60 characters before it is cut off (Google measures in pixels) |
| Meta description | About 150–160 characters shown; Google may choose other text |
| Post on X (standard account) | 280 characters |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 characters; about 125 show before "more" |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 characters |
| YouTube title | 100 characters |
Limits as known in October 2026; platforms change them, so check before planning around them. Preview how a title and description will look in Google with the SERP preview tool.
Cleaning up pasted text
Text copied from PDFs often has line breaks in the middle of sentences and double spaces, which can distort counts. Run it through Remove line breaks first.
Sources
- Brysbaert (2019): How many words do we read per minute?doi.org
- Google Search Central: Meta descriptions and snippetsdevelopers.google.com
Fact-checked against the sources above. We test every tool we mention. Editorial policy.
