Whether you are drafting a GCSE essay, crafting a tweet, submitting a university dissertation, or writing a blog post, knowing your word count is essential. Word count signals depth of coverage, helps you meet institutional requirements, and ensures your content is appropriate for its medium. This free word count calculator gives you instant statistics so you can write with confidence and precision.
UK educational institutions apply strict word count limits, and understanding them can mean the difference between a pass and a fail. Most universities operate a 10% tolerance rule — meaning a 2,000-word essay must fall between 1,800 and 2,200 words. Here is a breakdown of typical requirements by level:
| Level | Typical Word Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| GCSE Essay | 500 – 800 words | Typically timed under exam conditions |
| A-Level Essay | 800 – 1,500 words | Coursework may be up to 3,000 words |
| Undergraduate Essay | 1,500 – 5,000 words | Final year dissertations: 8,000–12,000 |
| Postgraduate Dissertation | 10,000 – 20,000 words | PhD theses: 80,000–100,000 words |
| Masters Thesis | 15,000 – 50,000 words | Varies significantly by programme |
| School Homework | 150 – 500 words | Set by individual teachers |
Many UK universities state in their marking schemes that work significantly over or under the word limit may be penalised. This is not just about meeting a bureaucratic requirement — word limits train students to be concise and focused in their arguments.
This is a surprisingly common question, particularly for academic writers. Generally, the following do count towards your word count: the main body of text, in-text citations such as (Smith, 2020), quoted material you have included, headings and subheadings (unless told otherwise), and any tables you have typed.
The following typically do not count: the bibliography or reference list, appendices, footnotes (at most universities), tables of contents, and title pages. Always check your specific institutional guidelines, as these rules vary. The University of Oxford, for example, excludes footnotes from word counts, whereas some institutions include them.
Social media platforms impose strict character limits that change how you write. A skilled social media writer must adapt their style for each platform. Here are the current limits you need to know:
| Platform | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| X (Twitter) Standard | 280 characters | URLs count as 23 chars |
| X Premium | 25,000 characters | Long-form posts |
| Instagram Caption | 2,200 characters | Only first ~125 shown before “more” |
| Instagram Bio | 150 characters | No links (use link in bio) |
| Facebook Post | 63,206 characters | Effectively unlimited |
| LinkedIn Post | 3,000 characters | Articles: up to 125,000 chars |
| TikTok Caption | 2,200 characters | First 150 shown before “more” |
| YouTube Title | 100 characters | 60 chars display in search |
| YouTube Description | 5,000 characters | First 200 chars shown without clicking “more” |
| Pinterest Pin | 500 characters | First 50 shown in feed |
The relationship between word count and page count depends heavily on formatting. These are the standard estimates used by publishers and educators in the UK:
| Format | Words Per Page | Common Use |
|---|---|---|
| A4, 12pt, double-spaced | ~250–300 words | Standard academic format |
| A4, 12pt, single-spaced | ~500–600 words | Reports, CVs |
| A4, 11pt, single-spaced | ~600–700 words | Dense documents |
| Handwritten A4 | ~150–200 words | Exam papers |
| Novel (paperback page) | ~250–300 words | Trade fiction |
| Newspaper column inch | ~30–40 words | Tabloid/broadsheet |
Our calculator shows reading time based on 200 words per minute (the UK adult average) and speaking time at 130 words per minute (average speech pace). Here is a quick reference table:
| Word Count | Reading Time (200wpm) | Speaking Time (130wpm) | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 words | 30 seconds | 46 seconds | Short social post |
| 300 words | 1 min 30 sec | 2 min 18 sec | Short blog post |
| 500 words | 2 min 30 sec | 3 min 50 sec | GCSE essay, news article |
| 1,000 words | 5 minutes | 7 min 42 sec | A-Level essay, long blog |
| 2,000 words | 10 minutes | 15 min 23 sec | Undergraduate essay |
| 5,000 words | 25 minutes | 38 min 28 sec | Long essay, short thesis chapter |
| 10,000 words | 50 minutes | 1 hr 16 min | Undergraduate dissertation chapter |
| 80,000 words | 6 hr 40 min | 10 hr 15 min | Full PhD thesis or novel |
The “unique words” count in our calculator measures lexical diversity — the ratio of different words used to total words. A higher ratio suggests a richer vocabulary and more varied writing style. Academic writers and students aiming for top grades should aim for varied vocabulary rather than repetition.
A Type-Token Ratio (TTR) above 0.7 is generally considered excellent for short texts (under 1,000 words). For longer texts, TTR naturally decreases as repeated function words (the, and, of) accumulate — this is normal and expected.
Average word length is a key indicator of text complexity. The Flesch-Kincaid readability formula uses average word length and average sentence length to determine reading grade level. Here are benchmarks:
For UK secondary school pupils, an average of 4.5 to 5.5 characters per word is appropriate. University-level writing typically sits at 5 to 6.5 characters per word.
Sentence length significantly affects readability. The Plain English Campaign — a UK organisation promoting clear communication — recommends an average of 15 to 20 words per sentence for general audiences. Academic writing may run to 20 to 30 words per sentence, while legal and scientific texts often exceed 35 words per sentence.
The best writing mixes short punchy sentences (5–10 words) with medium-length sentences (15–20 words) and occasional longer explanatory sentences. Monotone sentence length feels mechanical and reduces reader engagement.
Our word count tool splits text on whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) and counts contiguous groups of non-whitespace characters as words. This matches how Microsoft Word and Google Docs count words. Sentence count uses full stops, exclamation marks, and question marks as sentence-ending punctuation. Paragraphs are counted as blocks of text separated by one or more blank lines.
A typical paragraph contains 100 to 200 words, or roughly 4 to 6 sentences. In academic writing, paragraphs are usually 150 to 250 words and follow the PEEL structure (Point, Evidence, Explain, Link). For online content, shorter paragraphs of 40 to 100 words are preferred because they are easier to scan on screens. Short paragraphs of 1 to 2 sentences are often used for emphasis, though they would be unusual in formal academic writing.
Essay length depends on your level and assignment brief. GCSE essays are typically 500 to 800 words. A-Level essays run 800 to 1,500 words for timed work, and up to 3,000 words for coursework. Undergraduate essays are usually 1,500 to 5,000 words. Dissertations range from 8,000 words at undergraduate level to 100,000 for a PhD thesis. Always check your specific assignment brief — the marker will tell you the required word count and any tolerance.
At the UK adult average reading speed of 200 words per minute, 1,000 words takes exactly 5 minutes to read. At a slow reading pace (130 wpm) it takes about 7 minutes 42 seconds. At a fast pace (300 wpm) it takes roughly 3 minutes 20 seconds. Speed readers at 700 wpm can get through 1,000 words in under 90 seconds. Reading complexity, unfamiliar vocabulary, and subject knowledge all affect actual reading time.
Standard X (formerly Twitter) accounts can post up to 280 characters per tweet. URLs are automatically shortened and count as exactly 23 characters regardless of their actual length. X Premium (Blue) subscribers can post up to 25,000 characters, enabling long-form articles. Note that characters and words are different: a typical 280-character tweet contains roughly 40 to 55 words.
The most commonly used academic format — A4, 12pt Times New Roman or Arial, double-spaced, with 2.5cm margins — fits approximately 250 to 300 words per page. With single spacing, you can fit roughly 500 to 600 words. A handwritten A4 page holds about 150 to 200 words depending on handwriting size. So a 2,000-word essay is roughly 7 to 8 double-spaced pages or 3 to 4 single-spaced pages.
A word is generally any sequence of characters separated by spaces or punctuation. Hyphenated words like well-being count as one word. Numbers such as 2024 or 3.14 count as one word. Contractions like don’t and it’s count as one word each. Single letters like I or a count as words. Our calculator follows the same method as Microsoft Word and Google Docs, splitting on whitespace and counting non-empty segments.