What Is Meant by Word Count?
The term word count means the number of words contained within a document or passage of text. Checking your word count can ensure your text reaches or stays within a certain limit.
There are lots of reasons why a word count may be required for a passage of text, including readability and reliability reasons. Different word counts may be set depending on the audience of the text, its purpose, or both.
For example, a word count for a college essay may be set at 10,000 words to ensure the text contains significant research and is considered a reliable, in-depth paper. Whereas a journalist may have a 1,000-word count target to ensure the text is a short, easy-to-read summary for their target audience.
Professionals, students, authors, journalists, or anyone that needs to write a passage of text will usually find it important to know the word count.
How to Check Word Count
There are numerous ways you can check your word count. You can use Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or an online Word Counter Tool.
How to check word count using Microsoft Word
To check your word count using Microsoft Word, you can:
- Select the text you want to check
- You'll find the word count in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen
How to check word count using Google Docs
To check your word count using Google Docs, you can:
- Select Tools
- Select Word Count
- View your word count
What Is the Word Counter Tool?
The Word Counter Tool is an online website that tells you the word count of a passage of text. The tool instantly counts the number of words and shows you the results. It can be used to make sure your text is of a certain length.
The Word Counter Tool can be used on a computer, laptop, or mobile device.
How Does the Word Counter Work?
The Word Counter Tool works by calculating the total number of words contained within a passage of text in real time.
It will count the words as you write, or it will show you the total number of words within text that you have copied and pasted into the box.
Using the tool, you can check the following information:
- Word count
- Unique word count
- Character count (with and without spaces)
- Sentence count
- Paragraph count
- Reading time
The Word Counter Tool is especially helpful if you are working on a mobile device and need to quickly check your word count.
How to Use the Word Counter
It's easy to check your word count using the Word Counter.
To use the tool, simply:
- Start typing or copy and paste your text into the box
- Check your word count