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How many words is it?
Pages, minutes and paragraphs for any word count, how long talks, essays and books usually run, and the rules of thumb behind the numbers. Each guide has a small calculator you can change.
70 guides
Word counts 19
- 100 wordsA short bio, a product blurb, a drabble.
- 150 wordsShort answers, a cover note, a long caption.
- 200 wordsA short answer, a LinkedIn post, a summary.
- 250 wordsOne double-spaced page, a short essay, an abstract.
- 300 wordsA short blog post, a news brief, a cover letter body.
- 400 wordsA full cover letter, a short article, a 3-minute talk.
- 500 wordsOne single-spaced page, a short school essay.
- 600 wordsA newspaper column, a four-minute talk.
- 750 wordsAn op-ed, three double-spaced pages, morning pages.
- 800 wordsA long op-ed, a magazine column, about 5 minutes spoken.
- 1,000 words2 pages single-spaced, 4 double-spaced.
- 1,200 wordsA feature post, a long cover story, 8 minutes spoken.
- 1,500 words3 pages single-spaced, 6 double-spaced, 10 minutes spoken.
- 2,000 words4 pages single-spaced, 8 double-spaced, 8.5 minutes to read.
- 2,500 words10 double-spaced pages, a term paper, a short story.
- 3,000 words12 double-spaced pages, a long essay, 20 minutes spoken.
- 4,000 wordsThe IB Extended Essay limit, 16 double-spaced pages.
- 5,000 words10 single-spaced pages, a short story, 20 minutes to read.
- 10,000 words40 double-spaced pages, a dissertation, a novelette.
Speeches and talks 18
- 1-minute speechAn introduction, a quick toast, a Table Topics answer.
- 2-minute speechA short toast, “tell me about yourself”, a class update.
- 3-minute speechA toast, a pitch, the Three Minute Thesis.
- 4-minute speechAn Ice Breaker, a class presentation, a eulogy.
- 5-minute speech650–750 words: best man speeches, lightning talks.
- 6-minute speechPecha Kucha, a longer Ice Breaker, a debate speech.
- 7-minute speechMost Toastmasters projects run 5 to 7 minutes.
- 8-minute speechA class presentation, a short sermon, a report-back.
- 10-minute speech1,300–1,500 words: interview presentations, talks.
- 12-minute speechA conference talk in a 15-minute slot.
- 15-minute speech1,950–2,250 words: talks, webinars, sermons.
- 20-minute speech2,600–3,000 words: conference talks, keynotes.
- 25-minute speechA lecture segment, a sermon, a long keynote slot.
- 30-minute speech3,900–4,500 words: keynotes, lectures, sermons.
- Elevator pitch30 to 60 seconds: about 65 to 150 words.
- Best man speech3 to 5 minutes, about 400 to 750 words.
- EulogyUsually 3 to 5 minutes, about 400 to 750 words.
- TED talkAt most 18 minutes: about 1,500 to 2,700 words.
Books and stories 9
- NovelMost adult novels: 70,000 to 100,000 words.
- Novella17,500 to 40,000 words, a book you read in an evening.
- Novelette7,500 to 17,500 words, between a short story and a novella.
- Short storyUsually 1,000 to 7,500 words.
- Flash fictionStories under 1,000 words.
- Picture bookUsually under 1,000 words; most new ones 300 to 800.
- Middle grade novelFor readers 8 to 12: 30,000 to 55,000 words.
- Young adult novelUsually 60,000 to 90,000 words.
- Fantasy novelDebuts: 90,000 to 120,000 words; epics much longer.
Essays and applications 10
- Common App essayThe personal essay: 650 words at most.
- UC Personal Insight QuestionsFour answers of up to 350 words each.
- “Why this college” essaySupplemental essays: usually 150 to 350 words.
- UCAS personal statement4,000 characters across three questions.
- AMCAS personal statementMedical school: 5,300 characters with spaces.
- Statement of purposeGraduate school: usually 500 to 1,000 words.
- Five-paragraph essayThe school classic: about 500 to 750 words.
- AbstractUsually 150 to 250 words.
- Master’s thesisOften 10,000 to 40,000 words; varies by field.
- PhD dissertationOften 70,000 to 100,000 words in the UK.
Work and the web 8
- Blog postNo ideal length; thorough how-tos run 1,000 to 2,000.
- Press releaseOne page: about 300 to 500 words.
- Cover letter250 to 400 words, under one page.
- LinkedIn About sectionUp to 2,600 characters, about 400 to 470 words.
- Executive summaryOne or two pages: often 5 to 10% of the report.
- Op-edMost papers ask for 600 to 800 words.
- Professional bioShort 50 words, medium 100–150, long up to 300.
- E-mailShort is better: 50 to 125 words for most requests.
Rules of thumb 6
- Words per page500 single-spaced, 250 double-spaced, by font and size.
- Words per paragraphEssays: 100 to 200 words. The web: shorter.
- Sentence lengthAim for an average of 15 to 20 words.
- Reading speedAdults average about 238 words a minute.
- Speaking speed130 to 150 words a minute for most talks.
- Characters per wordAbout 6 characters a word, with the space.
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How the numbers are worked out
Every figure on these pages comes from the same few rules, so they agree with each other and with the word counter:
- Pages: 500 words on a single-spaced page and 250 double-spaced, for a 12-point font like Arial with 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins on US Letter or A4. Times New Roman fits about 10% more, Courier New about a quarter less, and a smaller size fits more. See words per page.
- Reading: 238 words a minute, the average silent reading speed of adults for non-fiction in a 2019 review of 190 studies by Marc Brysbaert. Fiction is read a little faster, at about 260.
- Speaking: 130 to 150 words a minute, from a measured presentation to an easy conversational pace. See speaking speed.
- Paragraphs and sentences: 100 to 200 words in a paragraph of an essay (150 is typical) and 15 to 20 words in a sentence.
- Typing: 40 words a minute, a common average on a computer keyboard. That is only the typing: thinking and editing take far longer.
These are estimates for planning, not rules. A page full of dialogue or headings holds fewer words; a nervous speaker talks faster. When a teacher, publisher or admissions office gives a limit, theirs is the one that counts.