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How many words are on a page?
About 500 words single-spaced and 250 double-spaced, for a 12-point font like Arial with 1-inch margins. Times New Roman fits about 550 and 275; a handwritten page about 250.
Work it out
pages, single-spaced, Arial 12 pt, about 500 words a page
- Handwritten pages
- 2
- Reading time
- 2 min 6 sec
- Speaking time
- 3 min 20 sec–3 min 51 sec
- Typing time
- 13 min
- Paragraphs
- 3–5
- Sentences
- 25–33
- Characters with spaces
- about 3,000
Write it in the word counter with a goal of at least 500 words.
Open the word counterWords per page by font and spacing
| Font, 12 pt | Single-spaced | 1.5 spacing | Double-spaced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arial | 500 | 333 | 250 |
| Calibri | 510 | 340 | 255 |
| Times New Roman | 550 | 367 | 275 |
| Courier New | 370 | 247 | 185 |
Words per page by font size (Arial)
| Size | Single-spaced | Double-spaced |
|---|---|---|
| 10 pt | 720 | 360 |
| 11 pt | 595 | 298 |
| 12 pt | 500 | 250 |
| 14 pt | 367 | 184 |
Why the answer is a range
Words per page depends on four things: the font (Times New Roman is narrower than Arial, Courier much wider), the size, the line spacing, and the margins. It also depends on the text: a page of dialogue or short paragraphs leaves more white space than a page of solid prose, and headings, lists and quotes take room.
The figures here assume US Letter or A4 paper with 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins and ordinary paragraphs. A4 is a little taller and narrower than Letter and holds about the same.
How the estimates are made
The base is the long-standing rule of thumb of 500 words for a single-spaced page in a 12-point font. Other fonts are scaled by their average letter width compared with Arial: Times New Roman about 10% narrower, Calibri about the same, Courier New (a typewriter font in which every letter is the same width) about a quarter wider. A smaller size fits more on both counts, more letters on each line and more lines on the page, so 11 point holds about 19% more than 12, and 10 point about 44% more. Double spacing halves the number of lines.
If an assignment asks for pages, use the font and spacing it specifies, then check your word count: the word counter shows a page estimate for single, double and handwritten pages.
Questions and answers
How many words is a double-spaced page?
About 250 in a 12-point font like Arial, or 275 in Times New Roman.
How many words is a single-spaced page?
About 500, or 550 in Times New Roman.
How many words is a handwritten page?
About 250 on a college-ruled page with average handwriting, though large handwriting may fit only 150.
Why does my page hold a different number?
Margins, spacing before and after paragraphs (Word adds some by default), headings and short lines all change it. These figures are for planning.