How to Count Words for an Essay or a CV
Paste the text, read the counts, and follow the rules your school or employer asked for, such as whether references are included.
Updated 14 November 2026. Platform sizes can change; check the official help page we link to if you are publishing today.
This guide uses the free Word Counter. The file or text stays in your browser.
Count with the same rule you will be judged by
A word count is only useful if it matches the rule you were given. Some essays include footnotes and the bibliography; others do not. Some forms count characters, including spaces. A CV is often judged by pages and layout as much as by words. This tool will count whatever you paste. It cannot apply a university handbook or an employer’s template for you.
1. Check what should be included
Read the assignment brief, the online form, or the job post. Note whether the limit is in words or characters, and whether titles, captions, references or appendices count. If the brief is silent, ask the person who will read the work, rather than guessing.
2. Paste that text into the Word Counter
Open the Word Counter and paste only the section that should be counted. The text stays in your browser and is not saved when you leave the page. If you are working on a CV, you can paste the whole document, or one section at a time if you are trimming a particular part.
3. Use the figure that matches the brief
- Words — the usual figure for essay limits.
- Characters, with or without spaces — use this when a form sets a character limit.
- Sentences and paragraphs — a rough way to see whether a draft is made of very long blocks.
- Reading time — an estimate based on about 200 words per minute, a common average for adult silent reading in English. Real reading time varies, so do not treat this as a promise.
Different tools can disagree by a few words because they split punctuation or line breaks differently. If an official form has its own counter, that counter is the one that matters.
4. Edit, then count again
For an essay, cut repetition and tighten sentences until you are inside the limit you were given, including any allowed tolerance if one was stated. For a CV, prefer a clean one- or two-page layout if the employer did not specify a length, and make sure names, dates and contact details are easy to find. There is no universal “best” CV word count.