Word Count vs Character Count: Which Limit Matters?

A 500-character limit is not a 500-word limit. Words describe separated pieces of text; characters count the units that make up the text, including punctuation and, depending on the counter, spaces. Check the exact metric your submission form requests before cutting a draft.

A short example

The text red blue contains two whitespace-separated words and eight ordinary characters including the space. Excluding whitespace leaves seven. Adding a period makes the character total nine without creating another word.

TheDailyUtils counts words by splitting nonempty text at whitespace. That means well-written is one word in this tool, and well written is two. A destination editor may use a different rule for hyphens, apostrophes, or languages that do not separate every word with spaces.

Check your actual submission

1. Paste the complete text, including headings if they count toward the limit.
2. Compare words, characters and characters without spaces.
3. Remove unwanted copied blank lines or trailing spaces.
4. Paste the edited result into the destination and check its own counter.

For a strict limit, leave a small margin rather than targeting the last available character. Formatting conversions and the destination's counting rules can change the result.

Do not estimate from page length

A page can contain very different amounts of text depending on font, spacing and margins. Use the counter on the final wording. A page estimate is useful for planning, but it is not a substitute for the actual metric used by an application, assignment or publishing form.

Open the free word counter.