Words to minutes converter
Paste your script or type a word count to see how long it takes to say. At an average 150 words per minute, 1,000 words take about 6 minutes 40 seconds. Runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Speaking time
-
| Pace | Words per minute | Time |
|---|
Need words for a time slot, or a transcription estimate? The speaking rate calculator goes into more detail.
How to use the words to minutes converter
- Paste your script into the box, or type the word count if you already know it (most word processors show it in the status bar).
- Pick a pace. If you are not sure, start with conversational (150 words per minute) for talks and meetings, or slow presentation (110) if you will show slides.
- Add a pause allowance if you will stop for slides, demos or questions. 10 to 20% is a sensible start.
- Read the speaking time, and compare it with the other paces in the table to see your best and worst case.
Words are counted by splitting on spaces and line breaks. Hyphenated words count once, numbers count as words, and stray symbols such as a lone dash do not count.
Where the speaking paces come from
People speak at different speeds in different situations, so the converter offers four paces taken from published ranges rather than one magic number:
| Pace | Rate used | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Slow presentation | 110 wpm | Slide presentations run about 100-125 wpm (Wong, Essential Study Skills, 2014, via Wikipedia) |
| Conversational | 150 wpm | Conversation runs 120-150 wpm, about 150 on average for US English (VirtualSpeech, citing the National Center for Voice and Speech) |
| Podcast or audiobook | 160 wpm | Audiobooks are read at 150-160 wpm (Williams, 1998, via Wikipedia); radio hosts and podcasters at 150-160 (VirtualSpeech) |
| Reading aloud | 183 wpm | Average adult oral reading rate across 77 studies (Brysbaert, 2019, Journal of Memory and Language) |
Reading aloud from a page is faster than most talks because there are fewer pauses and no audience to wait for. If you will read a script word for word, the 160 or 183 paces are closer; if you will talk around your notes, 110 to 150 is more realistic.
Words to minutes chart
Speaking time for common script lengths, without pauses:
| Words | Slow presentation (110) | Conversational (150) | Podcast or audiobook (160) | Reading aloud (183) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 55 s | 40 s | 38 s | 33 s |
| 250 | 2 min 16 s | 1 min 40 s | 1 min 34 s | 1 min 22 s |
| 300 | 2 min 44 s | 2 min | 1 min 53 s | 1 min 38 s |
| 500 | 4 min 33 s | 3 min 20 s | 3 min 8 s | 2 min 44 s |
| 750 | 6 min 49 s | 5 min | 4 min 41 s | 4 min 6 s |
| 1,000 | 9 min 5 s | 6 min 40 s | 6 min 15 s | 5 min 28 s |
| 1,500 | 13 min 38 s | 10 min | 9 min 23 s | 8 min 12 s |
| 2,000 | 18 min 11 s | 13 min 20 s | 12 min 30 s | 10 min 56 s |
| 2,500 | 22 min 44 s | 16 min 40 s | 15 min 38 s | 13 min 40 s |
| 3,000 | 27 min 16 s | 20 min | 18 min 45 s | 16 min 24 s |
| 5,000 | 45 min 27 s | 33 min 20 s | 31 min 15 s | 27 min 19 s |
Tips for timing a speech or script
- Measure your own pace. Read the first two minutes aloud with a timer, count the words you got through and divide by two. Type that into the words per minute box and the rest of your timing becomes much more accurate.
- Leave room. Most people speed up when nervous, but they also lose time to slide changes, laughter and questions. Writing to about 90% of your slot is a safe habit.
- Slow down for numbers and names. Figures, technical terms and unfamiliar names take longer to say and much longer for listeners to absorb.
- Rehearse with a clock. The speech timer gives you green, yellow and red cues, so you can practise hitting your time.
- Written for reading, not speaking? If the text is for people to read silently, use the reading time calculator instead; silent reading is much faster than speech.
Why speaking time is hard to predict
Words per minute is an average over the whole time you are talking, pauses included. That is why the same person can speak at 170 words per minute when reading a familiar paragraph and at 120 when presenting new material to a room. The converter can only give you the time the words themselves take. Everything else, such as a demo, a story you tell off-script or a question from the audience, comes on top.
The material matters too. Short, everyday words go quickly; long words, lists of numbers and dense technical sentences slow almost everyone down. Scripts written for the ear, with short sentences and plain words, are both faster to say and easier to follow.
If you give talks or run meetings often, recording a real one is the best way to learn your pace. Hark, our free desktop app, records and transcribes meetings on your own computer, so you can count the words you said in a known stretch of time and use that number here. For checking the length of the script itself, the character counter shows words, sentences and paragraphs as you type.
Frequently asked questions
How many minutes is 1,000 words? +
About 6 minutes 40 seconds spoken at an average conversational pace of 150 words per minute. At a slow presentation pace of 110 words per minute it takes about 9 minutes, and read aloud at 183 words per minute about 5 and a half minutes. Add time for pauses, slides and questions.
How many words is a 5-minute speech? +
Roughly 550 to 800 words. At 150 words per minute, five minutes is 750 words. If you speak slowly, pause for effect or show slides, plan for 550 to 650 words instead.
How long is a 2,000-word speech? +
About 13 minutes 20 seconds at 150 words per minute, or a little over 18 minutes at a slow 110 words per minute. A 2,000-word script is a good fit for a 15 to 20 minute slot once you allow for pauses.
How fast do people read aloud? +
Adults read English aloud at about 183 words per minute on average, according to a 2019 meta-analysis of 77 studies by Marc Brysbaert. That is faster than most presentations, because reading aloud usually has fewer pauses than a talk to an audience.
How long is a 500-word speech? +
About 3 minutes 20 seconds at 150 words per minute, or about 4 and a half minutes at a slow presentation pace of 110 words per minute.
Does the converter store my text? +
No. The word count and calculation run in your browser and the text is never uploaded. Only the word count and pace go into the page address, so you can share a link to your result without sharing the script.
Related
- Speech timer Time a speech or presentation with green, yellow and red cues.
- Reading time calculator Estimate how long a text takes to read silently.
- Character counter Count characters, words and lines, with limits for social posts.
- Meeting cost calculator See what a meeting costs per minute, per meeting and per year.
- Speaking rate calculator Words per minute, speech length and transcription time.
- Claude AI review Anthropic's assistant: writing, coding, long documents and what it costs.
Record, transcribe and remember every meeting
Hark records your calls on your own computer, transcribes them privately, and learns who is speaking. Free forever, with a 2-day preview of AI meeting notes.