Reading Time Calculator
Estimate how long a piece of text takes to read from its word count and your reading speed.
How it works
Reading time is just word count divided by reading speed. The average adult reads silently at about 238 words a minute, so a 1,000-word article lands around four and a bit minutes. Paste text and the tool counts the words for you, or type a count in directly.
That 238 figure comes from research on everyday silent reading of ordinary prose. Skim a familiar topic and you'll go faster; wade through something dense or technical and you'll slow right down, so nudge the speed to match how you actually read.
Flip it around and the same math tells you how much you can get through in a fixed window. Give it the minutes you have before a meeting and it'll tell you roughly how many words you can realistically cover.
Frequently asked questions
What reading speed should I use?
Around 238 words a minute is the researched average for adults reading silently, and it's the default here. Fast readers hit 300 or more, while careful reading of hard material can drop to 150 or lower, so adjust it to yourself.
How long does 1,000 words take to read?
At the default 238 words a minute, 1,000 words is about 4.2 minutes. Bump the speed to 300 and it drops to a little over three minutes; slow to 150 and it stretches past six and a half.
Does reading aloud take the same time?
No, reading aloud is much slower than silent reading — usually 120 to 150 words a minute rather than 238. If you're timing something to be spoken, use the speech time calculator instead.