Words for the minutes you have.

A 5-minute speech is roughly 650 to 900 words, by how fast you speak. Count your own draft in your browser and see how long it takes to say aloud.

By Suraj Kumar1 November 20264 min read

A text box with a line under it that says 1,204 words, about 5 minutes to read, beside cards for counting, capitals, comparing and tidying.

You have five minutes at a wedding, a meeting or a class, and a draft that may be too long. The answer depends on how fast you speak, and a word count turns it into a number you can write to.

The short answer.

A review of 190 studies found that adults reading aloud in English manage about 183 words a minute (Brysbaert, 2019). At that pace, five minutes is about 915 words. Speeches usually go slower than reading aloud, since pauses, emphasis and a look round the room all take time: at a calmer 150 words a minute, five minutes is 750 words, and at 130 it is about 650.

The other way round, a 1,000-word speech takes about five and a half minutes at 183 words a minute, six and two-thirds at 150, and nearly eight at 130.

Minutes into words.

Find your time on the left, then the column nearest your pace.

Words for each length of speech, at three speaking speeds

Minutes   130 a minute   150 a minute   183 a minute
1         130            150            183
2         260            300            366
3         390            450            549
5         650            750            915
7         910            1,050          1,281
10        1,300          1,500          1,830
15        1,950          2,250          2,745
20        2,600          3,000          3,660

Count your own draft.

Paste the draft into the word counter. The line under the box gives its length as you type: words, about how long it takes to read, and about how long to say aloud, worked out at 183 words a minute. Under More options, set the speaking speed to your own, and the time follows. Nothing you paste is uploaded.

Words are counted as Microsoft Word counts them, so e-mail, don't and 3.5 are one word each, and the count matches what a teacher or an editor sees.

Open the word counter

Find your own pace.

Read one page of the draft aloud as you would on the day, and time it. Divide its words by the minutes taken, and enter that speed. Then allow for what is not in the text: a pause for laughter, a slide change, a question.

Write to a target.

Turn on a word target and set it, for example 750 words for five minutes at 150 a minute, and the count is shown against it as you write. Cutting to a target is easier with the words used most in view: they show which ideas you repeat.

A little less theory. A little more doing.

Try it on your own terms, with a free browser tool.

Try the tool