By Tim King · Updated 7 October 2026

Reading Time Calculator

How Long This Article Takes to Read and to Speak Aloud

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How the Reading Time Calculator works

This reading time calculator shows how long a text takes to read silently and how long it takes to say out loud. At the average adult pace of 238 words per minute, 1000 words takes about 4 minutes to read; spoken at a conversational 150 words per minute it takes about 6 minutes 40 seconds. Paste an article, a script or slide notes and both times appear, which is why a talk written to a word count so often overruns.

Reading time calculator: why the estimate is worth having

A word count tells an editor how long a piece is. A time tells a reader whether to start it now, and it tells a speaker whether a script fits the slot. This tool turns the same text into both, because silent reading and speech run at very different speeds. A 1,000-word article takes about four minutes to read and nearly eight to say at a clear presentation pace. Writing a talk to a word count and then reading it silently to check the length is how five-minute slots turn into eight.

How the numbers are worked out

Words are runs of letters and digits, in any script. An apostrophe inside a word keeps it whole, so "don't" and "O'Neill" are one word each. A hyphen splits a word, so "well-known" counts as two, and a stray dash or bullet counts as nothing.
Reading time is words divided by the reading speed you pick: 238, 150 or 400 words per minute.
Speaking time is words divided by the speaking speed, plus the pause you set multiplied by the number of sentences.
Sentences are stretches of text ending in a full stop, question mark, exclamation mark or ellipsis. Headings and bullets without closing punctuation are not counted.
Paragraphs are blocks separated by a blank line.

The pause field takes whole seconds. The calculator rounds whatever you type, so 0.5 becomes 1 and 0.4 becomes 0. For a gentle beat between sentences, 1 second is the smallest step that changes the answer.

Where the speeds come from

The 238 words per minute default comes from Marc Brysbaert's 2019 review of 190 reading studies covering almost 18,000 readers. It is the average for adults reading non-fiction silently in English; fiction came out a little faster, at about 260. Most readers fall between 175 and 300, so any single figure is the middle of a wide band. Careful study of technical material runs nearer 150. Skimming at 400 or more means sampling the page rather than reading it, and comprehension falls away sharply above about 500.

Speech is slower. Conversational English runs at about 150 words per minute. A presenter speaking clearly to a room drops to about 130, and audiobook narration sits at 150 to 160. ACX, Audible's production marketplace, estimates about 9,300 words per finished hour, which works out at 155.

Where reading time is used

Article badges. Medium shows a "min read" label on every post, based on 265 words per minute plus extra time for images. Readers use it to decide whether to read now or later.
Talks with hard limits. TED talks are capped at 18 minutes, or about 2,300 words at presentation pace. Conference lightning talks are usually 5 minutes, so about 650 words before pauses.
Broadcast and voice-over. Radio and TV scripts are timed at roughly three words a second. A 30-second advert holds about 75 to 90 words, and a 60-second one about 150.

Script timing tool: word count to minutes

Reading at 238 words per minute and speaking at 130, with no pauses added. Times are rounded to the nearest minute.

Words	Reading time	Speaking time
500	2 min	4 min
1,000	4 min	8 min
1,500	6 min	12 min
2,000	8 min	15 min
3,000	13 min	23 min
5,000	21 min	38 min
10,000	42 min	77 min

How many words fit a talk of a given length

At 130 words per minute with a 1-second pause after sentences averaging 18 words, about 11% fewer words.

Talk length	Words at 130 wpm	With 1-second pauses
3 minutes	390	350
5 minutes	650	580
10 minutes	1,300	1,160
15 minutes	1,950	1,740
20 minutes	2,600	2,320
30 minutes	3,900	3,480
45 minutes	5,850	5,220

How to read the result

Words is the figure to quote against a word limit. It may differ by a few percent from a word processor's count, mostly because of hyphens and numbers.
Reading time is the badge figure. Round it to whole minutes for display; the seconds are there for short texts.
Speaking time is the one to trust for a talk, a video script or a voice-over. It includes the pauses you set.
Characters counts everything, spaces and line breaks included.
Sentences and Paragraphs show the structure. A sentence count far below what you expect usually means bullet points or headings without full stops.
Avg words per sentence is a quick readability check. Fifteen to twenty reads comfortably; above twenty-five is hard work on the page and harder to say in one breath.

Tips and pitfalls

Time the spoken version out loud once. The calculator gives a good first estimate, but a timed read-through catches tongue-twisters, lists of numbers and jokes that need a beat.
Slides and demos are not in the text. Allow 20 to 30 seconds for each slide change that needs explanation, and time any live demo separately.
Numbers read longer than they look. "£1,250,000" is one word to the counter but five or six when spoken. Scripts full of figures run long.
Aim short. Speakers nearly always overrun, rarely underrun. Writing to 90% of the slot leaves room for applause, questions and a slower start.

For a more detailed count, the word counter breaks text down further. The character counter checks limits for social posts and meta descriptions. The headline case converter tidies the titles once the piece is the right length.

FAQ

How many words per minute do people read?

Around 238 words per minute for adults reading non-fiction silently, based on a large 2019 meta-analysis. Individual rates vary widely — roughly 175 to 300 is normal — so any single figure is the middle of a broad range rather than an exact answer.

Why is speaking time so much longer than reading time?

Because speech is physically slower than silent reading. Conversational delivery is about 150 words per minute against 238 for reading, and a presenter slows to roughly 130 for clarity. Add pauses between sentences and a script reads in far less time than it takes to say.

How long should I make a five-minute talk?

Around 650 words at a presentation pace of 130 words per minute, before pauses. Add half a second per sentence for breathing room and anything you plan to demonstrate, then cut, because talks almost always run long rather than short.

Does the tool count words the same way as a word processor?

It counts sequences of letters and digits, treating apostrophes inside a word as part of it, so don't is one word. Hyphenated compounds count as two. That is close to how most word processors behave, though small differences are normal.

Is a reading time estimate worth showing on an article?

Yes. Readers use it to decide whether to read now or bookmark for later, and it communicates length far better than a scroll bar. Round to whole minutes — the precision beyond that is false, given how much individual reading speeds vary.

How long does it take to read 1,000 words?

About four minutes of silent reading at the adult non-fiction average of 238 words per minute, closer to seven for dense technical material at 150, and roughly eight minutes read aloud at a presentation pace of 130 words per minute.

How many words is a 10-minute speech?

Around 1,300 words at a clear presentation pace of 130 words per minute, or up to 1,500 for a fast conversational speaker at 150. Leave room for pauses, slides and laughter: writing 1,200 words for a 10-minute slot is safer than writing 1,300 and hoping.