What Sentence & Paragraph Counter does
Paste your writing into the box and the count appears: Sentences, Paragraphs, Words, Words / sentence, Sentences / paragraph and Longest sentence. A sentence is counted wherever a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark is followed by a space, and at every line break. A paragraph is a block of text separated from the next by a blank line. The sample text loaded in the box gives 3 sentences, 2 paragraphs and 32 words, an average of 10.7 words per sentence with a longest sentence of 24 words. If your average goes above 25 words the note under the results turns into a warning. The text stays in your browser.
How many sentences is 50, 75, 100, 250, 500 or 1,000 words
Estimates only, worked out by dividing the word count by an average sentence length. Your own text can sit outside these ranges.
| Words | At 20 words per sentence | At 15 words per sentence | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 2.5 | 3.3 | About 3 sentences |
| 75 | 3.8 | 5 | 4 to 5 sentences |
| 100 | 5 | 6.7 | 5 to 7 sentences |
| 150 | 7.5 | 10 | 8 to 10 sentences |
| 200 | 10 | 13.3 | 10 to 13 sentences |
| 250 | 12.5 | 16.7 | 13 to 17 sentences |
| 300 | 15 | 20 | 15 to 20 sentences |
| 500 | 25 | 33.3 | 25 to 33 sentences |
| 1,000 | 50 | 66.7 | 50 to 67 sentences |
How many words is 3, 5, 10 or 20 sentences
| Sentences | At 15 words each | At 20 words each |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 45 words | 60 words |
| 5 | 75 words | 100 words |
| 7 | 105 words | 140 words |
| 10 | 150 words | 200 words |
| 15 | 225 words | 300 words |
| 20 | 300 words | 400 words |
| 30 | 450 words | 600 words |
| 50 | 750 words | 1,000 words |
When an assignment asks for a number of sentences, these ranges show the word count that usually goes with it.
Average sentence length formula
Average sentence length = total words / number of sentences
A word is any run of characters between spaces, so a hyphenated term counts once. For the sample text the sum is 32 words / 3 sentences = 10.7. Sentences / paragraph is worked out the same way: 3 sentences / 2 paragraphs = 1.5. An average hides the spread, which is why the tool also reports the Longest sentence: two sentences of 37 and 2 words average a comfortable 19.5 while one of them is still hard going.
How the counter treats abbreviations, decimals, quotes and lists
The rule is simple, so some text is counted differently from how a person would count it. Each row shows the tool's real result.
| Text | Counted as | Why |
|---|---|---|
| I came. I saw. I conquered. | 3 sentences | Three full stops, each followed by a space or the end |
| Dr. Smith arrived at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. | 3 sentences | The full stops in Dr. and p.m. are followed by a space |
| The price rose to $4.50 in the U.S. last year. | 2 sentences | The decimal point is safe; U.S. followed by a space is not |
| Visit example.com for details. Version 2.0 is out. | 2 sentences | Dots inside web addresses and numbers have no space after them |
| Wait... what? Really?! | 3 sentences | A run of marks counts once, at the space that follows it |
| Hello there.How are you? | 1 sentence | No space after the full stop |
| He said "Stop." Then he left. | 1 sentence | The closing quote sits between the full stop and the space |
| A shopping list of 4 lines with no punctuation | 4 sentences | Every line break ends a sentence |
| One sentence typed across 2 lines | 2 sentences | The line break in the middle splits it |
If your text is full of titles and abbreviations, expect the count to run a little high. Text with hard line breaks inside paragraphs, such as a pasted email or PDF, runs high too.
Worked examples
A heading plus two paragraphs
Quarterly sales report, a blank line, Sales rose in the north. Costs fell in the south., a blank line, The outlook for next quarter is steady.
Sentences 4, Paragraphs 3, Words 20, Words / sentence 5.0, Sentences / paragraph 1.3, Longest sentence 7 words.
The heading counts as a sentence and as a paragraph of its own.
Three pangrams
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. How vexingly quick daft zebras jump!
Sentences 3, Paragraphs 1, Words 23, Words / sentence 7.7, Sentences / paragraph 3.0, Longest sentence 9 words.
One long sentence
When the committee finally met on Thursday afternoon, after three postponements and a long argument about the venue, it agreed to fund the new library, extend the opening hours, hire two more members of staff and review the whole budget again in spring.
Sentences 1, Words 43, Words / sentence 43.0, Longest sentence 43 words. The tip changes to: Your average sentence is over 25 words. Splitting long sentences usually makes writing much easier to read.
A long sentence hidden by a short one
When the committee finally met on Thursday afternoon, after three postponements and a long argument about the venue, it agreed to fund the new library, extend the opening hours and review the whole budget again in spring. It adjourned.
Sentences 2, Words 39, Words / sentence 19.5, Longest sentence 37 words. No warning is shown.
The average looks fine. The Longest sentence figure is what gives it away.
What is a good sentence length
Short enough that a reader holds the whole thought at once. Plain-language guidance commonly sets a target average of 15 to 20 words, and the UK government's content guidance asks writers to keep individual sentences to 25 words or fewer. Academic and legal writing usually runs longer than that; text written for children and for screens runs shorter.
An average is a guide, not a rule for every sentence. Writing made only of 15-word sentences reads as flat. A mix works better: mostly medium sentences, a few short ones for emphasis, and the occasional long one where the idea needs it. Use Words / sentence to see where you sit overall, then use Longest sentence to find the one worth cutting in two.
For paragraphs, Sentences / paragraph above five or six on a web page usually means a block of text that would be easier to scan if it were split.
How to get your result
- 1
Paste or type into Your text, keeping the blank lines between paragraphs.
- 2
Read Sentences and Paragraphs in the Structure panel.
- 3
Check Words / sentence for your average sentence length and Sentences / paragraph for paragraph size.
- 4
Look at Longest sentence. If it is far above your average, that sentence is the first one to split.
- 5
Read the Readability tip, which warns when the average is over 25 words.