Words to pages calculator
Type a word count to see how many pages it fills: at Times New Roman 12 pt with 1-inch margins, about 320 words fit on a double-spaced page and 640 on a single-spaced one. Change the font, size and spacing, or paste your text to lay out its own paragraphs.
Pages
4.7 pages
1,500 words at about 320 words per page.
Times New Roman 12 pt, double-spaced, US Letter, 1-inch margins. An estimate: a word processor also kerns and keeps lines together.
| Spacing | Times | Arial | Calibri |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single | 640 | 589 | 608 |
| 1.15 | 557 | 512 | 525 |
| 1.5 | 432 | 397 | 401 |
| Double | 320 | 295 | 304 |
Common word counts in pages
| Words | Times New Roman 12, double | Times New Roman 12, single | Arial 12, double |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.8 |
| 500 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 1.7 |
| 1,000 | 3.1 | 1.6 | 3.4 |
| 1,500 | 4.7 | 2.3 | 5.1 |
| 2,000 | 6.3 | 3.1 | 6.8 |
| 2,500 | 7.8 | 3.9 | 8.5 |
| 3,000 | 9.4 | 4.7 | 10.2 |
| 5,000 | 15.6 | 7.8 | 16.9 |
| 10,000 | 31.3 | 15.6 | 33.9 |
Letter paper, 1-inch margins, half-inch first-line indent, sample coursework prose. Every figure is computed by the same layout as the calculator above.
How is the page count worked out?
By laying the text out, not by dividing by a fixed number. Each paragraph is broken into lines using the width of every character in the chosen font, read from the font files of Times New Roman, Arial and Calibri. The lines are stacked at the line height of the font times the spacing, on a Letter or A4 page with 1-inch margins, and each paragraph’s last line takes a full line even when it is short.
Why do words per page change so much with the font?
Because fonts differ in width. Arial is wider than Times New Roman, so fewer words fit on each line, and Calibri falls in between at the same size. Line spacing changes the number of lines: a double-spaced page holds half the lines of a single-spaced one. The table beside the result shows words per page for every font and spacing at your size.
Is the estimate from my own text better?
Yes. A word count alone is laid out as sample coursework prose of average word length. Your own text brings its own words, its short and long paragraphs and its headings, which can move the result by a page or more in a long document. On the document counter the estimate always uses your file.
Why does my word processor show a different page count?
A word processor kerns letters, hyphenates, keeps the lines of a paragraph together, adds space before headings and leaves room for footnotes, images and tables. None of that is in a plain estimate, so a real document can run a few lines per page either way. Use the estimate to plan, and the word processor for the final page count.
Questions about words and pages
How many words is a double-spaced page?
About 320 in Times New Roman 12 pt with 1-inch margins on Letter paper, by this page’s layout. Other fonts and sizes give other figures: see the table.
How many words is a single-spaced page?
About 640 in Times New Roman 12 pt with 1-inch margins, twice the lines of a double-spaced page.
Does the first-line indent matter?
A little: a half-inch indent on the first line of every paragraph pushes some words to the next line. It is on by default, as in most essay formats; switch it off for block paragraphs with space between them.
Should I choose Letter or A4?
Letter (8.5 × 11 inches) is the usual paper in the United States and Canada, A4 (210 × 297 mm) in most other countries. A4 is a little narrower and taller, so the words per page differ slightly.
How long does it take to read a page?
At 238 words per minute, the average silent reading rate for non-fiction in a 2019 review of reading studies, a double-spaced page of about 320 words takes about 1.3 minutes.
More ways to count
- Document word countDrop DOCX, PDF, ODT or text files: counts by part, section and page.
- Essay word counterLeave out references, notes and citations, and track your word limit.
- DOCX word countA Word file counted part by part, next to the count Word saved.
- PDF word countWords per page, without running headers, page numbers or split words.
- How we countWhat a word is, which parts count, and why tools disagree.
Sources and limits of the count
- How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate
Average adult rates in English: 238 words per minute for silent reading of non-fiction, 260 for fiction, 183 for reading aloud.
Brysbaert (2019), Journal of Memory and Language 109. Cited reference: we could not open the page on the day of our check, so it is listed as the published reference.
Character widths and line heights were read from the font files of Times New Roman, Arial and Calibri as installed with Windows 11. A word processor’s kerning and line-breaking rules are not reproduced.
Word processors and course rules count some parts differently, so treat the total as a check and your course handbook or publisher as the rule. Files are read on your device: nothing you drop or paste is uploaded.