Reading Time Calculator
Paste your text, or enter a word count or pages, to see how long it takes to read and to say out loud, plus a ready-to-copy “min read” label.
Your text stays in this browser. Nothing is uploaded, and shared links carry only the counts.
Typical silent reading is about 200–250 words a minute. Yours may be faster or slower.
Typical for a talk or presentation is about 130–160 words a minute.
Part of the word count above, read at the code speed.
Skimming for the gist is typically about 400–700 words a minute.
How many words fit, at your speaking speed.
For days to finish a book or a long report.
The narrator reads at your speaking speed above.
How your reading time is worked out
Your numbers, step by step. Time = words ÷ words a minute.
- 1
Count the words
1,000 wordsas entered
- 2
Read at your pace
1,000 ÷ 238 a min= 4.2 min
- 3
Add pictures and code
+ 0 sec pictures+ 0 sec code= 4 min 12 sec4 min read
- 4
Say it out loud
1,000 ÷ 150 a min= 6 min 40 sec
Read more: the formula, a worked example, typical speeds and notes
The formula
reading time (minutes) = words not in code ÷ reading speed + code words ÷ code speed + picture seconds ÷ 60
picture seconds (Medium-style) = 12 + 11 + 10 … one number for each picture, never under 3
"X min read" = reading time rounded to the nearest whole minute (at least 1)
speaking time = words ÷ speaking speed · skim time = words ÷ skimming speed
words from pages = pages × words on a page
words for a talk = talk minutes × speaking speed
days to finish = reading time ÷ reading a day (or pages ÷ pages a day), rounded up
audiobook time = words ÷ (speaking speed × playback speed)
In Simple mode pictures add no time and every word is read at your reading speed. Advanced adds the pictures and code blocks, the skim, talk, book and audiobook results.
Worked example
The page starts with 1,000 words at 238 words a minute for reading and 150 for speaking.
- Reading: 1,000 ÷ 238 = 4.2017 minutes. The 0.2017 minutes is 0.2017 × 60 = 12.1 seconds, so it takes 4 min 12 sec, which rounds to a “4 min read”.
- Speaking: 1,000 ÷ 150 = 6.667 minutes = 6 min 40 sec.
- Skimming at 450 a minute: 1,000 ÷ 450 = 2.222 minutes = 2 min 13 sec.
- A 5-minute talk fits 5 × 150 = 750 words, so 1,000 words is 250 too many.
- With 3 pictures and 200 of the words in code: 800 ÷ 238 = 3.361 min, plus 200 ÷ 120 = 1.667 min, plus 12 + 11 + 10 = 33 sec (0.55 min). That's 3.361 + 1.667 + 0.55 = 5.578 minutes = 5 min 35 sec, a “6 min read”.
A book: 300 pages × 300 words = 90,000 words. 90,000 ÷ 238 = 378.15 minutes = 6 hr 18 min. Reading 30 minutes a day, 378.15 ÷ 30 = 12.6, so it takes 13 days (the last day is about 18 minutes). As an audiobook at 150 words a minute and 1.5× speed: 90,000 ÷ (150 × 1.5) = 90,000 ÷ 225 = 400 minutes = 6 hr 40 min.
Typical speeds
| What | Typical words a minute |
|---|---|
| Reading silently (adults, English) | about 200–250 |
| Skimming for the gist | about 400–700 |
| Speaking in a talk or presentation | about 130–160 |
| Audiobook narration at 1× | about 150–160 |
| Reading code carefully | much slower; 120 is used here as a guess |
These are typical ranges, not fixed facts: speed depends on the reader, the language and how hard the text is. A large 2019 review of reading studies (Brysbaert) put average silent reading of English non-fiction at about 238 words a minute, which is the default here. The picture rule follows the Medium-style read-time estimate used by many blogs and libraries. Words are counted with the same rules as the word counter: Chinese and Japanese characters count as one word each, so set the reading speed in characters a minute for those. Code blocks are lines between ``` or ~~~ fences; pictures are Markdown images and HTML img tags. Checked 18 October 2026.
Common questions
How long does it take to read 1,000 words?
About 4 minutes for most adults reading silently. Typical silent reading speeds are about 200–250 words a minute; at 238 a minute, 1,000 ÷ 238 = 4.2 minutes, or 4 min 12 sec. At a slower 180 a minute it is about 5 min 33 sec.
How many words is a 5-minute speech?
About 650–800 words. Speakers typically talk at about 130–160 words a minute, so at 150 a minute a 5-minute talk is 5 × 150 = 750 words. Leave room for pauses, slides and questions: aim a little under if you tend to speed up when nervous.
How is the "min read" on blogs worked out?
Most sites divide the word count by a reading speed (often somewhere between 200 and 265 words a minute) and round to a whole minute. Medium-style estimates also add time for pictures: 12 seconds for the first, 1 second less for each one after, down to 3 seconds. This calculator does the same, with every number editable in Advanced.
How long will it take me to finish a book?
Multiply the pages by the words on a page (about 250–300 in a typical paperback), divide by your reading speed, then divide by how long you read each day. A 300-page paperback at 300 words a page is 90,000 words: about 6 hr 18 min at 238 a minute, so 13 days at 30 minutes a day.
How long is an audiobook at 1.5× speed?
Divide the normal length by the speed. Narrators typically read at about 150–160 words a minute, so a 90,000-word book is about 10 hours at 150 a minute; at 1.5× that becomes 10 ÷ 1.5 = 6 hr 40 min, and at 2× it is 5 hours.
Is my text saved or sent anywhere?
No. The words are counted in your browser and the text is never uploaded. The Share button puts only the counts and settings in the link, never the text itself.
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