NoteFast / Words to minutes
Words to minutes
How long will it take to read or to say? Type a word count – or paste your script – and adjust the pace.
Why your pace changes the answer so much
Time is words ÷ pace, so halving the pace doubles the time. Drag the reading slider above and watch every row here move together.
| Words | Read at 238 wpm | Speak at 140 wpm |
|---|---|---|
| 100 words | 25 sec | 43 sec |
| 250 words | 1 min 3 sec | 1 min 47 sec |
| 300 words | 1 min 16 sec | 2 min 9 sec |
| 500 words | 2 min 6 sec | 3 min 34 sec |
| 750 words | 3 min 9 sec | 5 min 21 sec |
| 1,000 words | 4 min 12 sec | 7 min 9 sec |
| 1,500 words | 6 min 18 sec | 10 min 43 sec |
| 2,000 words | 8 min 24 sec | 14 min 17 sec |
| 2,500 words | 10 min 30 sec | 17 min 51 sec |
| 3,000 words | 12 min 36 sec | 21 min 26 sec |
| 5,000 words | 21 min 1 sec | 35 min 43 sec |
| 10,000 words | 42 min 1 sec | 1 hr 11 min |
Where the default numbers come from
The 238 words-per-minute reading default comes from Marc Brysbaert's 2019 review in the Journal of Memory and Language, which pooled 190 studies of silent reading in English and found adults average about 238 wpm on non-fiction and 260 on fiction. Older figures of 300+ wpm came from small samples and tended to overstate it.
Speaking rates vary more. The National Center for Voice and Speech cites about 150 wpm for conversational English; speeches and lectures are usually slower because good speakers pause. If you are timing a talk, read a paragraph aloud against a stopwatch and use your own number.
Questions people ask
How long does it take to read 1,000 words?
About 4 minutes for most adults reading silently (at roughly 238 words per minute, the average Brysbaert found across 190 studies in 2019). Skimming is faster; dense technical text is slower.
How long does it take to say 1,000 words out loud?
Around 7 minutes at a conversational presentation pace of 140–150 words per minute, or closer to 8 minutes if you speak slowly for an audience.
How many words is a 10-minute speech?
Roughly 1,300–1,500 words at 130–150 words per minute. Leave room for pauses, applause and slides.
What is an average speaking rate?
Audiobook narrators usually aim for 150–160 words per minute; conversational speech is around 150; presentations and speeches are often slower, around 120–140, to allow pauses.
How is reading time on blogs calculated?
Most blogs divide the word count by a fixed rate, commonly 200–265 words per minute, and round up. Medium, for example, uses about 265 wpm plus extra seconds per image.