Question 1

How accurate is the word count?

Accepted Answer

Very accurate for English prose. The tool splits the text on whitespace and counts non-empty tokens, which matches what almost every editor and writing app calls a word — including hyphenated words like 'co-op' and contractions like 'don't' (each counted as one word). The word count exactly matches what you'd see in Google Docs or Microsoft Word for the same text.

Question 2

What's the difference between Flesch-Kincaid Grade and Flesch Reading Ease?

Accepted Answer

They use the same inputs (sentence length and syllable density) but on different scales. Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level outputs a U.S. school grade — 8 means a typical 8th-grader can read it. Flesch Reading Ease outputs a 0–100 score where higher means easier — 60–70 is plain English, below 30 is academic prose. Both are computed from the same passage; pick whichever scale you find more intuitive.

Question 3

How is reading time calculated?

Accepted Answer

Reading time = total words ÷ 250 words per minute. 250 wpm is the commonly cited average for silent reading of English prose. Speaking time uses 130 wpm, a comfortable conversational/podcast pace. Both round up to at least 1 minute when there's any content. Your actual pace will vary — fast readers hit 400+ wpm; technical or unfamiliar material drops to 150–200.

Question 4

How is the syllable count estimated?

Accepted Answer

By counting maximal vowel groups in each word and subtracting one for a silent terminal 'e'. So 'reading' has two vowel groups (ea, i) → 2 syllables; 'syllable' has three (y, a, e), minus the silent e → 2. The heuristic isn't perfect for every word ('queue' returns 2 where humans hear 1), but the readability formulas average over hundreds of words, so individual errors smooth out to within a few percent.

Question 5

Is my text sent to a server?

Accepted Answer

No. Every count, score, and density bar runs as plain JavaScript in your browser. You can disconnect from the internet and the tool keeps working. Drafts, essays, client copy, and unpublished writing all stay on your machine — nothing is logged or transmitted.

Question 6

Why is my keyword density different from other tools?

Accepted Answer

We exclude common English stopwords (the, a, of, to, is, etc.) before counting, so the top words are actually meaningful — not 'the' five hundred times. Other word counters often include stopwords, which makes the top of the list useless. We also normalize case and strip punctuation, so 'Writing' and 'writing' count as the same word.

Question 7

Can I count just one paragraph or selection?

Accepted Answer

Yes — paste only the part you want to analyze. The tool counts whatever is in the textarea. If you only want the abstract of a paper, the lede of an article, or a single paragraph from a draft, copy that piece in and the stats update for just that selection.

Question 8

What's a good Flesch-Kincaid grade for general audiences?

Accepted Answer

Aim for Grade 8 to 10 for most adult audiences. Newspapers typically target Grade 7–9 (USA Today is around 8). Books for general readers tend to land around 8–10. Anything above Grade 12 is college-level — fine for academic or technical writing, but it'll feel dense to casual readers. Below Grade 6 starts to feel childish for adult content.

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