Word Frequency Counter
How many times each word appears in a text, from the most common down, with its share of the whole.
Results
What this tool does
Counting words tells you how long a text is; counting which words tells you what it is about. Frequency lists are how editors spot a tic they keep repeating, how students check whether an essay actually stays on topic, and how anyone writing for search finds out which term the page really emphasises. Case is ignored and punctuation is stripped from the ends of words, so "Dog", "dog" and "dog," all count as the same word.
Formula
counts each word, ignoring case and punctuation at the edges
Variables
| Symbol | Meaning | Unit |
|---|---|---|
text | Your text | — |
min_length | Shortest word to count | — |
top | How many to list | — |
OUT | Word by word | — |
UQ | Different words | — |
TT | Words counted | — |
TW | Most common word | — |
TC | Times it appears | — |
TS | Share of the text | % |
Worked example
- Your textthe quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog the fox barks and the dog sleeps
- Shortest word to count1
- How many to list20
- Word by wordthe 4 dog 2 fox 2 and 1 barks 1 brown 1 jumps 1 lazy 1 over 1 quick 1 sleeps 1
- Different words11
- Words counted16
- Most common wordthe
- Times it appears4
- Share of the text25.00 %
Limitations
- The calculation runs entirely in your browser. The values you type are never sent to a server.
Frequently asked questions
Why set a minimum word length?
Because the top of any frequency list is always the same handful of grammatical words — the, of, and, a — and they tell you nothing about the subject. Setting a minimum of four or five letters pushes those aside and leaves the words that actually carry the meaning of the text.