Where does 238 wpm come from?

Brysbaert (2019) meta-analyzed 190 studies and found 238 wpm for silent reading of English non-fiction. 175 for fiction, 300+ for skimming. 238 is a good default.

Is 140 wpm right for a presentation?

140 is conversational; presentations often slow to 100–130 wpm for emphasis. TED talks average ~155 wpm. Pick the preset that matches your style.

Each CJK ideograph (Chinese hanzi, Japanese kanji/kana, Korean hangul) counts as one 'word' for both reading and speaking — close to the right estimate without needing language-specific tokenizers.

Why no 'characters' time?

Reading speed correlates with words, not characters. Variation in word length averages out in any reasonable sample.

Reading Time & Speaking Time Calculator

Paste any text and instantly see how long it takes to read (silently) and to speak (aloud). Default reading speed is 238 wpm (Brysbaert 2019 meta-analysis); default speaking is 140 wpm (typical conversational pace). Five presets cover slow/avg/fast readers and TED-talk / podcast speaking paces. Word counts handle CJK characters as one-word-each — accurate for Korean, Japanese, and Chinese text.

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Text

Presets

Reading speed (wpm)Speaking speed (wpm)

Reading time

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Speaking time

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Words

Characters

Sentences

Paragraphs

Estimates assume silent reading and continuous speaking — pauses, slides, and audience reaction will add time.

How to use

Paste your text — article, blog post, talk script, anything.
Adjust reading and speaking WPM, or pick a preset.
Times update live alongside word/sentence/paragraph counts.

Frequently asked questions

Where does 238 wpm come from?: Brysbaert (2019) meta-analyzed 190 studies and found 238 wpm for silent reading of English non-fiction. 175 for fiction, 300+ for skimming. 238 is a good default.
Is 140 wpm right for a presentation?: 140 is conversational; presentations often slow to 100–130 wpm for emphasis. TED talks average ~155 wpm. Pick the preset that matches your style.
How is CJK counted?: Each CJK ideograph (Chinese hanzi, Japanese kanji/kana, Korean hangul) counts as one 'word' for both reading and speaking — close to the right estimate without needing language-specific tokenizers.
Why no 'characters' time?: Reading speed correlates with words, not characters. Variation in word length averages out in any reasonable sample.

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