A 5-minute speech is usually 650 to 750 words. At a calm 130 words per minute you need about 650 words, and at a conversational 150 words per minute you need about 750.
A 5-minute speech is usually 650 to 750 words. At a calm 130 words per minute you need about 650 words, and at a conversational 150 words per minute you need about 750. If your slot has a hard stop, such as a wedding toast, a class presentation or a job interview task, write closer to 600 words so pauses and nerves don't push you over time.
Those numbers are a starting point, not a rule. Your real pace depends on how you speak, what you say and who is listening. A story-heavy best man speech runs slower than a status update to your team, even with the same word count.
Below you'll find a ready-made chart for talks from 1 to 30 minutes, a two-minute test to measure your own speaking rate, and practical ways to trim a script that runs long. Paste your draft into the free word counter as you go, and you'll know exactly where you stand.
In this guide:
Most speaking guides plan with three speeds. Slow and deliberate delivery sits around 120 to 130 words per minute (wpm). Ordinary conversation sits near 150 wpm. Fast, energetic delivery climbs to 160 or 170 wpm. The National Center for Voice and Speech puts the average rate for US English speakers at about 150 words per minute, and British speakers land in a similar range.
For a prepared speech, aim lower than your chatting speed. You want listeners to absorb each point, and you want space for a laugh or a nod. That's why 130 wpm makes a sensible planning figure for most formal talks.
Pick the line that matches your event, then use the chart below to set a word budget.
This table multiplies each speaking rate by the length of your slot. Round the figure down if your event has a strict timekeeper.
| Speech length | Slow (120 wpm) | Steady (130 wpm) | Conversational (150 wpm) | Fast (170 wpm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 minute | 120 | 130 | 150 | 170 |
| 2 minutes | 240 | 260 | 300 | 340 |
| 3 minutes | 360 | 390 | 450 | 510 |
| 5 minutes | 600 | 650 | 750 | 850 |
| 7 minutes | 840 | 910 | 1,050 | 1,190 |
| 10 minutes | 1,200 | 1,300 | 1,500 | 1,700 |
| 15 minutes | 1,800 | 1,950 | 2,250 | 2,550 |
| 20 minutes | 2,400 | 2,600 | 3,000 | 3,400 |
| 30 minutes | 3,600 | 3,900 | 4,500 | 5,100 |
Notice how fast the gap grows. On a 20-minute talk, the difference between slow and fast delivery is 1,000 words. That's why a personal measurement beats any average once your talk runs longer than a few minutes.
Working the other way is just as easy. Divide your word count by your pace to get minutes. A 900-word script at 130 wpm runs just under 7 minutes.
Your natural pace matters more than any chart. Here's a quick test you can run tonight with nothing more than your phone.
Run the test twice. The first read is usually faster because you're thinking about the stopwatch. Use the second number.
Better still, record yourself. Listening back shows where you rush, where you mumble and where a pause would land better. You can capture a take in the browser with the voice recorder and replay it right away, with nothing uploaded.
Keep your result somewhere handy. Once you know you speak at, say, 138 wpm, every future speech becomes a simple sum.
Two speeches with the same word count can finish a minute apart. These factors explain most of the difference:
A simple fix covers most of this: subtract 10% from your word budget for a live audience. If your chart says 750 words for 5 minutes, write about 675. You'll finish on time and look relaxed doing it.
Researchers draw the same line. Studies of speech tempo separate speaking rate, which includes pauses and hesitations, from articulation rate, which counts only the time spent actually talking. Your planning figure should always be the speaking rate, because your audience hears the pauses too.
For an online talk where nobody laughs out loud, you can stay closer to the full figure.
A script that reads well on paper can sound stiff out loud. Listeners can't scroll back, so spoken writing needs a slightly different style. These changes make your words easier to follow and easier to time:
Spoken style also changes your word count. Contractions such as "you'll" and "it's" save syllables, so a conversational script fits more meaning into the same five minutes. Formal phrasing does the opposite.
Read each paragraph aloud as you draft it. If you trip over a line, your audience will trip over it too. Rewrite it until it flows, then check your count again so the total still fits your slot.
Different occasions have different expectations. This guide pulls together typical slot lengths and the word budgets that fit them at a steady pace.
| Occasion | Typical length | Suggested words | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wedding toast | 3 to 5 minutes | 350 to 600 | One story, one thank-you, one toast |
| Best man or maid of honour | 5 to 7 minutes | 600 to 850 | Leave room for laughs |
| Eulogy | 5 to 10 minutes | 600 to 1,200 | Write slowly, speak slower |
| Elevator pitch | 30 to 60 seconds | 75 to 150 | One problem, one solution, one ask |
| Class presentation | 5 minutes | 600 to 700 | Plan words per slide |
| Interview presentation | 10 minutes | 1,100 to 1,300 | Save a minute for questions |
| Conference talk | 20 minutes | 2,400 to 2,700 | Rehearse with slides |
| TEDx-style talk | 12 to 18 minutes | 1,600 to 2,500 | Every line earns its place |
These ranges assume you'll speak at about 120 to 135 wpm with a few pauses. If you know you talk quickly, nudge them up by 10%.
Five minutes feels long when you're standing up and short when you're writing. A clear shape keeps you on track. Here's a split that works for a 700-word script:
Three points is plenty for five minutes. If you try to squeeze in five, each one gets about 40 seconds and nothing sticks.
Write your section budgets at the top of your draft. When a section balloons, you'll spot it straight away instead of finding out during rehearsal.
Almost every first draft runs long. Trimming is normal, and it nearly always makes the speech better. Start with the easy wins:
Check the count after each pass. Dropping 70 words from a 770-word draft takes you from a rushed 5:55 back to a comfortable 5:23 at 130 wpm.
If you still run over, read the speech aloud and mark every sentence you stumble on. Those are usually too long, and splitting them speeds up delivery without losing content.
Writing to a word budget gets you close. Rehearsal gets you exact. A few habits help a lot:
If you speak from notes rather than a full script, count the words in a recorded rehearsal instead. Transcribe a minute of it, count the words, and you'll know your live rate.
Finally, look after your listeners. Clear speech at a comfortable pace beats squeezing in more words every time. Nobody remembers that you covered a fourth point. They remember whether you made sense.
About 650 words at a steady 130 words per minute and about 750 words at a conversational 150 words per minute. Write around 600 to 675 words if you have a strict time limit.
Roughly 390 to 450 words. At a slow, ceremonial pace of 120 words per minute, 360 words is a safer target.
Between 1,300 and 1,500 words for most speakers. Leave out about 100 words if you expect questions, laughter or slide changes.
Aim for 120 to 150 words per minute. Slower delivery helps people follow new ideas, while a faster pace suits casual updates.
Divide your total word count by your words per minute. A 1,000-word speech at 130 words per minute takes about 7 minutes 42 seconds.
Pauses add time but no words, so they lower your average rate. Measuring a full rehearsal captures both your speaking speed and your pauses.
About one and a half pages single-spaced, or roughly three pages double-spaced, in a 12-point font. Page counts vary with font and margins, so trust the word count instead.
Most people manage well with five to seven slides, roughly one a minute plus a title and a closing slide. Fewer slides leave more time for speaking.
Last checked: 18 October 2026. Rates, rules and app settings can change, so confirm anything important with the official source linked above.
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