How many characters is a word?
The average English word is about 5.1 letters long in everyday writing. Each word is also followed by a space or punctuation mark, so with spaces it works out at about 6.1 characters per word. So 4,000 characters (such as the UCAS personal statement limit) is about 650 words, and a 280-character post is about 45 words.
The real figure depends on your writing. Academic and technical text uses longer words (often 6+ letters), so fewer words fit; casual messages use shorter ones. That's why a range is shown. For an exact count of your own text, paste it into the character counter or word counter.
Frequently asked questions
How many words is 4000 characters?
About 650 words including spaces (range roughly 600–720).
How many characters is 500 words?
About 3,050 characters with spaces, or 2,550 without.
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