How the estimate is made
Most “words per page” calculators divide by a fixed number, such as 500 words for single spacing. That ignores the font, the size and your paragraphs. This one lays the text out line by line, the way a word processor does:
- It uses the real width of every character in fonts that are metric-compatible with Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, Cambria and Courier New. Metric-compatible fonts have identical character widths, so line breaks fall in the same places.
- It breaks lines at spaces, without hyphenation, and starts each paragraph on a new line, with a first-line indent if you choose one.
- It keeps at least two lines of a paragraph together at a page break (widow and orphan control), which is on by default in Word and LibreOffice.
- Line height follows each font’s own single spacing, multiplied for 1.15, 1.5 or double spacing. “Word default” is Calibri’s 1.08 line spacing with 8 points after each paragraph.
We checked the model against LibreOffice Writer on 30 test documents (five fonts, three spacing settings, Letter and A4). Its words per full page differ from Writer’s by 1.75% on average and by 5.1% at most, for Courier New. Microsoft Word can lay out text slightly differently from Writer, so treat the result as a close estimate, not a promise.
Word count or your own text
If you enter only a word count, the calculator uses typical essay prose: The Federalist No. 10, which averages about 4.8 letters per word, in paragraphs of 130 words. If you paste your text, it lays out your actual words and paragraphs. Short paragraphs, dialogue and lists leave white space at the ends of lines, so they fill more pages than the same number of words in long paragraphs.
Typical results
Pages of continuous prose with 1-inch margins on US Letter:
| Words | Times New Roman 12 pt single | Times New Roman 12 pt double | Arial 12 pt single | Arial 12 pt double | Calibri 11 pt Word default (1.08, 8 pt after) | Calibri 12 pt double | Courier New 12 pt double |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.1 |
| 500 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 2.2 |
| 750 | 1.1 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 3.3 |
| 1,000 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 1.6 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 3.1 | 4.5 |
| 1,500 | 2.1 | 4.3 | 2.4 | 4.7 | 2.2 | 4.6 | 6.6 |
| 2,000 | 2.8 | 5.7 | 3.1 | 6.3 | 2.9 | 6.1 | 8.7 |
| 2,500 | 3.4 | 7.2 | 3.9 | 7.9 | 3.7 | 7.6 | 10.9 |
| 3,000 | 4.1 | 8.6 | 4.7 | 9.5 | 4.4 | 9.1 | 13.1 |
| 5,000 | 6.9 | 14.4 | 7.8 | 15.9 | 7.3 | 15.2 | 21.7 |
| Words per full page | ≈ 729 | ≈ 350 | ≈ 645 | ≈ 318 | ≈ 683 | ≈ 330 | ≈ 229 |
Pages of continuous essay prose (The Federalist No. 10, about 4.8 letters per word, 130-word paragraphs) on US Letter with 1-inch margins; double-spaced rows use a 0.5-inch first-line indent. Computed by our layout model, which matches LibreOffice Writer within 1.75% on average. Headings, lists and short paragraphs mean fewer words per page. A4 pages hold slightly more: try the words-per-page calculator.
The common rule of thumb, “500 words single-spaced, 250 double-spaced”, assumes headings, short paragraphs and the odd list. A page of unbroken 12-point Times New Roman holds more, about 700 words single-spaced and 350 double-spaced. Arial and Calibri set fewer words per line than Times New Roman, and Courier New far fewer, because every character is as wide as an “m”.
Does A4 hold more than Letter?
Slightly. A4 is narrower but taller than US Letter. With 1-inch margins its taller text area adds lines, which outweighs the narrower lines, so an A4 page holds a few percent more text.
Why does my document have more pages?
Headings, block quotes, footnotes, images, extra space between paragraphs and a title page all take room the estimate does not see. Paste your text to include your real paragraph breaks.