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How fast do I talk?

Talk or read for 30 seconds and get your pace in words a minute, how much your pauses slow you, and where you sit against real conversation. Then time any speech at your own pace.

Your voice is measured on your device. Nothing is recorded or uploaded.

Measure your pace, live

Thirty seconds. Read the passage for a like-for-like number, or just talk for your natural pace.

Measured on your device. Nothing is recorded or uploaded.

How long will my speech take?

Your time appears here as you type.

minutes

About 750 words at 150 wpm.

Planning paces are estimates. Measure yours above and the calculator uses your own.

How long is a speech?

Time at three planning paces. For your exact time, measure your own pace above: people differ by 50 words a minute or more.

Speech length by word count at 120, 150 and 180 words a minute
WORDSAT 120 WPMAT 150 WPMAT 180 WPM
100 words50 s40 s33 s
200 words1 min 40 s1 min 20 s1 min 7 s
250 words2 min 5 s1 min 40 s1 min 23 s
300 words2 min 30 s2 min1 min 40 s
400 words3 min 20 s2 min 40 s2 min 13 s
500 words4 min 10 s3 min 20 s2 min 47 s
750 words6 min 15 s5 min4 min 10 s
1,000 words8 min 20 s6 min 40 s5 min 33 s
1,500 words12 min 30 s10 min8 min 20 s
2,000 words16 min 40 s13 min 20 s11 min 7 s
2,500 words20 min 50 s16 min 40 s13 min 53 s
3,000 words25 min20 min16 min 40 s
4,000 words33 min 20 s26 min 40 s22 min 13 s
5,000 words41 min 40 s33 min 20 s27 min 47 s

How many words is a speech?

Words in a speech by length at 120, 150 and 180 words a minute
LENGTHAT 120 WPMAT 150 WPMAT 180 WPM
1-minute speech120 words150 words180 words
2-minute speech240 words300 words360 words
3-minute speech360 words450 words540 words
5-minute speech600 words750 words900 words
7-minute speech840 words1,050 words1,260 words
10-minute speech1,200 words1,500 words1,800 words
15-minute speech1,800 words2,250 words2,700 words
20-minute speech2,400 words3,000 words3,600 words
30-minute speech3,600 words4,500 words5,400 words
45-minute speech5,400 words6,750 words8,100 words
60-minute speech7,200 words9,000 words10,800 words

What’s a normal speaking rate?

It depends on what you count. In the largest published study of recorded phone calls, people averaged about 164 words a minute per turn, and conversation overall ran roughly 150 to 200 depending on how the pauses were counted (Yuan, Liberman & Cieri, 2006). A prepared talk with pauses for emphasis usually needs less. That is why this tool shows two numbers: your pace overall, and your pace while talking, with the pauses taken out.

Is fast bad?

Not by itself. Fast talkers often sound energetic and sure. What listeners lose is the point: when the important sentence goes by at the same speed as the setup, it doesn’t stand out. The fix is gear changes, not a slower average: quick through the setup, a beat of silence, then the point, slower. The 30-day voice foundations track trains exactly that, one measured session a day.

How the pace is measured

The engine counts syllables in your voice and converts them to words, so nothing turns your speech into text and nothing leaves your device. It’s an estimate: in our tests it lands within about 10 to 15% of a hand count, closer in a quiet room.