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Speech Length Calculator

Convert words to minutes, or minutes to words, at the pace you actually speak.

Calculator

What do you want to work out?

The word count below updates as you type.

Speaking pace (words per minute)
wpm

Speaking time

5 min 0 sec

700 words · Average pace · 140 words per minute

SlowAverageFast

At each preset pace

Slow 110 wpm
6 min 22 sec
Average 140 wpm
5 min 0 sec
Fast 170 wpm
4 min 7 sec

Pauses, slides and audience reactions add time. Leave a margin of about ten percent.

The calculation runs in your browser. The text you paste is not sent to our servers.

How many words is a 5-minute speech?

Speech Length Calculator

A 5-minute speech is about 550 to 850 words depending on how fast you talk, and close to 700 words at an average pace of 140 words per minute.

The arithmetic is short: words = minutes × words per minute, and minutes = words ÷ words per minute. The hard part is knowing your own pace. The calculator offers three presets: 110 words per minute for slow, deliberate delivery with long pauses, 140 for an average prepared speech, and 170 for a fast talker. Conversational English usually runs between 130 and 160 words per minute, and most people slow down a little when they stand up in front of a room, so the average preset sits in the lower half of that range.

If you already have a draft, paste it in and the words are counted for you. If you only know the time slot, switch to “Time to words” and you get the length to write to.

Words per minute reference table

Word counts for common speech lengths at the three preset paces.

  • Slow110 wpm
  • Average140 wpm
  • Fast170 wpm
02,0004,0006,000
1235710152030
Number of words in a speech of 1 to 30 minutes at slow, average and fast speaking pace
Speech lengthSlow (110 wpm)Average (140 wpm)Fast (170 wpm)
1 minute110 words140 words170 words
2 minutes220 words280 words340 words
3 minutes330 words420 words510 words
5 minutes550 words700 words850 words
7 minutes770 words980 words1,190 words
10 minutes1,100 words1,400 words1,700 words
15 minutes1,650 words2,100 words2,550 words
20 minutes2,200 words2,800 words3,400 words
30 minutes3,300 words4,200 words5,100 words

Each figure is minutes multiplied by words per minute, with no allowance for pauses. A 10-minute speech, for example, is 1,100 words at a slow pace, 1,400 at an average pace and 1,700 at a fast pace.

Words to minutes

The same sum the other way round: how long a script of a given length takes to deliver.

Speaking time for scripts of 100 to 3,000 words at slow, average and fast speaking pace
Script lengthSlow (110 wpm)Average (140 wpm)Fast (170 wpm)
100 words55 sec43 sec35 sec
250 words2 min 16 sec1 min 47 sec1 min 28 sec
500 words4 min 33 sec3 min 34 sec2 min 56 sec
750 words6 min 49 sec5 min 21 sec4 min 25 sec
1,000 words9 min 5 sec7 min 9 sec5 min 53 sec
1,500 words13 min 38 sec10 min 43 sec8 min 49 sec
2,000 words18 min 11 sec14 min 17 sec11 min 46 sec
3,000 words27 min 16 sec21 min 26 sec17 min 39 sec

Timed on paper? Now time it out loud.

A word count is an estimate. In SayNow AI you can pick the public speaking scenario, deliver the speech in a live voice session, and get a score with suggestions on fluency and structure when you finish.

Free to download · iOS and Android

How to measure your own speaking pace

The presets are reasonable defaults, but people differ by 30 or 40 words a minute, which is a full minute of difference over a 5-minute speech. Measuring takes about five minutes.

  1. Take about 300 words of your own speech

    Paste a section of your draft into the calculator to get the exact count. Use your own writing, not a news article: you say your own sentences differently from someone else's.

  2. Record yourself delivering it

    Stand up, start the voice recorder on your phone and speak the way you would to the room: full volume, with the pauses you plan to take. Reading under your breath at a desk gives a number that is too fast.

  3. Divide the words by the minutes

    If 300 words took 2 minutes 15 seconds, that is 300 ÷ 2.25 = 133 words per minute. Convert the seconds to a decimal first: 15 seconds is 0.25 of a minute.

  4. Enter the result as a custom pace

    Type your number into the “Your pace” box and every result is recalculated for you. Measure again for a different kind of talk. A wedding toast and a technical briefing rarely come out at the same speed.

Why speaking pace differs from reading pace

If you time a draft by reading it silently, you will write far too much. Silent reading and speaking aloud are different activities with different speeds.

  • Silent reading skips the voice

    Most adults read silently at well over 200 words per minute. Nobody can articulate clearly at that speed for five minutes, and no audience could follow if they did.

  • Pauses take time but add no words

    A two-second pause after a key line, a breath between sections, a sip of water: ten of these in a speech is twenty seconds that appears in no word count.

  • Listeners cannot re-read

    A reader who misses something looks back up the page. A listener can't, so speakers slow down, repeat the main point and leave gaps. All of that lowers the words per minute.

  • The room adds its own time

    Laughter, applause, changing slides, a microphone handover and walking to the lectern all come out of your slot.

  • Nerves change the number

    Many speakers speed up when they are nervous and finish early; others lose their place and run long. A pace measured alone at home is a starting point, not a guarantee.

How to trim a speech to fit the time

Running over is the more common problem, and speaking faster is the worst fix. Cut content instead.

  • Write to nine tenths of the slot

    Take the word count from the table and aim about ten percent under it. The spare time is used up by pauses and the walk to the front, and finishing a little early is never held against a speaker.

  • Cut the warm-up

    Drafts often open with thanks, an apology and a description of what the speech will cover. Start with your first real point and move one thank-you to the end.

  • Keep one example per point

    If a point has two stories behind it, keep the stronger one. The audience remembers the example, not the count.

  • Remove a whole section, not single words

    Shaving adjectives saves seconds. Dropping your weakest point saves a minute and makes the remaining points easier to follow.

  • Swap written phrases for spoken ones

    “In order to” becomes “to”. “At this point in time” becomes “now”. “It is important to note that” disappears altogether.

  • Mark a paragraph you can skip

    Bracket one passage in your notes that the speech works without. If the event is running late, you skip it without having to edit on your feet.

  • Time the final version aloud

    Run the whole speech with a stopwatch at least twice. The second run is usually the more accurate one, because the first includes the hesitations of unfamiliar text.

Frequently asked questions

How many words is a 5-minute speech?
About 700 words at an average pace of 140 words per minute. A slow speaker needs about 550 words and a fast speaker about 850.
How many words is a 10-minute speech?
About 1,400 words at 140 words per minute, with a range of 1,100 words at a slow pace to 1,700 at a fast pace.
How many words is a 3-minute speech?
Between 330 and 510 words. At an average pace of 140 words per minute it comes to 420 words.
How long does it take to deliver 1,000 words?
About 7 min 9 sec at 140 words per minute. At a slow pace of 110 words per minute it takes 9 min 5 sec, and at a fast pace of 170 it takes 5 min 53 sec.
Which speaking pace should I choose?
Use Average (140 words per minute) if you have never timed yourself. Choose Slow (110) for formal occasions, speeches delivered through an interpreter, or an audience listening in a second language. Choose Fast (170) only if you know you talk quickly. The most reliable option is to measure your own pace and enter it as a custom value.
Does the calculator allow for pauses?
Only through the pace you choose. The result is word count divided by words per minute, so a slower pace is how you account for pauses. If you plan long pauses, slides or audience interaction, pick a slower pace or leave about ten percent of the slot free.
Is the text I paste saved anywhere?
No. The word count and the result are calculated in your browser. The text is not sent to our servers and it disappears when you close or reload the page.

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