Count your filler words
Talk into the mic and see every um, like and you know, highlighted as you speak. Or paste a transcript.
Press the mic and start talking.
Talk for a minute about anything: your week, your job, a story.
Sounds like um and er may not be picked up by the microphone. Everything else is.
Your words, highlighted
Your words appear here as you talk, with every filler highlighted. Tap a highlight to count it or not.
Filler words
0so far
- Per 100 words
- 0
- Words
- 0
- Per minute
- …
Um and er: not heard by the mic.
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What are filler words?
Filler words are the sounds and little words we use while we think: um, er, like, you know, so, basically, sort of. Everyone uses them. They only get in the way when they cluster, or when they make a clear point sound unsure. Here they are in six groups. Tap any word to see it as a filler, and as a word that's meant.
Sounds
The hesitation noises. Your browser's speech service may leave these out.
Mic may miss theseFillerIt was, um, a long week.
Not a filler
Fillers
Words that hold the floor while you think.
Heard by the micFillerI was, like, really nervous.
Not a fillerI like this plan.
Hedges
Softeners that make a point sound less sure.
Heard by the micFillerIt kind of depends.
Not a fillerWhat kind of tea?
Crutch words
Words that add emphasis but often no meaning.
Heard by the micFillerBasically, we ran out.
Not a filler
Vague endings
Trailing phrases that end a thought without landing it.
Heard by the micFillerSlides and stuff.
Not a filler
Tag questions
Checks at the end of a sentence. Counted only if you switch them on.
Heard by the micFillerThat makes sense, right?
Not a filler
How many filler words is normal?
In everyday British conversation, people say um or er about 1 to 3 times every 100 words.1, 2 People vary hugely: in one study of British conversation, speakers ranged from almost none to nearly 9 in every 100 words.2 Men, older speakers and more educated speakers tend to use more ums and ers.4 Count repeats and restarts as well, and conversation runs at about 6 hesitations every 100 words.3
- British conversationeveryday chat, 1990s0.91
- British speech overaller and erm, all spoken English1.51
- Median British speakerconversation, 1960s and 70s1.72
- British meetings and lectureser and erm, 1990s1.81
- Working on a task togetherum, uh, er and ah (US)2.63
- All hesitationsfillers, repeats and restarts6.03
- Youum and er, from your transcript
Are filler words bad?
Not always. Hearing "uh" helped listeners recognise the next word,6 and fillers in a story helped listeners remember it better later.7
But they can cost you authority. Saying um before an answer can make you sound less sure, even when you know it.8
What listeners notice is clusters: three fillers in one sentence, or the same crutch word in every sentence. That's what to work on, not every single um.
Why this counter is different
Most counters flag every “like”, “so” and “well” they find, so “I like this plan” counts as a filler. This one reads the words around each one, so “so that”, “well done” and “what kind of tea” are left alone. Words it isn't sure about are dotted, and you decide.
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What people ask
Is “like” always a filler?
No. In “I like this plan” or “it looks like rain” it's meant, and this counter leaves it alone. It counts “like” when it's set apart by pauses: “I was, like, nervous”. Younger speakers and women use like, you know and I mean more often than others.5
Why didn't my ums show up?
Browser speech services (Google in Chrome, Microsoft in Edge) tidy um and er out before we ever see them, and so do many transcript tools, including Otter and Rev’s standard service. Everything else is heard. To count ums too, paste a word-for-word transcript.
What are examples of filler words?
Sounds like um, er and erm. Words like like, so, well and okay. Phrases like you know and I mean. Hedges like sort of and kind of. Crutch words like basically and actually. Vague endings like and stuff or or something.
How do I stop saying um?
Not by banning it. Record yourself and listen for where the ums cluster, usually at the start of a sentence or a new idea. Then practise pausing there instead. A short pause gives you the same thinking time, without the sound.
Why wasn't “so” counted?
Because it was meant. “So that we could leave” or “and so on” aren't fillers. This counter counts “so” when it opens a sentence and stalls: “So, um, where was I?” Dotted words are ones worth a look, and you can tap any highlight to count it or not.
Sources
Sources checked 2 October 2026.
- Leech, G., Rayson, P. and Wilson, A. (2001). Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English, based on the British National Corpus. Spoken frequency lists for er and erm. ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/bncfreq/flists.html
- Clark, H. H. and Fox Tree, J. E. (2002). Using uh and um in spontaneous speaking. Cognition, 84(1), 73 to 111. doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(02)00017-3
- Bortfeld, H., Leon, S. D., Bloom, J. E., Schober, M. F. and Brennan, S. E. (2001). Disfluency rates in conversation: effects of age, relationship, topic, role, and gender. Language and Speech, 44(2), 123 to 147. doi.org/10.1177/00238309010440020101
- Tottie, G. (2011). Uh and um as sociolinguistic markers in British English. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 16(2), 173 to 197. doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.16.2.02tot
- Laserna, C. M., Seih, Y. and Pennebaker, J. W. (2014). Um... who like says you know: filler word use as a function of age, gender, and personality. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 33(3), 328 to 338. doi.org/10.1177/0261927X14526993
- Fox Tree, J. E. (2001). Listeners' uses of um and uh in speech comprehension. Memory & Cognition, 29(2), 320 to 326. doi.org/10.3758/BF03194926
- Fraundorf, S. H. and Watson, D. G. (2011). The disfluent discourse: effects of filled pauses on recall. Journal of Memory and Language, 65(2), 161 to 175. doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2011.03.004
- Brennan, S. E. and Williams, M. (1995). The feeling of another's knowing: prosody and filled pauses as cues to listeners about the metacognitive states of speakers. Journal of Memory and Language, 34(3), 383 to 398. doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1995.1017