Words to minutes: how long is your speech?
Paste your speech or drop in a Word file to see how long it runs. Or start from your time slot and see how many words to write.
Your speech at a natural pace runs about
0:00minutes
Paste your speech, or type a word count, to start.
- Slower
- 0:00
- Natural
- 0:00
- Faster
- 0:00
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How many words is a 5 minute speech?
About 700 words, at a natural pace of 140 words a minute. If you like to take your time, aim for 600. If you speak briskly, 825.
| Minutes | Slower | Natural | Faster |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 minute | 120 | 140 | 165 |
| 2 minutes | 240 | 280 | 330 |
| 3 minutes | 360 | 420 | 495 |
| 4 minutes | 480 | 560 | 660 |
| 5 minutes | 600 | 700 | 825 |
| 7 minutes | 840 | 980 | 1,155 |
| 10 minutes | 1,200 | 1,400 | 1,650 |
| 15 minutes | 1,800 | 2,100 | 2,475 |
| 20 minutes | 2,400 | 2,800 | 3,300 |
| 30 minutes | 3,600 | 4,200 | 4,950 |
| 45 minutes | 5,400 | 6,300 | 7,425 |
| 60 minutes | 7,200 | 8,400 | 9,900 |
Words, at 120, 140 and 165 words a minute. Tap a length to try it above.
How long is a 1,000 word speech?
About 7 minutes at a natural pace. Faster speakers take 6 minutes 4 seconds, slower ones 8 minutes 20 seconds.
| Words | Slower | Natural | Faster |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 words | 0:50 | 0:43 | 0:36 |
| 250 words | 2:05 | 1:47 | 1:31 |
| 500 words | 4:10 | 3:34 | 3:02 |
| 750 words | 6:15 | 5:21 | 4:33 |
| 1,000 words | 8:20 | 7:09 | 6:04 |
| 1,500 words | 12:30 | 10:43 | 9:05 |
| 2,000 words | 16:40 | 14:17 | 12:07 |
| 2,500 words | 20:50 | 17:51 | 15:09 |
| 3,000 words | 25:00 | 21:26 | 18:11 |
| 5,000 words | 41:40 | 35:43 | 30:18 |
| 7,500 words | 1:02:30 | 53:34 | 45:27 |
| 10,000 words | 1:23:20 | 1:11:26 | 1:00:36 |
Minutes and seconds (hours past 60 minutes). Tap a word count to try it above.
How fast do people speak?
Every number on this page comes from published research. Here is how fast people really speak, measured in words a minute.
Want your own number? Take the speaking speed test: talk for a minute and see your words per minute.
Why these three paces
Slower, 120: weddings, eulogies and big rooms where people laugh and clap. It's also the most the United Nations in Geneva allows for speeches, so interpreters and listeners can keep up.1
Natural, 140: a well-paced talk. University lectures run at about 145.2
Why other calculators disagree
Most use 100, 130 and 160 words a minute. We couldn't find where those numbers come from, so we started from the research instead. Nobody speaks at exactly one rate, so every result above comes with a range of 10% either way.
What people ask
Is 500 words enough for a 5 minute speech?
Not quite. At a natural pace, 500 words runs about 3 minutes 34 seconds. For a full 5 minutes, aim for about 700 words, or 600 if you like to take your time.
Can you say 1,000 words in 5 minutes?
Only at 200 words a minute, which is faster than most adults read aloud (183 words a minute). At a natural pace, 1,000 words takes about 7 minutes 9 seconds.
Is 150 words a minute a good pace?
Yes. It sits between a university lecture (about 145) and a professional audiobook (about 155). Most of the talks measured on this page run between 145 and 170 words a minute.
How many pages is a 5 minute speech?
About 700 words. Typed in 12 point, that's roughly one and a half pages single spaced, or three pages double spaced.
Should I add time for pauses?
Not for ordinary pauses. The rates here were measured on real speech, so the pauses are already in. Do add time for anything that isn't you talking: applause, laughter, a video clip or questions.
How do you count the words?
Every run of letters or numbers is one word, so don't, well-known and 2026 each count once. Tick the box to skip [stage directions] and speaker names you won't say out loud.
Sources
Sources checked 29 September 2026.
- United Nations Office at Geneva. Interpretation: statements "must be delivered at a speed not exceeding 120 words per minute". www.ungeneva.org/en/meetings-events/official-meetings/organizers/member-states/coordination/interpretation
- Wingrove, P. (2017). How suitable are TED talks for academic listening? Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 30, 79 to 95. doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2017.10.010
- Tauroza, S. and Allison, D. (1990). Speech rates in British English. Applied Linguistics, 11(1), 90 to 105. doi.org/10.1093/applin/11.1.90
- ACX. How long will my narrated audiobook be? (about 9,300 words per finished hour). help.acx.com/s/article/how-long-will-my-narrated-audiobook-be
- Rodero, E. (2012). A comparative analysis of speech rate and perception in radio bulletins. Text & Talk, 32(3), 391 to 411. doi.org/10.1515/text-2012-0019
- Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047. doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047
- Yuan, J., Liberman, M. and Cieri, C. (2006). Towards an integrated understanding of speaking rate in conversation. Interspeech 2006. www.isca-archive.org/interspeech_2006/yuan06_interspeech.html