Find the most used words in your text and see their keyword density.
How to use
- Paste your article or any text.
- Choose whether to skip common words.
- Press Analyze to see the top 20 words.
Good to know
Density is the share of the analysed words. Use it to spot overused words, not as a ranking target.
Which words do you use most? Try this free online word frequency counter
This free online word frequency counter shows the 20 most common words in any text, with how many times each appears and what percentage of the text it makes up. Paste your text, decide whether to ignore common filler words, and press the Analyze button. It runs entirely in your browser, so your writing is never uploaded.
What does the Word Frequency Counter do and why is it useful?
A plain word counter tells you how long a text is. A word frequency counter tells you what it is about and how it is written. Seeing which words dominate helps you spot accidental repetition, check that a target topic really appears in a page, compare drafts, and understand the vocabulary of a document at a glance.
The output is a ranked table: up to 20 words, each with its count and its density, which is the share of all analysed words that the word accounts for, shown with two decimals.
How does the tool work under the hood?
The tool has one textarea, one option to ignore common words, and one button. When you press Analyze, it works through these steps:
- The text is lowercased, so
Go,goandGOcount as the same word. - Words are extracted. A word is a run made of letters, digits and apostrophes. Everything else, such as spaces, commas, full stops and hyphens, separates words.
- If the option to ignore common words is on, words from a short built-in list are dropped. The list is: a, an, the, and, or, but, of, to, in, on, at, for, with, is, are, was, were, be, it, this, that, as, by, from, i, you, he, she, we, they, not.
- The remaining words are counted, ranked from most to least frequent, and the top 20 are shown.
- Each density is the word's count divided by the number of analysed words, as a percentage with two decimals.
The phrase "analysed words" matters. When common words are ignored, they are removed from the total as well, so the percentages are calculated against the words that remain. Nothing updates as you type. The table appears only after you press the button.
How do you use the tool step by step?
- Paste or type your text into the textarea.
- Choose whether to ignore common words using the option provided.
- Press the Analyze button.
- Read the table of the top 20 words, with count and density for each.
- Change the option or edit the text and press Analyze again to refresh the table.
What do real results look like? Worked examples
Example 1: a simple sentence, common words kept
Input: the cat and the dog and the bird (8 words)
| Word | Count | Density |
|---|---|---|
| the | 3 | 37.50% |
| and | 2 | 25.00% |
| cat | 1 | 12.50% |
| dog | 1 | 12.50% |
| bird | 1 | 12.50% |
The three words with one occurrence are tied, so do not rely on a particular order among tied words.
Example 2: the same sentence, common words ignored
Both the and and are in the ignore list, so only cat, dog and bird remain. That is 3 analysed words.
| Word | Count | Density |
|---|---|---|
| cat | 1 | 33.33% |
| dog | 1 | 33.33% |
| bird | 1 | 33.33% |
Example 3: case is ignored
Input: Go go GO stop (4 words)
Result: go appears 3 times (75.00%) and stop once (25.00%).
Example 4: apostrophes stay inside words
Input: it's it's IT'S a test (5 words)
Common words kept: it's 3 (60.00%), a 1 (20.00%), test 1 (20.00%).
Common words ignored: the list contains a but not it's, because the apostrophe makes it a different word from it. Only a is removed, leaving 4 analysed words: it's 3 (75.00%) and test 1 (25.00%).
Example 5: numbers count as words
Input: 2024 was 2024 great (4 words), common words kept
Result: 2024 2 (50.00%), was 1 (25.00%), great 1 (25.00%).
Example 6: hyphens split words
Input: state-of-the-art, common words kept
Because a hyphen is not a letter, digit or apostrophe, the text splits into four words: state, of, the and art. Each has a count of 1 and a density of 25.00%.
Example 7: a short slogan with repeated words
Input: Buy low, sell high, buy again (6 words), common words kept
Result: buy 2 (33.33%), low 1 (16.67%), sell 1 (16.67%), high 1 (16.67%), again 1 (16.67%). Punctuation such as commas is ignored, and the capital B in the original does not matter.
How should you read the results?
Start at the top of the table. The first few rows show what the text leans on most. With common words ignored, those rows are usually the topic words, which is helpful for checking that a page or essay really centres on its subject. With common words kept, the top rows show the structure of the language, which is more useful for style checks.
Next, look at the density column. A single word at the top with a density far above the others may signal overuse. A flat table, where many words share similar low percentages, is normal for varied writing. Short texts naturally produce high percentages because each word is a large share of the total, so be cautious when comparing a three-line sample with a long article.
Tips and best practices
- Switch on the ignore option when you care about topic words. Without it, words like the, of and and usually crowd the top of the table.
- Switch it off when you want an honest picture of the entire text, for example when checking writing style.
- Use the density figures to compare texts of different lengths. A count of 10 means little on its own, but a density tells you how prominent the word is.
- Do not chase an ideal percentage. Write for readers first and use the table to catch accidental overuse of the same word.
- Run the same text with and without the ignore option to see how much of it is made up of common words.
- Tidy messy pasted text with remove extra spaces beforehand if it contains odd gaps, and use character counter for length limits.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Expecting a full word list. The table shows only the top 20 words.
- Forgetting that hyphenated terms split. A phrase like well-known becomes two words, which affects counts.
- Reading density against the wrong total. With the ignore option on, the percentages use only the words that remained after filtering.
- Assuming the ignore list is complete. It is a short fixed list of 32 common words. Other filler words stay in the results.
- Forgetting to press the button. Edits and option changes take effect only after you press Analyze.
Who uses a word frequency counter?
Writers and editors use it to catch repeated words and weak habits. Students use it to review essays and compare drafts. SEO specialists use it to check which terms a page emphasises. Teachers and language learners use it to explore vocabulary in a passage. Researchers use it for a quick look at the main terms in interview notes or open-ended survey answers. Anyone who wants a quick profile of a piece of text can use it.
Is my text private?
Yes. The analysis happens in your browser. The text is not uploaded to a server and is not stored by the tool. Close or refresh the page and it is gone. You can analyse private drafts and internal documents, though it is wise to avoid pasting passwords or secrets into any text field.
What are the limitations?
- Results appear only after you press Analyze. There is no live updating.
- Only the top 20 words are shown.
- Words are defined as letters, digits and apostrophes. Hyphenated terms and words with other symbols are split.
- The ignore list is short and fixed, and it cannot be edited.
- It does not group related forms, so run and running are counted separately. It does not detect phrases either, only single words.
- It has no file upload, download, copy button or history.
Frequently asked questions
What is word density?
It is the share of the analysed words that a given word makes up, shown as a percentage with two decimals.
Does it count uppercase and lowercase as the same word?
Yes. All text is lowercased before counting.
Which words does the ignore option remove?
The built-in list: a, an, the, and, or, but, of, to, in, on, at, for, with, is, are, was, were, be, it, this, that, as, by, from, i, you, he, she, we, they, not.
Are numbers counted as words?
Yes. Digits count as part of a word, so 2024 is a word.
How many words are shown?
Up to 20, ranked from most frequent to least frequent.
Can it count how many words a text has in total?
That is the job of the Word Counter. This tool focuses on which words repeat.
Why did a hyphenated word appear as two words?
Hyphens are not letters, digits or apostrophes, so they act as separators.
See what your text really says
A quick frequency table makes repetition and emphasis visible. Try the word frequency counter on your next draft, and explore our other free tools for more ways to check your writing.