Reading Time Calculator

The formula

Time = word count ÷ words per minute, then convert the fraction to seconds.

1,500 ÷ 200 = 7.5 minutes → 7 min 30 sec.

Worked examples

1,500 words at 200 wpm → 7:30
750 words at 250 wpm → 3:00
5,000 words at 200 wpm → 25:00
10,000 words at 150 wpm (technical text) → 66:40

Reading speeds worth knowing

Adult silent reading of ordinary prose runs about 200–250 words a minute. Technical or unfamiliar material drops to 100–150. Reading aloud is slower, usually 120–160 words a minute, which is why a five-minute speech is only about 700 words. Skimming can reach 400–700 but with much lower retention, and it is not reading so much as searching.

Where the estimate goes wrong

• Dwell time. Real readers pause, re-read a paragraph and look at images, so the wall-clock time is usually longer.
• Format. Short lines, subheadings and images slow progress but improve comprehension.
• Familiarity. A topic you know reads much faster than one you do not.
• Language. Reading in a second language typically runs 30–50% slower.

For a talk or a voiceover, use 140–150 words a minute and then add time for slides and pauses. For an article estimate, keep 200 and accept that actual dwell time on analytics will be lower, because most readers do not finish.

Words per minute is only half the story: comprehension falls once speed passes a comfortable level, and technical material is slower than fiction. At 200 wpm, 1,500 words is 7.5 minutes, and dropping to 150 wpm makes it 10 — the same page, a third more time. Skimming and scanning are separate skills with their own speeds, so use the estimate to plan a slot rather than to predict how long study takes. A 300-word page at 250 wpm takes just over a minute, so the estimate matters most for reports and long articles.

Frequently Asked Questions