Mean word length in characters, two decimal places
The mean word length is the sum of word lengths divided by the word count. The output is reported to two decimal places (4.13) along with the number of words used in the average. "The quick brown fox" = 4 words of length 3, 5, 5, 3, totalling 16. Average length 4.00.
The tokenizer is \b[\w']+\b. don't is one word of length 5. well-known splits on the hyphen into well and known (lengths 4 and 5). Numbers count: 2024 is one word of length 4. Punctuation is the boundary and never counted toward word length.
For the actual longest or shortest single word, see find longest word and find shortest word. For the same metric alongside characters, words, sentences, paragraphs, and lines in one report, see text statistics.
How to use measure average word length
- 1Paste or type your text into the input panel on the left.
- 2The average word length appears in the output panel as you type.
- 3Read both lines: the average plus the number of words analysed.
- 4Click Copy in the output header to copy the result.
- 5Use text statistics if you also want word and sentence counts.
Keyboard shortcuts
Drive TextResult without touching the mouse.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl F | Open the find & replace panel inside the input Plus |
| Ctrl Z | Undo the last input change |
| Ctrl Shift Z | Redo |
| Ctrl Shift Enter | Toggle fullscreen focus on the editor Plus |
| Esc | Close find & replace, or exit fullscreen |
| Ctrl K | Open the command palette to jump to any tool Plus |
| Ctrl S | Save current workflow draft Plus |
| Ctrl P | Run a saved workflow Plus |
What this tool actually does
Tokenizes on \b[\w']+\b
A word is a run of \w with optional internal apostrophes. don't is one word of length 5. Hyphens are word boundaries here, so well-known = two words.
Average is mean, not median
The figure is the arithmetic mean: total characters across all matched words divided by the number of matched words. Long words pull the average up; short words pull it down. A few outliers can shift the figure noticeably on short inputs.
Reported to two decimal places
The output is Average word length: F characters, where F is the mean rounded via toFixed(2). Empty input reports 0 characters with no word-count line.
Word-count audit row
A second line, Words analyzed: N, lists how many tokens went into the average. This makes the figure auditable: you can spot when the count is dramatically lower than expected (often a punctuation issue).
Runs entirely in your browser
No upload, no logging, no server round-trip. The figure updates on every keystroke.
Worked example
Nine words: lengths 3, 5, 5, 3, 5, 4, 3, 4, 3. Total 35 characters; average 35 / 9 = 3.89. Add a 10-letter word and the average climbs.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Average word length: 3.89 characters Words analyzed: 9
Settings reference
| Behaviour | Value |
|---|---|
| Word definition | \b[\w']+\b (word chars with internal apostrophes). |
| Average type | Arithmetic mean (sum / count). |
| Decimals | Two (toFixed(2)). |
| Output format | Two lines: Average word length: F characters + Words analyzed: N. |
| Empty input | Average word length: 0 characters (no word-count row). |
| Hyphenated words | Split on the hyphen into separate words. |
FAQ
How is a word defined?
\w) with optional internal apostrophes. don't is one 5-character word. well-known is two words because the hyphen is a boundary.Is this a mean or a median?
How precise is the figure?
toFixed(2). The underlying division is full-precision JavaScript floating point; only the display is rounded.Why does the count differ from word counter?
well-known = 1). Average word length always splits on the hyphen, so the count here is typically a bit higher.