Paragraph Counter
Paste your text to count paragraphs — and, right beside them, physical lines. This paragraph counter doubles as an online line counter: you get total lines, non-blank lines and blank lines live as you type, plus words per paragraph. Everything is counted in your browser; your text never leaves the page.
Draft storage is full — delete one to save another.
Nothing saved yet. Save the text in the editor to come back to it later — drafts stay on this device only and are never uploaded.
Save these drafts to a free account — access them from any device. →How many paragraphs is…
| 500 words | ≈ 5–7 paragraphs (web) | ≈ 3–5 (academic) |
| 1,000 words | ≈ 10–14 paragraphs (web) | ≈ 5–10 (academic) |
| 1,500 words | ≈ 15–20 paragraphs (web) | ≈ 8–15 (academic) |
| 2,000 words | ≈ 20–27 paragraphs (web) | ≈ 10–20 (academic) |
| 5-paragraph essay | ≈ 500–800 words | intro + 3 body + conclusion |
Copied
| Total lines | 0 |
| Non-blank lines | 0 |
| Blank lines | 0 |
Physical lines — every newline starts a new line; lines with only spaces count as blank. Soft wrapping in the editor does not add lines.
Words per paragraph
Each paragraph with its word count. Long paragraphs are flagged — most well-edited prose runs 75–150 words per paragraph.
| Paragraph | Words |
|---|
Paragraphs, lines — and the difference
A paragraph is a block of text separated by a blank line (or, with the toggle above, every new line). A line is physical: each newline character starts one, so a text line counter reports exactly what your keyboard produced. Total lines counts every row including blank ones, non-blank lines skips rows that are empty or whitespace-only, and blank lines is the rest. Soft wrapping — long lines folding to fit the editor — does not add lines; only newline characters do. To count lines this way, just paste and read the Lines row.
Averages
Breakdown copied.
Word and sentence counts per paragraph — click a row to jump to it in the editor.
| # | Words | Sentences | Longest sentence |
|---|
Long sentences are where readers get lost. Click one to select it in the editor — splitting it in two is usually the fastest fix.
Edge cases, counted live
How paragraphs are counted
Default mode: a paragraph is text separated by a BLANK line — that's how most editors and CMSs store paragraphs when you press Enter twice. «Every line» mode (the toggle above) counts each non-empty line instead — use it for text pasted from a CMS, chat export or subtitle file where paragraphs arrive as single newlines.
The chips below are counted live in default mode by the same code as the counter above.
Honest limits — what a counter can't see
Headings, list items and image captions each count as a paragraph if they sit on their own block — a counter sees text structure, not meaning, so a 10-item list adds 10. Word processors count the same way (an empty paragraph mark in Word still counts until it's deleted). If your assignment counts «body paragraphs», subtract headings and lists yourself — no tool can honestly do that for you.
Soft line wraps (one long line the editor displays as several) are ONE paragraph everywhere.
Who counts paragraphs — and why
Students verifying a «5-paragraph essay» structure; bloggers keeping paragraphs short for mobile (the per-paragraph table above shows word counts per block — 2–4 sentences is the usual web target); editors checking rhythm against the sentence counter; translators quoting per-paragraph rates. For grade-level scores built on these counts, the readability checker continues the workflow.
How is a paragraph detected?
A paragraph is any block of text separated by a blank line. Single line breaks inside a block don't split it — that matches how most editors and content systems treat paragraphs.
How long should a paragraph be?
For web writing, 2–4 sentences (40–100 words) keeps text scannable. Academic writing runs longer, typically 100–200 words around a single idea.
How many paragraphs is a 1,000-word essay?
Typically 5 to 10 in academic writing (100–200 words per paragraph) and 10 to 14 in web writing, where paragraphs run 2–4 sentences. The classic 5-paragraph essay format fits comfortably in 500–800 words.
Do headings and lists count as paragraphs?
This counter treats any text block separated by blank lines as a paragraph, so a heading on its own line counts as one. If you need body paragraphs only, subtract your headings — or paste just the body text.
What is the difference between lines, sentences and paragraphs?
Lines are physical: one per newline character, regardless of meaning — press Enter twice and you made two lines (one blank). Sentences are grammatical units ending with punctuation like a period or question mark. Paragraphs are blocks of one or more sentences, usually separated by a blank line. A three-sentence paragraph typed without pressing Enter is one line, one paragraph, three sentences.