The short answer
On a US Letter page with 1 inch margins in 12 pt Times New Roman, we measured about 420 words per page double spaced, 560 at 1.5 spacing, 710 at 1.15 and 840 single spaced. So 1,000 words is about 2.4 pages double spaced and 1.2 pages single spaced. Arial at the same size is wider, so it fits fewer words per line: 380 double spaced and 750 single spaced.
The common rules of thumb, 250 words per double-spaced page and 500 per single-spaced page, are in the right region but on the low side for Times New Roman at 12 pt. They fit better for a wider font like Georgia at 12 pt, or for text with many short paragraphs and headings, which leave part of every last line empty.
Words per page by font, size and spacing
Letter is 8.5 by 11 inches, A4 is 21 by 29.7 cm, both with 1 inch (2.54 cm) margins on every side. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Your word processor may land a line or two away, because each one computes line height slightly differently and hyphenation and justification settings change how many words fit on a line.
| Font | Size | Paper | Single | 1.15 | 1.5 | Double |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Times New Roman | 12 pt | Letter | 840 | 710 | 560 | 420 |
| Times New Roman | 12 pt | A4 | 850 | 750 | 570 | 430 |
| Times New Roman | 11 pt | Letter | 950 | 840 | 640 | 480 |
| Times New Roman | 11 pt | A4 | 990 | 860 | 660 | 500 |
| Arial | 12 pt | Letter | 750 | 650 | 510 | 380 |
| Arial | 12 pt | A4 | 780 | 680 | 520 | 390 |
| Arial | 11 pt | Letter | 930 | 810 | 620 | 470 |
| Arial | 11 pt | A4 | 970 | 830 | 630 | 480 |
| Georgia | 12 pt | Letter | 710 | 620 | 480 | 370 |
| Georgia | 12 pt | A4 | 750 | 640 | 490 | 370 |
| Georgia | 11 pt | Letter | 940 | 820 | 630 | 470 |
| Georgia | 11 pt | A4 | 970 | 840 | 640 | 490 |
Two patterns are worth keeping. Going from 12 pt to 11 pt adds roughly 13 to 32 percent more words per page, more in the wider fonts, because both the lines and the words get smaller. And every step in spacing costs about what you would expect: 1.15 spacing holds about 85 percent of the single-spaced count, 1.5 about two thirds, double about half.
Word counts to pages
The table converts common word counts into pages for 12 pt Times New Roman on Letter paper. For another setting, divide the word count by the figure from the table above.
| Words | Single (840 per page) | 1.15 (710) | 1.5 (560) | Double (420) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| 500 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.2 |
| 750 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.8 |
| 1,000 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 2.4 |
| 1,500 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 3.6 |
| 2,000 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 4.8 |
| 2,500 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 6.0 |
| 3,000 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 5.4 | 7.2 |
| 4,000 | 4.8 | 5.6 | 7.2 | 9.6 |
| 5,000 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 9.0 | 12.0 |
| 10,000 | 11.9 | 14.1 | 18.0 | 24.0 |
A 500-word essay is about a page and a quarter double spaced. A 2,000-word paper is just under five. A 10,000-word dissertation chapter runs to about 24.0 pages double spaced, before figures, tables and headings push it further. Paste your draft into the word counter for the exact count, and into the character counter when the limit is in characters instead.
How we measured
We took the prose from the guides on this site, about 5,000 words of plain English, and laid it out in a headless browser inside a box the width and height of the printable area of a Letter and an A4 page. For each font, size and spacing we placed the text starting at eight different points, counted the words whose line still fit on the page, and averaged the eight counts. Single spacing uses the font's own normal line height; 1.15, 1.5 and double multiply it. We keep the script with the site's source code, so the numbers can be rerun with other text.
What this does and does not cover. The text is continuous prose with average-length words. Academic writing with long words fits fewer words per line; dialogue with short lines fits far fewer words per page because every line break leaves space empty. The box has no headers, footers, page numbers, headings or paragraph spacing, all of which take room on a real page. Treat the figures as the ceiling for running text, and expect a real document with headings and paragraph gaps to come in 5 to 15 percent lower.
How long 1,000 words take to read or say
A 2019 review of 190 reading studies by Marc Brysbaert put the average silent reading rate for adults reading English nonfiction at 238 words per minute, and the average rate for reading aloud at 183 words per minute. That gives:
| Words | Silent reading (238 wpm) | Reading aloud (183 wpm) | Pages, double spaced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | 1 min 3 s | 1 min 22 s | 0.6 |
| 500 | 2 min 6 s | 2 min 44 s | 1.2 |
| 1,000 | 4 min 12 s | 5 min 28 s | 2.4 |
| 1,500 | 6 min 18 s | 8 min 12 s | 3.6 |
| 2,000 | 8 min 24 s | 10 min 56 s | 4.8 |
| 3,000 | 12 min 36 s | 16 min 24 s | 7.2 |
| 5,000 | 21 min 1 s | 27 min 19 s | 12.0 |
Speeches and voiceovers are usually delivered more slowly than text read straight off the page, with pauses for emphasis and for the audience. The script timer lets you pick a pace and add pauses, and the word counter shows reading and speaking time for any text you paste. The readability checker flags long sentences and hard words, which slow readers down more than the word count suggests. And if the question is how long 1,000 words take to type, the typing speed test gives your own words per minute: at 40 words per minute that is 25 minutes of pure typing, before any thinking.
When the limit is in pages
- Ask for the formatting. "Five pages" means 2,100 words in 12 pt Times New Roman double spaced and 4,200 single spaced. Without the font, size, spacing and margins, a page limit is not a limit.
- Do not game the margins. Widening margins or picking a wider font to reach a page count is easy to spot and changes nothing about the content. Readers notice Georgia 12 pt at 1.5 spacing.
- Count words, not pages, while drafting. Words do not move when a heading lands at the bottom of a page. Set a goal in the word counter and let the page count follow.
- Leave room for the extras. A title, headings, block quotes, a bibliography and figures all take page space without adding to the word count. A 2,000-word paper with a reference list is longer than five pages.
Frequently asked questions
How many pages is 1,000 words double spaced?
About 2.4 pages in 12 pt Times New Roman on a Letter page with 1 inch margins, in our measurement. Rules of thumb that say 4 pages assume 250 words per page, which is a loose fit for 12 pt double spacing; we count about 420. If your assignment is set in pages, the assignment's own font, size and spacing decide, so ask for a word count when you can.
How many pages is 1,000 words single spaced?
About 1.2 pages in 12 pt Times New Roman, about 1.3 in 12 pt Arial. Single spacing packs 840 words on a Letter page, about twice the double-spaced figure, so the 500-words-per-page rule of thumb is close for Times New Roman.
How many words are on a typical page?
Anywhere from about 370 to 990 in the table above, depending on the font, the size, the spacing and the paper. There is no single answer, which is why word counts are a better unit than pages for any limit that matters.
How long does it take to read 1,000 words?
About 4 minutes 12 seconds of silent reading at 238 words per minute, the average for adults reading English nonfiction in a 2019 review of 190 studies by Marc Brysbaert. Reading aloud averaged 183 words per minute in the same review, so about 5 and a half minutes.
Does A4 fit more words than Letter?
A little. A4 is narrower but taller, and with the same 2.54 cm margins it holds two to four more lines per page. In the table the A4 figures run 1 to 6 percent above the Letter ones.