Your sentences might be too long. This tool shows you which ones.
Good writing has rhythm. Short sentences punch. Long sentences flow and carry the reader through complex ideas with nuance and detail. But if all your sentences are the same length, the writing goes flat.
This tool counts your sentences, calculates the average words per sentence, and, this is the part editors love, flags both the longest and shortest sentences in your text. You can immediately see where things get bloated or choppy.
What it measures
- Total number of sentences (split on periods, exclamation marks, question marks)
- Average words per sentence, most style guides say 15-20 is the sweet spot
- Your longest sentence, highlighted so you can decide if it needs splitting
- Your shortest sentence, in case something reads as a fragment
- Real-time updates as you edit
- Client-side processing, nothing leaves your browser
How to use it
Paste your text. Review the stats. If your average sentence length is 28 words, that’s a red flag, your readers are probably struggling. If you’ve got a ton of sentences under 5 words, the writing might feel choppy and fragmented.
The fix is usually to find the flagged longest sentences and break them into two or three. Then look at the shortest ones and see if any feel incomplete.
Who benefits from this
Writers and bloggers: 15-20 words per sentence is the target for clear web content. If you’re consistently over 20, your readability is suffering. Pair this with the Word Counter to get the full picture.
Students writing papers: academic writing is notorious for 40-word sentences that nobody can follow. Paste your essay in and find the worst offenders. Your professor (and your grade) will thank you.
Email writers: here’s a tip: shorter sentences dramatically improve comprehension in emails. Aim for 12-18 words on average in professional communication. People skim emails. Short sentences survive skimming better.
Content editors: instead of reading 3,000 words looking for problem spots, paste it in and jump straight to the flagged sentences. It’s a huge time saver.
SEO content: search engines favor readable content. Moderate sentence length, combined with the Reading Time Estimator, helps you hit readability targets.
Here’s the general principle: mix it up. Follow a long sentence with a short one. Vary the rhythm. It works.
FAQ
How does it detect sentences?
It splits on periods, exclamation marks, and question marks, then filters out empty results. Abbreviations like “Dr.” or “U.S.” can cause slight overcounting, it’s a known limitation of simple sentence splitting.
What’s a good average?
15-20 words per sentence for general reading. Academic text runs 20-25. Conversational web content works best at 12-18. The Flesch-Kincaid formula penalizes long sentences, so staying moderate helps your readability score.
Does it work in other languages?
Yes, as long as the text uses standard sentence-ending punctuation. Languages with different sentence terminators might need some manual interpretation.
Is it private?
Yes. Everything happens in your browser. Your text doesn’t get stored or transmitted.