Sentence Counter
Paste a draft and see how many sentences it contains, how long they run on average, and which one rambles on longest. This online sentence counter lists every sentence it finds in a numbered list, so you can check the splits at a glance. Abbreviations like Dr. and e.g., decimals, ellipses and quoted speech are handled, and nothing leaves your browser.
Longest sentence
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Shortest sentence
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Detected sentences
The sentences found in your text will be listed here, one per line.
Why This Tool Matters
Sentence length is one of the quickest readability checks there is. An editor trimming a blog post looks for the one 45-word sentence hiding in a paragraph. A student with a brief that says "write at least ten sentences" wants proof they got there, and an English teacher marking a stack of short answers wants a count that does not hinge on counting full stops by eye. Because every sentence is listed with its own word count, you can find the outlier without reading the whole thing again.
Most counters just count full stops, which breaks on "Dr. Smith", on "3.14" and on "Wait... what?". This one reads the punctuation around each stop before deciding whether a sentence ended. It also reports averages and extremes rather than raw totals, which makes it a companion to the Word Counter rather than a copy of it: the Word Counter tells you how much you wrote, and this one tells you how it is shaped.
How to Use
- 01
Paste your writing
Drop in an essay, an email or a few paragraphs. The text can be as long as you like.
- 02
Read the stats
Check the sentence total, the average length, and the longest and shortest sentences.
- 03
Scan the numbered list
Look through the detected sentences. Copy the list if you want to work on it elsewhere.
More Text Tools
- Need totals for words, paragraphs and reading time? Try the Word Counter
- Curious which words you lean on? Try the Word Frequency Counter
- Spotted an accidental "the the"? Try the Duplicate Word Finder
- Sentences starting in the wrong case? Try the Sentence Case Converter
- Browse all Text Analysis Tools
- Need to change letter case first? Try the full Case Converter
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the sentence counter decide where a sentence ends?
It looks for a full stop, question mark, exclamation mark or ellipsis, then checks what surrounds it. A full stop only ends a sentence when it is followed by a space or the end of the text, which skips decimals such as 3.14, versions like v2.0, and web addresses. Common abbreviations such as Mr., Dr., e.g. and i.e. never end a sentence, and ones like etc. or Inc. do so only when the next word starts with a capital. Runs of ?! count once, a closing quote stays with its sentence, and a blank line always starts a new one.
What can it get wrong?
Splitting is rule-based, not a language model, so it can still stumble. An abbreviation it does not know, such as a company name that ends in a full stop, may be treated as the end of a sentence. A capital initial followed by a capitalised word, as in "J. K. Rowling", is kept together, but a sentence that really does end on a single capital letter can be merged with the next one. Headings and list items without punctuation are only separated when there is a blank line between them. Poetry, chat logs and transcripts, where line breaks carry the structure, may count lower than you expect.
Why is my count different from another tool's?
Every tool applies its own rules for abbreviations, ellipses, quotes and line breaks, so two counters can disagree by a few on the same text. If you are submitting work against a requirement, check the count in whichever tool the person marking it will use, and use this one for the list of sentences and the length statistics.
Do line breaks count as the end of a sentence?
A single line break is treated like a space, because hard-wrapped text from emails and PDFs breaks lines mid-sentence. A blank line (a paragraph break) does end a sentence, so a title or a bullet followed by an empty line is counted separately even when it has no full stop.
What is a good average sentence length?
For general web writing, many style guides suggest an average of roughly 15 to 20 words, with a mix of short and long sentences for rhythm. Legal and academic writing often runs longer. The average is a prompt to look, not a target: check the longest sentence in the list and ask whether it should be split.
Is my text sent to a server?
No. Splitting and counting run in your browser, nothing is uploaded or stored, and the tool still works if you go offline after the page has loaded.