Limato
Sentence Counter
Count sentences and average sentence length instantly — right as you type. Free, private, no signup. Everything runs in your browser.
How the sentence counter works
Paste or type your text in the box above. The counter splits it wherever a sentence ends — a period, question mark, exclamation mark, or ellipsis — and updates live, along with average words per sentence, word count, and reading time. Nothing is sent to a server; your text never leaves your browser.
One honest caveat: like every sentence counter, it counts terminators. Abbreviations such as "Dr." or "e.g." can register as an extra sentence in edge cases. For normal prose the count matches what a careful human would get.
What's a good average sentence length?
The "words / sentence" cell is the number worth watching. Rough guide for English prose:
- Under 14 words: punchy — ads, headlines, direct emails.
- 15–20 words: plain English. Most professional writing should live here.
- 21–25 words: dense — fine for technical or academic text, tiring elsewhere.
- Over 25 words: readers start re-reading. Split something.
The average hides variety, though: good writing mixes 5-word sentences with 30-word ones. If your average is 22 and every sentence is 20–24 words, the problem isn't length — it's rhythm.
Long sentences are a second-language habit
Writers working in a second language consistently produce longer sentences than natives — more clauses, more hedging, more commas holding it all together. A native writer would break the thought in two. If your average sits above 22 words, paste the text into the paraphrasing tool or Limato — it restructures long sentences into natural, native-length ones, typically cutting 30% of the words.
Write it right, not just count it
Limato's Chrome extension rewrites clunky non-native English into natural, native-sounding text on any website — Gmail, Slack, LinkedIn, Notion. 20 free rewrites a day.
Add to Chrome — FreeFrequently asked questions
How does the sentence counter count sentences?
It splits text at sentence-ending punctuation: periods, question marks, exclamation marks, and ellipses. A final fragment without end punctuation still counts as one sentence.
What counts as one sentence?
Any run of text up to a sentence-ending mark. Abbreviations like "Dr." or "e.g." may occasionally register as an extra sentence — a limitation shared by every counter that works from punctuation.
What is a good average sentence length?
For clear professional English, aim for 15–20 words per sentence on average, with deliberate variety — some short, some long. Averages above 25 words usually mean sentences should be split.
Is my text stored or sent anywhere?
No. All counting happens locally in your browser with JavaScript. Your text is never uploaded, logged, or saved.
Does it work for languages other than English?
Yes — sentence, word, and character counts work in any language that ends sentences with periods, question marks, or exclamation marks. The readability score is tuned for English.