Speech length calculator

Last updated 7 November 2026

Paste a speech or type a word count and see how long it takes to say out loud. Or start from the time you have and get a word count to write to. The speeds come from real practice speeches: a typical speaker talks at 128 words a minute.

How many words for each speech length

How long is a speech of each word count

Where the three speeds come from

Most calculators use one round number. These three come from about 900 practice speeches by nearly 200 people on RankedSpeak, measured as words in the transcript divided by the length of the recording. The typical speed is the median speaker (128 words a minute). Slow and fast are the edges of the middle half of speakers (111 and 149). Pauses are counted as speaking time, which is why these numbers work for timing a whole speech and not just the talking between pauses. The full numbers are on our speaking practice statistics page.

One limit: these were short answers to questions people had not seen, about about 40 seconds each. A speech you have written and rehearsed may run a little faster. A speech with slides, audience laughter or a toast at the end will run slower than the words alone suggest.

How to make a speech fit its time

Find your own pace

The calculator assumes an average speaker. Your own pace can sit well outside that. RankedSpeak is our iPhone app for speaking practice: you answer a question out loud for 30 to 90 seconds, and a few seconds later you see your pace in words a minute, your filler words and a score out of 10, measured from a word by word transcript. Or measure it now with the speaking speed test and put the result into the slider above.

Know your real speaking pace

Answer a daily prompt out loud and see your words a minute, filler words and score a few seconds later.

iPhone app. No Android or web version. What is free and what Pro costs

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