Words to pages converter

How to convert words to pages

1. Enter your word count, or choose My text and paste the document.
2. Match your formatting: font, size, line spacing, margins and paper. The defaults are a typical essay: Times New Roman, 12 pt, double spaced, 1 inch margins on US Letter.
3. Read the result. You get the page count, words per page, lines per page, and a table comparing single, 1.15, 1.5 and double spacing.

Words per page at 12 pt with 1 inch margins (US Letter)

These figures are for full pages of ordinary prose in paragraphs of about 120 words. So 1,500 words in Times New Roman 12 pt, double spaced, is about 4.4 pages, and 1,000 words is about 3 pages. Many guides use round numbers like 500 words per single spaced page and 250 per double spaced page. Those are on the low side for continuous text, but close for pages with a title, headings, block quotes or a reference list, so leave room for those.

How the estimate works

Lines per page come from the page height minus the margins, divided by the line height. Line height is the font's single line spacing as Microsoft Word sets it, times the spacing you pick. Words per line come from the character widths of the font and an average English word. With a word count, each paragraph is assumed to be about 120 words with a half empty last line. With pasted text, every paragraph is wrapped line by line using the real width of each character, so the estimate follows your actual words and paragraph breaks.

The estimate does not include extra space after paragraphs, headings, a title page, footnotes or a header with your name and page number. Word's default Normal style adds space after each paragraph, so set paragraph spacing to 0 to match. Google Docs uses slightly different line heights, so pages there can differ a little.

Worked example

Times New Roman 12 pt, double spaced, 1 inch margins on US Letter: the text area is 9 inches tall, and each double spaced line takes 27.6 points, so 23 lines fit on a page. A 6.5 inch line holds about 16 words. At about 340 words per page, a 2,000 word essay is about 5.9 pages.

Questions