Words per minute calculator
Words divided by minutes. Time yourself over a known passage and you have your real rate rather than an average from a study of someone else.
How to measure your words per minute
What counts as a good rate depends entirely on the activity, and the numbers are not close to each other. Silent reading averages around 238 words a minute; speaking aloud is roughly half that; sustained writing is a different scale again, at perhaps 20 to 40 words a minute once thinking time is included. Typing speed is measured differently still: it uses a standardised five-character "word", so a typing WPM and a reading WPM are not comparable quantities even though they share a unit.
Questions
Around 238 words a minute is average for adults reading non-fiction. Above 300 with real comprehension is fast.
No. Typing uses a standardised five-character word, so the two numbers are not comparable despite the shared unit.
120 to 140 words a minute for a presentation. Conversation runs nearer 150.
At least three. Difficulty and familiarity move a single result a long way.
Because writing includes thinking. Twenty to forty words a minute sustained is normal and not a problem.