🔠 Word Frequency Counter
By ToolNimba Editorial Team · Updated 2026-06-19
Top words by frequency (up to 30 shown).
| # | Word | Count | Density |
|---|
Enter some text above to build the frequency table.
This word frequency counter shows you which words appear most often in any block of text. Paste or type your content and it lists each word with how many times it occurs and what share of the text it represents (its keyword density), ranked from most to least frequent. It is matched case-insensitively and punctuation is stripped, so "The", "the", and "the," all count as the same word. You also get the total word count and the number of unique words at a glance.
What is the Word Frequency Counter?
Word frequency analysis is simply counting how many times each distinct word appears in a piece of text. It is one of the oldest and most useful text-processing techniques: writers use it to spot repetition and crutch words, students use it to study an author's style, and SEO professionals use it to check keyword density on a page. The raw counts on their own are interesting, but the percentage (count divided by total words) is what makes texts of different lengths comparable.
The tricky part is deciding what counts as "a word". This tool lowercases everything so capitalisation never splits a word in two, strips surrounding punctuation so "dog." and "dog" merge, and keeps internal apostrophes and hyphens so "don't" and "well-known" stay intact. Words are separated on whitespace. The result is a clean count that matches how a person would tally words by hand.
A common follow-on is keyword density, which is just the frequency of one word (or phrase) expressed as a percentage of all words. In SEO it is a rough signal of what a page is about, though search engines are far more sophisticated than a simple ratio today. Most editors aim for a target keyword to read naturally rather than chasing a specific percentage, and a density above roughly 3% to 4% for a single keyword often reads as stuffed. The optional "ignore common words" setting strips filler words like "the" and "and" so the meaningful terms rise to the top.
When to use it
- Checking keyword density on a web page or article before publishing for SEO.
- Finding overused crutch words or repeated phrases when editing your own writing.
- Analysing the vocabulary and style of a speech, poem, or book passage for study.
- Building a quick frequency list of terms in survey responses or customer feedback.
How to use the Word Frequency Counter
- Paste or type your text into the box (or click "Load sample text" to try it).
- Read the total word count, unique word count, and most frequent word in the summary.
- Scan the table for each word, its count, and its density percentage, ranked highest first.
- Tick "Ignore common words" to hide filler words like "the" and "and" and focus on meaningful terms.
Formula & method
Worked examples
The phrase "the cat sat on the mat" (6 words).
- Total words = 6.
- "the" appears 2 times, the other 4 words appear once each.
- density of "the" = 2 ÷ 6 × 100 = 33.33%.
Result: "the" is the most frequent word: 2 of 6 words, 33.33% density.
Counting "Dog dog DOG." case-insensitively with punctuation stripped.
- Lowercase and strip punctuation gives: dog dog dog.
- All three tokens collapse to the single word "dog".
- count("dog") = 3, total words = 3, density = 3 ÷ 3 × 100 = 100%.
Result: One unique word "dog" with a count of 3 and 100% density.
Common keyword density bands and how they tend to read
| Density of one keyword | How it usually reads |
|---|---|
| Under 0.5% | Barely present; topic may be unclear to readers |
| 0.5% to 2% | Natural, comfortable range for a target keyword |
| 2% to 3% | Noticeable but usually acceptable on focused pages |
| Over 3% to 4% | Often reads as repetitive or "stuffed" |
What this tool treats as one word
| Input | Counted as | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "The" and "the" | the | Matching is case-insensitive |
| "dog." and "dog" | dog | Surrounding punctuation is stripped |
| "don't" | don't | Internal apostrophes are kept |
| "well-known" | well-known | Internal hyphens are kept |
Common mistakes to avoid
- Confusing total words with unique words. Total words counts every word including repeats; unique words counts how many distinct words there are. A 100-word text might have only 60 unique words. The density percentage is always based on the total, not the unique count.
- Chasing an exact keyword density number. There is no magic density that ranks a page. Write naturally for the reader; if a keyword reads as forced or appears above roughly 3% to 4%, ease off rather than adding more.
- Expecting plurals and variants to merge. This counter treats "cat" and "cats", or "run" and "running", as different words because it does not stem or lemmatise. Combine related forms yourself if you need a grouped total.
Glossary
- Word frequency
- The number of times a given word appears in a piece of text.
- Keyword density
- A word's frequency expressed as a percentage of the total word count, used as a rough on-page SEO signal.
- Token
- A single word unit produced by splitting text on whitespace after stripping punctuation.
- Stop words
- Very common filler words such as "the", "and", and "of" that carry little meaning and are often excluded from analysis.
- Unique words
- The count of distinct words in the text, ignoring how many times each one repeats.
Frequently asked questions
What is a word frequency counter?
It is a tool that counts how many times each word appears in a block of text and ranks the words from most to least frequent. This one also shows each word's density (its share of the total) plus your total and unique word counts.
How is keyword density calculated?
Keyword density is a word's count divided by the total number of words, multiplied by 100 to make a percentage. For example, a word used 5 times in a 250-word article has a density of 5 ÷ 250 × 100 = 2%.
What is a good keyword density for SEO?
There is no official target, but a natural range for a focused keyword is roughly 0.5% to 2%. Above about 3% to 4% it often reads as stuffed. Write for the reader first; search engines no longer reward a specific ratio.
Is the counting case-sensitive?
No. The tool lowercases everything before counting, so "The", "the", and "THE" are all tallied as the same word. Surrounding punctuation is also stripped so "dog." and "dog" merge.
Why are only 30 words shown in the table?
The table lists the top 30 words by frequency to stay readable, which covers the words that matter for almost any analysis. The total and unique word counts above the table still reflect the entire text.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. All counting runs in your browser with JavaScript. Your text never leaves your device and nothing is sent to a server, so it is safe to use for private or unpublished content.