How Many Words Is a 5-Minute Speech? Word Counts at Every Pace

At an average pace of 150 words per minute, a 5-minute speech is 750 words. That is the figure to aim for if you have no other information about yourself. The real number depends on how fast you talk and how much you pause, so the useful answer is a range: about 600 words for a slow, deliberate speaker and about 915 words for someone reading a script aloud without stopping.

Words in a 5-minute speech at each pace

The figures below come from the words to minutes calculator in Minutes → words mode, which multiplies the minutes by the pace.

Pace	Words per minute	Words in 5 minutes	Typical speaker
Slow	120	600	Wedding toasts, eulogies, large rooms, frequent pauses
Average speech	150	750	Most presentations and class speeches
Reading aloud	183	915	Reading a written script straight through
Fast	200	1,000	Brisk narration, a nervous or rushed speaker

The 150 wpm figure is the average rate of speech for English speakers in the United States given by the National Center for Voice and Speech. The 183 wpm figure is the average oral reading rate in Marc Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis, which pooled 77 studies of people reading text aloud. Reading prepared text is faster than talking because you never stop to think of the next word.

Real speeches often land below both numbers. In the February 2025 issue of the Toastmaster magazine, one experienced club member says he aims for about 700 words for a 7-minute speech, which works out to 100 words per minute. Pauses, stories told with expression, and audience reactions all eat into the time.

Other speech lengths

The same arithmetic works for any time slot. Use the 150 wpm column as a starting point and the 120 wpm column if your speech has many pauses.

Speech length	120 wpm	150 wpm	183 wpm
1 minute	120	150	183
2 minutes	240	300	366
3 minutes	360	450	549
4 minutes	480	600	732
5 minutes	600	750	915
6 minutes	720	900	1,098
7 minutes	840	1,050	1,281
10 minutes	1,200	1,500	1,830

Working the other way, here is how long common script lengths take to say, using the times shown by the calculator in Words → minutes mode:

Script length	120 wpm	150 wpm	183 wpm	200 wpm
500 words	4 min 10 sec	3 min 20 sec	2 min 44 sec	2 min 30 sec
600 words	5 min	4 min	3 min 17 sec	3 min
700 words	5 min 50 sec	4 min 40 sec	3 min 50 sec	3 min 30 sec
750 words	6 min 15 sec	5 min	4 min 6 sec	3 min 45 sec
800 words	6 min 40 sec	5 min 20 sec	4 min 22 sec	4 min
1,000 words	8 min 20 sec	6 min 40 sec	5 min 28 sec	5 min

For a fuller explanation of reading and speaking rates, see average reading and speaking speed in words per minute.

Which pace to plan for

Pick the pace that matches how the speech will actually be delivered, not how fast you can read the draft.

• Speaking from notes or memory (class presentations, pitches, talks): plan for 150 wpm, so about 750 words.
• Emotional or ceremonial speeches (toasts, eulogies, award acceptances): plan for 120 wpm, about 600 words. You will slow down, and the audience will laugh, clap or need a moment.
• Reading a fixed script word for word (a statement, a recorded voice-over, a radio piece): 183 wpm is realistic, about 900 words. Rehearse it, because reading at that pace can sound rushed to listeners.
• Speeches with slides or demonstrations: subtract the time you spend clicking, pointing or waiting, then convert the rest. If a 5-minute talk includes 30 seconds of showing a chart in silence, write for 4 min 30 sec, which is 675 words at 150 wpm.

How to time your speech before you give it

1. Paste your draft into the word counter to get the exact word count. It counts any run of characters with a letter or digit as a word, so “well-known”, “don’t” and “3.5” are one word each. Its Speaking time figure uses 183 wpm, the reading-aloud rate, so treat it as the shortest likely time.
2. Enter that count in the words to minutes calculator. The table under the result shows the time at 120, 150, 183 and 200 wpm at once, which gives you the range.
3. Read one full page aloud with a timer, the way you will deliver it. Divide the words on that page by the minutes it took to get your own pace.
4. Rehearse the whole speech at least once with a stopwatch. This is the only number that includes your real pauses.

If you want to compare speaking time with how long the same text takes to read silently (for a handout or a blog version of the talk), the reading time calculator shows both, using 238 wpm for silent reading and 183 wpm for reading aloud by default.

Leave room for pauses, laughter and time limits

A script that runs exactly 5:00 in rehearsal often runs over in front of people. Three things add time:

• Laughter and applause. In the same Toastmaster article, 1990 World Champion of Public Speaking David Brooks estimates a chuckle in a big room at two seconds, a decent laugh at four seconds and a big laugh at six or more. Five laughs can add 20 to 30 seconds.
• Nerves and emphasis. Some speakers rush; others slow down and add asides. Rehearsal shows which you are.
• Opening and closing. Thanking the host, walking to the stage and waiting for quiet may or may not count, depending on who is timing.

If the time limit is strict, write a little short. Toastmasters, for example, gives prepared speeches a typical 5-7 minute slot with a 30-second grace period on either side (4 min 30 sec minimum to 7 min 30 sec maximum). For a hard 5-minute ceiling, a script of 650-700 words at 150 wpm leaves 20-40 seconds of margin.

How many pages is a 5-minute speech?

In the words to pages converter, 750 words in 12-point Times New Roman with 1-inch margins comes to about 1.5 pages single-spaced, 2.2 pages at 1.5 line spacing and 3 pages double-spaced. Many speakers print their script larger, in 14-point type with wide spacing, so it is easy to read at a glance; that makes it longer on paper without changing the speaking time. Count words, not pages, when you plan.

Cutting or stretching a speech to fit

If your script is too long, cut whole parts rather than trimming words everywhere. Removing one example or one story of 100 words saves 40 seconds at 150 wpm, and the speech stays coherent. Long sentences are also hard to deliver; the sentence counter shows the words per sentence and flags sentences longer than 25 words (you can change the limit), so you can find the ones to split.

If it is too short, add one concrete example, a short story or a pause for a question to the audience, instead of padding every sentence. Then count again and check the new time at your own pace.