How Many Words Are on a Page?
A standard manuscript page in Times New Roman 12 pt, double-spaced, with one-inch margins holds about 320 words of typical fiction. The same text single-spaced holds about 640. Those two numbers move a lot with the font, the paragraphs and the page size, which is why the calculator asks for all three.
Words per page, US Letter, 1" margins, 12 pt, typical fiction:
| Font | Single | 1.5 | Double |
|---|---|---|---|
| Times New Roman | 642 | 428 | 321 |
| Arial | 628 | 419 | 314 |
| Calibri | 603 | 402 | 295 |
| Georgia | 588 | 392 | 288 |
| Garamond | 559 | 368 | 273 |
| Courier New | 469 | 312 | 234 |
Courier New holds the fewest words because every letter takes the same width. Its 234 words per double-spaced page are close to the familiar figure of 250, which fits a monospaced manuscript far better than one set in Times New Roman.
How Many Pages Is 50,000 Words?
50,000 words fill about 156 double-spaced manuscript pages in Times New Roman 12 pt, or 78 single-spaced ones. Printed as a 6" x 9" paperback in 11 pt Garamond, the same text runs to about 132 pages; in the smaller 5.5" x 8.5" trim it runs to about 160.
| Words | Double-spaced | Single-spaced | 6" x 9" book | 5.5" x 8.5" book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | 32 | 16 | 28 | 32 |
| 15,000 | 47 | 24 | 40 | 48 |
| 20,000 | 63 | 32 | 54 | 64 |
| 25,000 | 78 | 39 | 66 | 80 |
| 30,000 | 94 | 47 | 80 | 96 |
| 40,000 | 125 | 63 | 106 | 128 |
| 50,000 | 156 | 78 | 132 | 160 |
| 60,000 | 187 | 94 | 158 | 192 |
| 70,000 | 219 | 110 | 184 | 224 |
| 75,000 | 234 | 117 | 196 | 240 |
| 80,000 | 250 | 125 | 210 | 256 |
| 90,000 | 281 | 141 | 236 | 288 |
| 100,000 | 312 | 156 | 262 | 320 |
| 110,000 | 343 | 172 | 288 | 352 |
| 120,000 | 374 | 187 | 314 | 384 |
| 150,000 | 468 | 234 | 392 | 478 |
| 200,000 | 624 | 312 | 522 | 638 |
The double- and single-spaced columns are manuscript pages in Times New Roman 12 pt on US Letter with one-inch margins; the book columns are paperback pages in Garamond 11 pt at 1.15 spacing. All rows assume typical fiction paragraphs. The paperback counts cover the text alone: title page, copyright page, contents and a blank page before each new chapter all add to the page count KDP prints.
Words to Pages for Essays and Short Pieces
An essay, a short story or a school assignment usually has longer paragraphs and fewer breaks than a novel, so a page holds a little more of it. In Times New Roman 12 pt on US Letter with one-inch margins, 1,000 words of essay text fill about 2.7 double-spaced pages or 1.4 single-spaced ones.
| Words | Double-spaced | 1.5 spacing | Single-spaced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| 300 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| 500 | 1.4 | 1 | 0.7 |
| 750 | 2 | 1.5 | 1 |
| 1,000 | 2.7 | 2 | 1.4 |
| 1,200 | 3.3 | 2.5 | 1.6 |
| 1,500 | 4.1 | 3.1 | 2 |
| 1,600 | 4.4 | 3.3 | 2.2 |
| 2,000 | 5.4 | 4.1 | 2.7 |
| 2,500 | 6.8 | 5.1 | 3.4 |
| 3,000 | 8.2 | 6.1 | 4.1 |
| 4,000 | 11 | 8.2 | 5.5 |
| 5,000 | 14 | 11 | 6.8 |
| 6,000 | 17 | 13 | 8.2 |
| 7,500 | 21 | 16 | 11 |
| 8,000 | 22 | 17 | 11 |
Rows use essay-length paragraphs, around 80 words each. Dialogue or many short paragraphs push the same words onto more pages; set Kind of Text in the calculator to see by how much.
Pages to Words: How Many Words Is a Page Count?
Working the other way, from a page limit to a word count: a double-spaced page in Times New Roman 12 pt holds about 370 words of essay text, a page at 1.5 spacing about 490, and a single-spaced page about 730.
| Pages | Double-spaced | 1.5 spacing | Single-spaced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 370 | 490 | 730 |
| 1.5 | 550 | 730 | 1,100 |
| 2 | 730 | 980 | 1,470 |
| 3 | 1,100 | 1,470 | 2,200 |
| 4 | 1,470 | 1,960 | 2,930 |
| 5 | 1,840 | 2,450 | 3,670 |
| 6 | 2,200 | 2,930 | 4,400 |
| 8 | 2,940 | 3,910 | 5,860 |
| 10 | 3,670 | 4,890 | 7,330 |
| 12 | 4,400 | 5,870 | 8,800 |
| 15 | 5,510 | 7,340 | 11,000 |
| 20 | 7,340 | 9,780 | 14,660 |
| 25 | 9,180 | 12,230 | 18,330 |
| 30 | 11,010 | 14,670 | 21,990 |
For a printed book the trim size decides it. A 6" x 9" paperback page in 11 pt Garamond holds about 384 words of typical fiction, and a 5.5" x 8.5" page about 314:
| Book pages | 6" x 9" book | 5.5" x 8.5" book |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 38,400 | 31,400 |
| 150 | 57,600 | 47,100 |
| 200 | 76,800 | 62,800 |
| 250 | 96,000 | 78,500 |
| 300 | 115,200 | 94,200 |
| 350 | 134,400 | 109,900 |
| 400 | 153,600 | 125,600 |
| 500 | 192,000 | 157,000 |
Why Paragraphs Change the Page Count
Every paragraph ends on a line that is only partly filled, and every new one starts with an indent. Dialogue breaks a scene into many short paragraphs, so a page of it holds fewer words than a page of continuous narration. In Times New Roman 12 pt, double-spaced, the same words fill a Letter page at these rates:
- Dialogue-heavy fiction, around 20 words per paragraph: 243 words per page.
- Typical fiction, around 40 words per paragraph: 321 words per page.
- Nonfiction and essays, around 80 words per paragraph: 367 words per page.
If your draft is mostly conversation, pick the first option. A thriller told in short punchy paragraphs will print longer than a literary novel of the same word count.
Manuscript Pages vs. Printed Book Pages
A manuscript page and a book page are different units. A double-spaced Letter page holds around 320 words; a 6" x 9" paperback page in 11 pt type holds around 390. A 5" x 8" page holds about 270. So a 300-page manuscript does not become a 300-page book, and the trim size you choose on KDP changes the page count, the spine width and the printing cost at the same time.
Printed books always have an even number of pages, because each sheet has two sides. The calculator rounds the paperback count up to the next even number, and KDP needs at least 24 pages for a paperback. The page count also sets the printing cost: the KDP Royalty Calculator shows what is left of each sale at your list price.
Reading Time and Read-Aloud Time
Reading time uses the averages from a 2019 meta-analysis of 190 reading studies: adults read English silently at about 260 words per minute for fiction and 238 for nonfiction, and read aloud at about 183. A 50,000-word novel is therefore a little over three hours of reading and about four and a half hours read aloud. Individual readers vary widely around those averages, so treat the result as an estimate for an average adult reader.
How the Calculator Works
The page counts are not a rule of thumb. They were measured by setting 8,000 words of 19th-century prose (Pride and Prejudice, in the public domain) in a browser at every combination of font, size, line spacing and page size in the menus, splitting the text into paragraphs of the three lengths above, and counting how many lines it took. The page areas are:
- Manuscript: US Letter or A4 with one-inch margins all round and a half-inch first-line indent.
- Paperback: top and bottom margins of 0.75", an outside margin of 0.625" and an inside margin of 0.75".
Single spacing is the font's own line height, which is what Word uses. Calibri and Garamond were measured with Carlito and EB Garamond, open fonts drawn to the same widths. Your own count can still differ by a few percent: headings, scene breaks, block quotes and chapter openings all take space the calculator does not see.
Words to Pages FAQ
How many pages is 1,000 words?
About 3 to 4 double-spaced pages in Times New Roman 12 pt, or 1.5 to 2 single-spaced pages.
How many pages is 80,000 words?
About 250 double-spaced manuscript pages, or about 210 pages as a 6" x 9" paperback in 11 pt Garamond.
How many words is a 300-page book?
Printed at 6" x 9" in 11 pt type, 300 pages hold roughly 115,000 words of typical fiction. At 5.5" x 8.5" they hold roughly 95,000.
Does font size or line spacing matter more?
Line spacing. Going from single to double spacing halves the words on a page. Going from 12 pt to 11 pt adds 10 to 25 percent, depending on the font.
