Minutes to Words: How Many Words for Your Time Slot (+ Shorts/Reels Fit)

Working backwards from a time slot? The rule of thumb: multiply your minutes by your pace — at the average 140 wpm, a 5-minute slot means about 700 words, a 10-minute slot about 1,400. The calculator below does it for any length and pace, and if you’re writing for short-form video, paste the script to see instantly whether it fits YouTube Shorts (60s), Instagram Reels (90s) or TikTok limits:

min sec   at  


Word targets aur platform-fit dono live update hote hain. Sab browser mein.

Word targets for common slots

Time slot Slow (110) Average (140) Fast (170)
60 seconds 110 140 170
90 seconds (Reels) 165 210 255
3 minutes 330 420 510
5 minutes 550 700 850
10 minutes 1,100 1,400 1,700
20 minutes 2,200 2,800 3,400

Detailed guides with pacing advice exist for every common length — from the 1-minute speech through 5, 10 and up to the 60-minute keynote.

Short-form scripts: the modern time slot

The strictest time slots today aren’t conference stages — they’re platform caps. A Shorts script has 60 seconds (~140 words at average pace), a Reel 90 (~210 words), and AI voiceover tools typically read near 150 wpm by default, so a script that fits at 140 wpm fits in TTS too. Write to the word target, then verify with the fit checker above or time it paragraph-by-paragraph in the script timer.

FAQ

How many words is a 5-minute speech?

About 700 words at an average 140 wpm — between 550 (slow) and 850 (fast).

How many words fit in a YouTube Short?

Roughly 140 words at average pace for the 60-second cap — up to ~170 if you speak fast. Reels’ 90 seconds fit about 210 words.

What speaking rate do AI voiceovers use?

Most text-to-speech engines default to roughly 150 wpm — close to human average, so word targets calculated at 140–150 wpm transfer directly.

How many words is a page?

A double-spaced page runs roughly 250–300 words — about two minutes of speaking per page at average pace.