What a word frequency counter shows
A frequency list ranks every word in a text by how many times it appears. It is one of the simplest and most revealing ways to analyse writing. Editors use it to catch overused words; students use it to check that an essay stays on topic; SEO writers use it to see which terms a page actually emphasises; and language learners use it to find the vocabulary that matters most in a book or article. Paste any text and the table updates instantly with each word's count and its share of all counted words.
How words are counted
The counter splits text into words using Unicode letter and number classes, so it works for accented and non-English words as well as English. Apostrophes and hyphens inside a word are kept, so "don't" and "well-known" each count as one word. Curly and straight apostrophes are treated the same. By default, counting ignores capitalisation, so "The" and "the" are combined; tick case-sensitive to keep them apart, which can be useful for spotting proper names.
Stop words and minimum length
The most frequent words in almost any English text are small function words such as the, of, and and to. They are useful in linguistics but usually hide what a text is about. With the stop-word option on, a standard list of about 180 common English function words is skipped. A minimum length filter removes very short words too. The percentages are then calculated from the words that are left, so they show emphasis among meaningful words.
Phrases (n-grams)
Switch to 2-word or 3-word phrases to count sequences, known as n-grams. This shows repeated expressions such as "customer support" or "in order to" that a single-word list cannot. When stop words are ignored, phrases that begin or end with one are skipped, which removes fragments like "of the".
Keyword density and export
For search engine optimisation, keyword density is simply the share column for your keyword. There is no ideal number: write naturally for readers, and use the list to make sure the topic is clear rather than to hit a target. Use Copy as CSV to paste the full table, not just the visible rows, into a spreadsheet. Your text never leaves your device.