# Speech Length Calculator: minutes to words ยท HidenGPT > How many words is a 5-minute speech? About 650 at 130 words a minute. Turn minutes into words and back, or paste your speech to see how long it runs. Source: https://hidengpt.com/tools/speech-length-calculator # Speech length calculator At a normal speaking pace of 130 words a minute, a 3-minute speech is about 390 words, a 5-minute speech about 650 and a 10-minute talk about 1,300. Enter minutes or words below, pick a slower or faster pace, or paste your speech to see how long it takes to say out loud. Pace words a minute Minutes about 390 words Words about 5 min Or paste your speech Runs in your browser. Nothing you paste is sent or saved. Need the speech itself? HidenGPT's speech format writes to the minute at 130 words a minute, from your own stories and names, for the ear. [Open the speech writer](https://hidengpt.com/tools/speech) ## The method Minutes times words per minute gives the word count, and words divided by the pace gives the time. The normal pace is 130 words a minute, the pace HidenGPT's speech format writes to when you ask for a speech of a set length, so a 3-minute draft from it lands near 390 words. The slow and fast settings, 110 and 160 words a minute, are conventions, not measurements. Slow suits a eulogy, a nervous speaker, a speech in a second language or a room that will laugh; fast suits a relaxed, conversational talk. To find your own pace, read a page aloud with a timer, divide the words by the minutes and type the result in. ## What changes the timing Pauses, laughter and applause add time a word count can't show: a toast that gets three laughs can run 20 or 30 seconds longer. Reading from a page is usually quicker than speaking from notes, and most people speed up when they're nervous. Names, numbers and long words take longer to say than their word count suggests. Rehearse once with a timer. If you run long, cut a story rather than speaking faster. ## Limits Words are counted the way HidenGPT counts them: runs of letters or digits, with apostrophes and hyphens inside a word kept. Headings and stage notes in the pasted text count as words too, so take them out first. The result is an estimate for planning; your own rehearsal time is the number to trust. ## Speech length in words Words for common speech lengths, rounded to the nearest 10. | Minutes | Slow, 110 a minute | Normal, 130 a minute | Fast, 160 a minute | |---|---|---|---| | 1 | 110 | 130 | 160 | | 2 | 220 | 260 | 320 | | 3 | 330 | 390 | 480 | | 5 | 550 | 650 | 800 | | 7 | 770 | 910 | 1,120 | | 10 | 1,100 | 1,300 | 1,600 | | 15 | 1,650 | 1,950 | 2,400 | | 20 | 2,200 | 2,600 | 3,200 | | 30 | 3,300 | 3,900 | 4,800 | ## Questions ### How many words is a 5-minute speech? About 650 words at 130 words a minute, 550 at a slow 110 and 800 at a fast 160. ### How long is a 1,000-word speech? About 7 minutes 40 seconds at 130 words a minute, about 9 minutes at 110 and a little over 6 at 160. ### How long should a best man or maid of honor speech be? Three to five minutes is the usual advice, which is about 390 to 650 words at a normal pace. Shorter is rarely a problem. ### What is a normal speaking rate? Read aloud, most people land around 130 to 150 words a minute. This calculator and HidenGPT's speech format use 130 as normal. ### Is it free? Yes. The calculator runs in your browser, needs no account and sends nothing. ## Related pages - [Words to pages calculator](https://hidengpt.com/tools/words-to-pages) - [I'm the best man at my brother's wedding, and I have three minutes.](https://hidengpt.com/write/best-man-speech-for-brother) - [I'm giving the maid of honor speech for my sister, and I don't know where to start.](https://hidengpt.com/write/maid-of-honor-speech-for-sister) - [I have to give a eulogy for my grandma, and I don't know where to start.](https://hidengpt.com/write/eulogy-for-grandma) - [Speech & Toast](https://hidengpt.com/tools/speech)