Calculator
What the Word Frequency Counter does
Word Frequency Counter: counts Total counted, Distinct and Frequency table from Text, Count and Ignore common stop words (the, and, of...). Example: count Words, ignore common stop words (the, and, of...) Yes and show top 20 gives total counted 18.
From Text, Count, Ignore common stop words (the, and, of...) and Show top, this tool derives Total counted, Distinct and Frequency table. Results refresh instantly, so trying variations costs nothing but a moment.
Doing this by hand is tedious and error-prone once the text runs past a few lines. That is usually what brings people preparing copy for publishing here.
Nothing is uploaded, so you can paste sensitive copy without it leaving your machine.
The method, a field-by-field reference and a worked example built from the defaults are all on this page.
What do the Word Frequency Counter fields mean?
The Word Frequency Counter uses 4 inputs. Every field is populated on load; treat those numbers as a template rather than a suggestion.
| Field | What to enter | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Text | paste or type any amount of text | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The dog sleeps; the fox runs. Quick foxes and lazy dogs: a quick study of the fox. |
| Count | choose from Words, Two-word phrases, Three-word phrases or Letters | Words |
| Ignore common stop words (the, and, of...) | choose from Yes or No | Yes |
| Show top | accepts 5 to 200 | 20 |
How does the Word Frequency Counter work?
Each output is derived from the inputs above in a single pass; there is no hidden state carried between runs, so the same inputs always give the same count.
Range checks come first, so the formula only ever sees values it can handle.
Worked example
These are the values the Word Frequency Counter loads by default, and the result it produces from them. This walkthrough uses the starting values, which means you can follow along without typing anything.
| Text | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The dog slee… |
|---|---|
| Count | Words |
| Ignore common stop words (the, and, of...) | Yes |
| Show top | 20 |
| Total counted | 18 |
|---|---|
| Distinct | 12 |
| Frequency table | fox 3 16.7% quick 3 16.7% dog 2 11.1% lazy 2 11.1% brown 1 5.6% dogs… |
How to use it
- Paste your content into Text.
- Pick a value for Count: the options are Words, Two-word phrases, Three-word phrases or Letters.
- Pick a value for Ignore common stop words (the, and, of...): the options are Yes or No.
- Set Show top (5 to 200).
- Watch the results panel as you type: it recalculates on every keystroke.
- The panel reports Total counted, Distinct and Frequency table.
- Share the link rather than a screenshot. It carries the values with it.
What this tool does not do
- Word and character definitions vary between tools: this one counts whitespace-separated tokens.
- Assumptions built into the method are stated above, but they are still assumptions.
- Confirm the units before you act on the output. The arithmetic is only as sound as what went in.
Frequently asked questions
The form asks for Text, Count, Ignore common stop words (the, and, of...) and Show top. Each field is pre-filled with a sensible default, which makes it easy to isolate the effect of a single variable.
Show top accepts 5 to 200. If a value falls outside, the tool says which field is at fault instead of guessing.
With the values loaded when the page opens, total counted comes out as 18. Change a value and the number is recomputed on the spot.
It is not stored or transmitted. The calculation happens locally and leaves no trace with us.
It is free to use, with no premium tier holding back the useful parts.
Full double precision is used throughout; only the displayed figure is shortened.