Long sentence highlighter
Paste a draft and pick a limit, such as 25 words. Every longer sentence is highlighted in your text, together with the number of sentences, the average length and the longest one, so you know where to cut.
Runs in your browser: nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
How to use it
- Paste your text into the box.
- Choose the limit. Sentences with more words than that are highlighted.
- Read the numbers: the average shows your general style, the longest sentence shows the worst case.
- Split or trim the marked sentences and watch the highlight disappear.
How it works
The text is cut into sentences, the words of each are counted, and a sentence is marked when its count is greater than the limit. The average is all words divided by all sentences, shown with one decimal. Spaces and line breaks are shown as you typed them.
Worked example
“Hello world. This is a longer sentence with seven words! Short?” has 3 sentences of 2, 8 and 1 words: 11 words, an average of 3.7. With a limit of 5, only the middle sentence is marked.
Tips
Mix lengths: a long sentence between short ones is fine. Headings without a full stop join the next sentence unless a blank line follows them. For a full readability score, try the readability score tool.
Frequently asked questions
How does it find sentences?
A sentence ends at a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark followed by a space or the end of the text, or at a blank line. Common abbreviations such as Mr., Dr. and e.g., single capital initials like "J. Smith" and numbers like 3.5 do not end a sentence. It is built for English; other languages may split wrongly.
What is a good sentence length?
There is no exact rule. A common rule of thumb is that an average of around 15 to 20 words reads comfortably in general writing, with a mix of short and long sentences. Treat the limit as a prompt to look again, not as an error.
What counts as a word?
A run of letters or digits; a hyphen or apostrophe inside it keeps it as one word ("well-known", "don't").
Is the text sent anywhere?
No, everything is calculated in your browser.