Typing speed converter
Convert typing speed between words per minute, characters per minute and the keystrokes per hour that data-entry jobs advertise.
That's about the same as a trained touch typist. A 500-word page would take about 8.333 minutes.
What it means
How fast is that?
A "word" is five characters including the space, so numbers and long words count as more than one word each.
Every unit
Your speed in every unit
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Three things worth knowing
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WPM = CPM ÷ 5
And keystrokes per hour is WPM × 300. A job asking for 10,000 KPH wants about 33 WPM, which is ordinary typing.
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The five-character word
It was fixed in the 1900s so typing tests could be compared at all. The average English word is a shade under five letters, and the space made it round.
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Gross is not net
Net WPM subtracts a whole word for every mistake. A fast typist with poor accuracy can score below a careful slow one.
Shortcuts
Popular typing speed conversions
Background
About words per minute
Typing tests count a word as five characters, spaces included, so that "hippopotamus" does not score the same as "cat". Everything else follows: 60 WPM is 300 characters a minute, or 18,000 keystrokes an hour.