20,000 words is about 40 pages single-spaced or 80 pages double-spaced (12 pt Times New Roman or Arial, 1-inch margins). It takes about 1 h 24 min to read silently and 2 h 34 min to read aloud — a long report, short story or thesis chapter.
| Measure | 20,000 words |
|---|---|
| Pages, single-spaced (≈500 words/page) | 40 |
| Pages, double-spaced (≈250 words/page) | 80 |
| Handwritten pages (≈250 words/page) | 80 |
| Reading time (238 wpm) | 1 h 24 min |
| Speaking time (130 wpm) | 2 h 34 min |
| Characters incl. spaces (≈6 per word) | ≈120,000 |
| Paragraphs (≈150 words each) | ≈133 |
What changes the page count
- Font: Times New Roman fits more per page than Arial or Verdana; Courier fits the least.
- Spacing: 1.5 spacing gives about 330 words per page.
- Headings, lists and short paragraphs add white space.
- Font size: 11 pt fits ~15% more than 12 pt.
Paste your text into the word counter for the exact count, reading time and character count.