Words to Pages Converter
Convert any word count to a page count — adjusted for your actual font, size and spacing, not just the 12-point Times New Roman default.
Estimates assume 1-inch margins and continuous body text. Headings, block quotes and reference lists will push the real count higher.
The short answer
At the academic default — 12-point Times New Roman, 1-inch margins — a single-spaced page holds about 500 words and a double-spaced page about 250. So 1,000 words is roughly 2 pages single-spaced or 4 double-spaced, and the ratio holds linearly as the document grows.
That ratio is a starting point, not a rule. The three variables that actually move it are font family, font size and line spacing, and they compound: the same 1,000 words set in 11-point Calibri single-spaced fills about 1.5 pages, while 14-point Verdana double-spaced stretches it past 6. If you are writing to a page target rather than a word target, set your formatting first and convert afterwards.
Standard conversions at 12pt Times New Roman
| Words | Single-spaced | 1.5 spacing | Double-spaced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | ½ page | ⅔ page | 1 page |
| 500 | 1 page | 1⅓ pages | 2 pages |
| 750 | 1½ pages | 2 pages | 3 pages |
| 1,000 | 2 pages | 2⅔ pages | 4 pages |
| 1,200 | 2⅖ pages | 3⅕ pages | 4⅘ pages |
| 1,500 | 3 pages | 4 pages | 6 pages |
| 2,000 | 4 pages | 5⅓ pages | 8 pages |
| 2,500 | 5 pages | 6⅔ pages | 10 pages |
| 3,000 | 6 pages | 8 pages | 12 pages |
| 4,000 | 8 pages | 10⅔ pages | 16 pages |
| 5,000 | 10 pages | 13⅓ pages | 20 pages |
| 7,500 | 15 pages | 20 pages | 30 pages |
| 10,000 | 20 pages | 26⅔ pages | 40 pages |
Not sure of your word count yet? Paste your draft into the free word counter to get the exact figure, then convert it above.
Open Word Counter →Why your page count never quite matches the estimate
Font size matters more than people expect. Page capacity scales with the square of the type size, because larger type costs you both width and height at once. Moving a document from 12pt to 14pt removes roughly a quarter of the words from every page; dropping to 11pt adds about a fifth back. This is why a 10-page requirement met by inflating the font is so immediately obvious to anyone who marks papers for a living.
Font family is the quiet variable. Typefaces differ in how much horizontal space each character occupies at the same nominal point size. Calibri is comparatively narrow and fits around 540 words on a single-spaced page; Verdana was designed for on-screen legibility with generous letterforms and manages closer to 420. That is a 28 percent swing between two fonts that both claim to be 12-point.
Margins are a page-count lever. The 1-inch margin is the academic standard, and widening to 1.25 inches on all four sides removes roughly 15 percent of the usable text area. Most style guides specify margins precisely because of how easily they can be manipulated.
Structure breaks the ratio entirely. The words-per-page figure assumes uninterrupted body text. A document with frequent subheadings, paragraph spacing, indented block quotes, figures, tables or a hanging-indent reference list consumes substantially more vertical space per word. A 2,000-word essay with a title block, five subheadings and a works-cited page can easily run two pages longer than the raw conversion suggests.
What the major style guides actually require
If you are writing to an academic requirement, the formatting is usually prescribed rather than chosen, which makes the conversion predictable.
| Style | Font | Spacing | Margins | Words per page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLA 9 | 12pt, legible serif | Double | 1 inch | ~250 |
| APA 7 | 12pt Times New Roman or 11pt Calibri | Double | 1 inch | ~250–270 |
| Chicago | 12pt, legible serif | Double | 1 inch | ~250 |
| Harvard | 12pt Times New Roman or Arial | Double | 1 inch | ~235–250 |
APA 7 is the one worth reading carefully: it permits several typefaces including 11-point Calibri and 11-point Arial as well as 12-point Times New Roman, and the choice changes your page count by roughly 10 percent. If a submission is capped by pages rather than words, that choice is worth making deliberately.
Typical assignment lengths
| Assignment | Typical words | Double-spaced pages |
|---|---|---|
| Short response or reflection | 250–500 | 1–2 |
| Standard college essay | 1,000–1,500 | 4–6 |
| Term paper | 2,500–5,000 | 10–20 |
| Undergraduate dissertation | 8,000–12,000 | 32–48 |
| Master’s thesis | 15,000–25,000 | 60–100 |
| Personal statement | 500–650 | 2–2½ |
Handwritten pages
Handwriting runs roughly half the density of double-spaced type. On college-ruled paper at an average hand size you will fit about 100 to 150 words per side, against 250 for a typed double-spaced page — so a handwritten piece runs close to twice the page count. Wide-ruled paper, larger handwriting or generous margins push it further still. For exam planning, 500 words is about 4 handwritten sides, and 1,000 words is about 8.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related guides
Writing to a time limit instead of a page limit? The speech length calculator converts word counts to speaking minutes. For posts and ad copy, see the social media character limits reference. To measure an existing draft, use the word counter or the reading time calculator.