Words to minutes / 500 words
How long does it take to say 500 words?
About 3 min 34 sec at a typical presentation pace of 140 words per minute — between 2 min 56 sec (fast, 170 wpm) and 4 min 10 sec (slow, 120 wpm). Reading 500 words silently takes about 2 min 6 sec.
| Pace | Words per minute | Speaking time |
|---|---|---|
| Slow | 120 | 4:10 |
| Presentation | 140 | 3:34 |
| Narration | 155 | 3:14 |
| Conversational | 170 | 2:56 |
| Silent reading | 238 | 2:06 |
Times are min:sec. Speaking paces follow common presentation and voiceover guidance; silent reading uses the 238 wpm average from Marc Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis of reading-rate studies.
Check your own script
Every speaker is different. Paste your actual text into the words-to-minutes calculator and set your pace, or generate it with an AI voice in the text to speech studio and you’ll get the exact audio length. Writing to a target? The voiceover script writer drafts a script of about 500 words for you.
Questions people ask
How many pages is 500 words?
About 1 single-spaced pages or 2 double-spaced pages, using the common estimate of 500 and 250 words per page in a 12-point font.
How long is 500 words as a voiceover?
At the 150 words per minute that voiceover artists commonly use as a guide, about 3 min 20 sec. Explicit pauses add their own length on top.
Why does my real time differ from the estimate?
Long technical words, numbers, and pauses slow you down; short conversational words speed you up. Time yourself reading the first minute and adjust the pace in the calculator.
Other word counts
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