Guide

How to Reduce Word Count

To cut a draft to a limit, remove what does no work: filler words, repeated ideas, long-winded phrases and over-explaining. Cut in passes from largest to smallest, and recount after each. Most drafts lose 10 to 20 percent without losing any ideas.

Updated

Short answer: Cut from largest to smallest: delete redundant sections, then repeated sentences, then filler phrases and weak adverbs. Replace phrases with single words, use active voice and recount often.

Work from big cuts to small

  1. Cut whole sections that do not serve the main point or the brief.
  2. Merge or delete repeated ideas, including introductions that restate the question.
  3. Trim examples to the strongest one.
  4. Tighten sentences with the methods below.
  5. Recount in the Word Counter after each pass.

Tightening sentences

BeforeAfterSaved
in order toto2
due to the fact thatbecause4
at this point in timenow4
there is a need to considerwe must consider2
a large number ofmany3
is able tocan2
in the event thatif3
the reason why is thatbecause4

Search for these with Find and Replace; each saves a few words.

Delete weak words

Intensifiers such as “very”, “really”, “quite”, “extremely” and “basically” rarely add meaning. Hedges such as “I think that” and “it seems that” can often go. Nominalisations, “make a decision” for “decide”, “conduct an investigation” for “investigate”, are easy wins. Prefer active voice: “The committee approved the plan” (6 words) over “The plan was approved by the committee” (7).

Use the counters to find fat

The Word Frequency Counter highlights repeated words and phrases, which usually mark repetition. The Sentence Counter shows if average sentence length is above 25 words, a sign of padding. The Readability Checker flags dense passages. For a draft with sections, view words per heading in the Content Brief Word Counter and trim the heaviest part first.

What not to cut

Do not remove evidence, definitions or transitions that the reader needs. In academic writing, citations count toward the limit, but removing a necessary citation is worse than trimming prose; see Does Word Count Include References and Citations?. If you must cut deeply, change the structure rather than the quality of each sentence. And for the opposite problem, read How to Increase Word Count.

Try it yourself

Put the numbers above to work with these free tools:

Word CounterThe main free word counter for English, Urdu and Roman Urdu.Find and ReplaceFind and replace words or patterns, with regex and case options.

Frequently asked questions

How can I cut 100 words quickly?

Delete one example, remove filler phrases and adverbs, and trim the introduction.

Is cutting words bad for SEO?

No. Concise pages that answer the question are fine.

Will removing words hurt my argument?

Not if you remove repetition and filler.