Fact · Typing and writing speed
150words per minute
Brysbaert uses 150 words per minute as the speech rate in his argument that the language system can take in about 300 words per minute.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“the total capacity of the language system is twice the speech rate (300 wpm instead of 150 wpm)”
How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate, Marc Brysbaert, Journal of Memory and Language, 2019, Discussion, on why reading is faster than listening.
Open the original (DOI 10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047)- What it measures
- The sentence is a theoretical argument, not a measurement, but it shows the 150 figure is the one researchers use for spoken speed.
- What it does not show
- This is a working figure in a theoretical argument, not a measured average. The measured conversation rates are in the next facts.
Source
Used to calculate
- A cleanup pass over one hour of dictated text, using Claude Haiku 5.5 prices, costs about 0.007 US dollars.
- A cleanup pass over one hour of dictated text, using Claude Opus 5.5 prices, costs about 0.28 US dollars.
- A one-hour recording at a 150 words per minute speaking rate holds about 9,000 words, which takes about 175 minutes to type at the 51.56 words per minute online average.
- A three-minute voice-over read at 150 words per minute needs a script of about 450 words.
Cited on
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- How many words per minute do people normally speak?Question
- How many words per minute for a voice over or audiobook?Question