Fact · Dictation for work and study
7,500 to 9,000words per hour
At the normal speaking rate of 125 to 150 words per minute, reading or dictating a prepared text would produce about 7,500 to 9,000 words in an hour of continuous speech.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
- What it measures
- A ceiling for continuous speech of text that is already written or planned. It leaves out thinking, pauses and editing time.
- How it is calculated
- 125 words per minute x 60 minutes = 7,500 words; 150 x 60 = 9,000 words
- What it does not show
- The 125 to 150 range is a round figure from the study's introduction, not a measured group of speakers.