Fact · Typing and writing speed
5characters
The speed in words per minute on the How We Type test counts one word as five characters long.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“The speed is given in "words per minute", where one word is defined to be 5 characters long.”
How We Type: Movement Strategies and Performance in Everyday Typing, Anna Maria Feit et al., Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2016, FAQ.
Open the original (DOI 10.1145/2858036.2858233)- What it measures
- The authors answer a question about how typing speed is measured in their online FAQ. The convention lets a passage of any words be scored in one number.
- What it does not show
- Counting five characters per word, including spaces, is a convention. Tests that count real words give slightly different numbers.
Source
Used to calculate
- A typist at 50 words per minute enters 250 characters per minute, because one word counts as five characters.
- At 30 words per minute, counting five characters to a word, typing produces about 150 characters per minute.
- A typist at 40 words per minute enters about 12,000 keystrokes per hour at five keystrokes per word.
- At the online average of 51.56 words per minute, a typist enters about 15,468 characters in an hour, counting five characters per word.
- If the 8,000 norm is read as key depressions per hour, it equals about 27 words per minute at five key depressions per word.
- The 10,000 keystrokes per hour benchmark equals about 33 words per minute at five keystrokes per word.
Cited on
- Typing Speed: Average WPM and How to Type FasterTopic
- What Is a Good Typing Speed? WPM Levels ExplainedGuide
- Touch Typing: What It Is and How to Learn ItGuide
- How to Type Faster: What Actually Raises Your WPMGuide
- Typing Speed Requirements for Jobs: WPM by RoleGuide
- What typing speed is required for SSC CGL?Question
- Characters per minute (CPM)Glossary
- Keystrokes per hour (KPH)Glossary
- Words per minute (WPM)Glossary