For most professional writers and content managers, the "average" word count for their next masterpiece might be just a teensy, tiny bit less than 50,000 words. However, most people are a little fuzzy on what that means.
Follow this guide so you can quickly estimate how many pages your content has.
How Many Pages Is 50,000 Words?
The average word count for a short article is between 1,000 and 2,000 words.
If you are wondering how much content you should write for your next blockbuster story, look no further.
How Many Pages Is 50,000 Words Single-Spaced?
How Many Pages Is 50,000 Words Single-Spaced?
Answer: 50,000 words is 100 pages single-spaced. Assuming a standard single-spaced page contains 500 words and a standard font like Times New Roman, 12-point font size.
Why does a 50,000-word count create about 100 pages (single-spaced)?
To figure out exactly how many words you have, you'll need to convert your word count into a number of pages. Assuming the average content piece has about 500 words on each page; this can vary based on paragraph length but is generally true.
Then, the easiest way to do this is to divide your word count by 500:
50,000 words / 500 words per page = 100 pages.
How Many Pages Is 50,000 Words Double-Spaced?
Answer: 50,000 words is 200 pages with double spacing. Assuming a standard page with double spacing contains 250 words.
How Many Paragraphs Is 50,000 Words?
Answer: 50,000 words is about 250-500 paragraphs. Assuming a typical paragraph contains 100-200 words or 5-6 sentences.
How Many Sentences Is 50,000 Words?
Answer: 50,000 words is about 2500-3500 sentences. Assuming a typical sentence contains 15–20 words.
Word Count Vs Page Count: What Is the Difference?
The easiest way to wrap your head around this concept is to think of it in terms of pages. If an average page is about 500 words, then 50,000 words is on average equivalent to 100 pages. But that doesn't take into account factors like the content type and page formatting.
In some cases, such as some print-based books, the content on each page can have a wildly different number of words on it compared to the entire content on average. So, for example, think of an eBook that includes over 50,000 words, but has 500 pages, then it’s true word count per page is 100. (50000 / 500 = 100 words per page).
Word Count vs Page Count: The Key Factors
Word count vs page count is a very inexact science. No-one can tell you exactly how many words per page or how many pages it will take to make a XXXX word article, since every article is different based on the type of writing and content format.
The size of the font, spacing between lines and margins can drastically affect the number of pages that a piece of content can actually create from 50,000 words. For articles with a less than standard type or format, there will always be a range of possible word count outcomes.
Here are the main factors affecting the number of pages of content:
1. Content Type
The content type can inflate the word count:
Type A: Print-Based Books. An average print-based book contains 250 words per page. Therefore, an average print-based novel can be from 55,000 to 300,000 words.
Type B: Blogs/Vlogs (influenced by the number of images, videos, etc. also present). Vlogs have a content type of "video". This means that the content is variable in length and word count; common lengths range from 5-30 minutes.
Type C: eBooks (influenced by the size of eBook file), audio, and video. Approximately, these types of content can have word counts ranging from 1,000 to 50,000+ words.
2. Writing Style
Succinct writers can write more in less space. They're able to write concisely and use fewer words. Others have a writing style that is more detailed and descriptive, so their content will take more pages.
If you let your copy run wild, it might end up looking like a Dickens novel. To avoid this, you can compare word count to content density.
Content density is the relation between the number of words and the amount of meaning in those words. If your content is highly dense, it will leave less room for more information and will be shorter than less dense content.
Word count and content density are two crucial factors you must consider when you want to adjust your content for different channels.
3. Content Format
Think about the following:
A Word Document. A word doc has a single page in it and has 250 words on that single page. A Word Document averages about 150 pages per document (50000 / 250 = 200). Therefore, each 50,000-word document has about 200 pages.
A PDF format. A PDF format has the ability to have a side-by-side view with text and images on one page. Depending on the document format you are using, this will result in extra pages of non-textual content on each page. So, for Word documents or PDFs that have lots of images and graphics (videos) each of these will have a greater number of pages per document.
4. Content Formatting
The formatting of content during the publishing process can also affect the number of pages per word count. Four ways that formatting affects page count are:
a) Headers and Footers
On every page of an online or a printed document you have margins, a header, footer, body text and a footer. So, if your article or book had a header, a footer and wider than standard margins per page there will be less pages per word count than with only one header.
b) Margin Spacing
The current word count and page count can be affected by the margin spacing as well. The larger the margin space around the text, the more pages you'll need for the same word count. Therefore, it takes longer to read a book with a tiny font and large margins than one with a large font and small margins.
c) Words per Sentence
The longer or wordier the sentence, the more words it will take to say that sentence. This means that there will be fewer sentences per page. For example, in a paragraph with 10 sentences each having 6 words on average you're looking at 60 words in total. The same paragraph with 10 words per sentence will result in 100 words.
d) Paragraph Length
The average paragraph has about 5-8 sentences in it. And each new paragraph takes up an extra line of space. So, when counting word count vs page count, the more paragraphs there are per page, the less words you will see per page and vice versa. You can typically adjust paragraph breaks by using the paragraph spacing settings in your content editor of choice (like Microsoft Word or Google Docs).
e) Word Spacing
Tighter Spacing of Words
Having a closer spacing of words will result in a lower number of pages per word count. It also affects the content's readability. The closer the letters are, the longer it takes your eye to recognize a word and move on. If you have to read close together letters, you'll take more time with each sentence (than if the letters were far apart).
Single-spaced vs Double-spaced
Wide spacing will result in a higher number of pages per word count. Also, the more space between letters, the quicker your eyes can recognize words and move on. If you have to read letters far apart, you'll need to spend less time with each sentence - so it decreases the actual reading time.
f) Font Type and Size
Font Type
The font type and size can also affect the number of pages per document:
- Fonts with lots of variation in the letter shape (e.g., cursive, brush scripts, swash characters) are much more difficult to read and take up more space on a page. As such, these fonts result in a higher number of pages per word count.
- Fonts with a minimal variation in the letter shape (e.g., sans serif) are much easier to read and take up less space on a page. As such, these fonts result in a lower number of pages per word count.
Font Size
This is an important consideration. For example, the average book uses 10 font size, but a printed brochure typically uses 8 font size.
g) Number of Graphics/Images
Each article or book may have different formatting styles that are appropriate for their genre. Any formatting and editing that you do on your content can change the page count as well, whether its changes in spacing, margins or font size.
h) Number of Tables and Charts
Tables and charts can increase your page count by adding visual elements and layout that otherwise wouldn't be there.
Word Count Table
Use this quick look up table to find the number of pages for the most common word counts:
Word Count | Pages (single spaced) | Pages (double spaced) | Font Size |
---|---|---|---|
250 Words | ½ Page | 1 Page | 12 Point |
300 Words | ⅔ Page | 1⅓ Pages | 12 Point |
400 Words | ⅘ Page | 1⅗ Pages | 12 Point |
500 Words | 1 Page | 2 Pages | 12 Point |
600 Words | 1⅓ Page | 2⅔ Pages | 12 Point |
750 Words | 1½ Pages | 3 Pages | 12 Point |
800 Words | 1⅗ Pages | 3⅕ Pages | 12 Point |
1000 Words | 2 Pages | 4 Pages | 12 Point |
1200 Words | 2⅖ Pages | 4⅘ Pages | 12 Point |
1500 Words | 3 Pages | 6 Pages | 12 Point |
2000 Words | 4 Pages | 8 Pages | 12 Point |
2500 Words | 5 Pages | 10 Pages | 12 Point |
3000 Words | 6 Pages | 12 Pages | 12 Point |
3500 Words | 7 Pages | 14 Pages | 12 Point |
4000 Words | 8 Pages | 16 Pages | 12 Point |
5000 Words | 10 Pages | 20 Pages | 12 Point |
6000 Words | 12 Pages | 24 Pages | 12 Point |
7500 Words | 15 Pages | 30 Pages | 12 Point |
8000 Words | 16 Pages | 32 Pages | 12 Point |
10000 Words | 20 Pages | 40 Pages | 12 Point |
50000 Words | 100 Pages | 200 Pages | 12 Point |