Filler Word Counter
Find filler words and hedge phrases in transcripts, interview notes, and drafts. Counts um, uh, you know, I mean, and similar spoken habits, then reports their share of the total word count so you can see how much tightening the text needs.
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What is Filler Word Counter?
The Filler Word Counter scans a passage for common spoken fillers and hedge phrases, including um, uh, you know, I mean, sort of, basically, and literally. Paste a transcript or a draft and the tool reports how many fillers it found, how many distinct fillers appeared, the total word count, and fillers as a percentage of the text. Multi-word phrases are matched before single words, so an occurrence is never counted twice.
How does Filler Word Counter work?
The tool lowercases the input and searches for fourteen filler patterns with word-boundary regular expressions. Two-word and three-word phrases such as you know, I mean, sort of, and kind of are removed from the working copy first, which stops their individual words from being counted again as single fillers.
The filler rate divides the filler total by the word count and multiplies by 100. The word count uses whitespace splitting, so contractions and hyphenated words count as one word each.
Key Features
- Counts fourteen spoken fillers and hedge phrases
- Separate total for distinct filler types
- Filler rate as a percentage of all words
- Phrase matching before single-word matching
- Case-insensitive detection
- Works on transcripts and written drafts
Common Use Cases
Cleaning up interview transcripts
Measure how much of a recorded interview is filler before editing it for publication.
Preparing a podcast script
Check a rehearsal transcript for verbal habits that will sound repetitive in the final recording.
Reviewing a first draft
Spot overuse of basically, actually, and literally in writing that should read more directly.
Coaching presentation skills
Compare filler rates across two practice runs to show whether a speaker is tightening their delivery.
Auditing auto-generated captions
Find filler words that a speech-to-text service transcribed literally and that need removal before publishing.
How to Use This Tool
Paste the transcript
Enter the spoken text or draft you want to check.
Run the scan
Press Count Fillers. The tool matches phrases first, then single words.
Read the four figures
Filler words, unique fillers, total words, and filler rate appear as separate cards.
Copy the summary
Use the copy button in the result header to take the figures into an edit note.
Recheck after editing
Press New, paste the revised version, and compare the new filler rate with the first run.
Pro Tips
- 1
Run the count before editing, then again after, to measure how much the revision actually removed.
- 2
The same filler can appear several times in a row, and every occurrence adds to the total, so repeated ums inflate the rate quickly.
- 3
The word like is counted every time it appears, including legitimate uses such as I like this design.
- 4
Keep the original transcript open in another tab so you can find each filler in context.
- 5
Short quotes often score higher than long passages because one um carries more weight in a small word count.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a filler word?
The tool counts um, uh, erm, hmm, like, basically, literally, actually, honestly, obviously, you know, I mean, sort of, and kind of. The list covers hesitations such as um and uh alongside hedges such as sort of and kind of.
Why does the counter include the word like?
Like is one of the most common spoken fillers, so it is included. That also means legitimate uses are counted, such as I like this design, so check each match in context before removing it.
Does the counter remove filler words from my text?
No. It reports the counts only and leaves the text unchanged. Use the duplicate word remover or a find and replace pass to edit the passage afterwards.
What is a normal filler word rate?
There is no fixed threshold, because the rate depends on whether the text was scripted. The clean paragraph preset scores zero, while an unedited transcript scores much higher. Compare the same speaker or the same document across drafts rather than against a universal target.
Can I check a transcript from a meeting recording?
Yes. Paste the transcript as plain text and run the scan. Long transcripts are processed in one pass, and the word count gives the rate context that a raw filler total lacks.