Filler Word Counter — Find Every Um, Uh and Like
Runs 100% in your browser — your files never leave your device.
Paste a transcript from a meeting, podcast, or presentation — or a draft of a talk you are preparing — and see every filler word highlighted with counts and a speech grade. This one runs on a dictionary and rules, not a model: the page works the instant it loads, nothing is uploaded, and there is no account. Know exactly what to edit before you record again.
How it works
- 1
Paste your transcript
Meeting notes, a podcast transcript, a talk draft — any spoken-language text.
- 2
Get the report
Filler counts, density per 100 words, and a grade — instantly, entirely on your device.
- 3
Edit and re-check
Fix the flagged spots in your script and re-run until the grade is where you want it.
About this tool
What counts as a filler word
Two dictionaries run at once. Single-word fillers are the sounds and hedges speakers lean on: um, uh, erm, like, basically, literally, actually, just, right, okay, well, yeah, and friends. Multi-word fillers are the connective tics that slip past a simple search: "you know", "i mean", "sort of", "kind of", "at the end of the day", "to be honest", "long story short". The counter matches phrases as complete units — "you know" is one filler for two words — and whole-word matching means "adjust" never counts as "just".
What the grade means
The grade is filler words per 100 words of speech. Broadcast and professional speaking tends to sit at or below one per hundred. Two to three per hundred is normal conversational range — you are in good company. Above five, listeners start noticing the pattern rather than the content. Above ten, comprehension genuinely suffers, because the audience spends effort filtering noise instead of absorbing your point. The grade is a compass, not a verdict: a lively podcast is allowed more "like"s than a board presentation.
How to actually reduce fillers
Fillers fill silences — that is their job. Removing them means replacing the silence with a pause, and a deliberate pause reads as confidence rather than failure. The practical drill: record two minutes on any topic, count your top filler, then re-record the same two minutes allowing yourself to pause instead of saying it. Most people drop their density by half on the second take, because the awareness alone changes the habit. Past that, shortening your sentences helps more than any other single change — fillers live at the joins between long clauses.
Where it works and where it does not
The counter is built for spoken-language text: transcripts, drafts of talks, podcast show notes, interview answers. It is a rules engine, so it cannot judge intent — "actually" is a filler in "I actually think so" but not necessarily in "I actually measured it", and the counter will flag both. It also does not detect repetition of ordinary words (saying "basically the basics" gets counted once for each "basically"). For a measurement this small, those trade-offs buy the two things that matter: it never uploads anything, and it works before the page finishes drawing.
Frequently asked questions
- Is my transcript uploaded anywhere?
- No. The analysis is a dictionary and rules running in your browser. Nothing is sent, stored, or logged — you can disconnect from the internet and it still works.
- What is a good filler word rate?
- Under 1 per 100 words is polished. 1–3 is the normal conversational range. Above 5 per 100, audiences start noticing the fillers instead of your content.
- Does it work on languages other than English?
- Currently the dictionary covers English fillers only. Non-English text will produce a word count and a clean report, but filler detection needs the matching dictionary.
- Why did "just" get flagged in a sentence where it was correct?
- The counter flags candidates, not crimes. Only you know whether "just" carried meaning in context — that is why the report shows every hit with its count rather than auto-rewriting anything.
- Can I use it on a script before recording?
- That is the best way to use it. Cleaning fillers from a written draft is far easier than editing them out of a recording afterwards.
- Is there a word limit?
- No. The analysis runs in your browser and handles transcripts of any practical length instantly.