Our research into the US citizens’ vocabulary statistics shows that the average US adult possesses close to 30,000 words in their vocabulary. But how many of these words the average person uses every day? This report offers statistics on the number of words the average person says every day, how many unique words they use, and examines the differences among genders.
It’s important to note that measuring the amount of words the average person uses during the day is extremely difficult. Most of the studies that tried to measure this metric relied upon pre-conditioned conversations, like discussing a specific topic or recording public meetings.
Report highlights:
- The average person speaks around 16,000 words in a day, with females (16,215 words) speaking slightly more than males (15,699).
- People speak around 941 words per hour, on average, during the typical day.
- The actual time people spend speaking during the day is around 1 hour and 54 minutes.
- Only 5% of words people use during the day are unique words, with all others being repeated.
- The average person uses between 2.67% and 3.35% of their vocabulary every day.
How many words does the average person say during the day?
- When measured in real-life conversations, the average person speaks around 16,000 words during the day.
- Women speak slightly more than men – the average female speaks around 16,215 words in a day, while the average man speaks around 15,669 words.
- Despite some claims that women speak significantly more than men, the real difference is negligible, standing at around 3.4%.
- If we assume that the average adult sleeps around 7 hours and is awake 17 hours per day, the average number of words spoken per hour stands at around 941.2.
- For women, the average number of words spoken per hour is 953.8, while the average male says 921.7 per hour.
| Category | Words spoken during the day | Words spoken per hour |
| Average | 16,000 | 941.2 |
| Average male | 15,669 | 921.7 |
| Average female | 16,215 | 953.8 |
How much time do people spend talking during the day?
- Considering that people speak around 140 words per minute, the average person effectively spends around 1.9 hours talking, which equates to 1 hour and 54 minutes of talking per day.
- Females spend around 1 hour and 56 minutes talking during the typical day.
- Males spend 4 minutes less, around 1 hour and 52 minutes effectively talking during the typical day.
| Category | Words spoken during the day | Time spent talking (140 words per minute) |
| Average | 16,000 | 1 hour 54 minutes |
| Average male | 15,669 | 1 hour 52 minutes |
| Average female | 16,215 | 1 hour 56 minutes |
How many unique words does the average person say a day?
Out of 16,000 words that the average person uses during a typical day, most are repeated words. In fact, only a small portion of the words spoken during the average day are unique words. While the statistics on the exact number of unique words can vary, we can estimate that:
- The average person uses around 800 unique words during a typical day. Even for people who use more specialized words, like doctors, the amount of unique words rarely goes over 1,000.
- Overall, we estimate that the average person uses between 800 and 1,000 unique words per day.
- This means that people usually use between 2.67% and 3.35% of their vocabulary during the typical day.
- Around 5% of all the words the average person says a day are unique words, while over 95% of spoken words are repeated words.
WordsRated possesses a huge database of English words which can help people expand their vocabulary. Our word tools, such as the Scrabble Go cheat tool, can create any word, from simple 2-word catchphrases to complex 12-letter words.