How Many Pages Is 800 Words?
1 min read
Short answer
800 words in pages
Times New Roman 12pt with 1-inch margins, the usual academic setup.
| Spacing | US Letter | A4 |
|---|---|---|
| Single spaced | 1.6 pages | 1.5 pages |
| 1.5 spaced | 2.1 pages | 2.1 pages |
| Double spaced | 3.2 pages | 3.1 pages |
By font
US Letter, 1-inch margins. Google Docs starts in Arial 11pt; Word used Calibri 11pt for years before switching to Aptos.
| Font and size | Single spaced | Double spaced |
|---|---|---|
| Times New Roman 12pt | 1.6 | 3.2 |
| Arial 12pt | 1.8 | 3.7 |
| Arial 11pt | 1.5 | 3.1 |
| Calibri 12pt | 1.7 | 3.4 |
| Calibri 11pt | 1.4 | 2.8 |
- Paragraphs
- About 5 (4 to 8, at 100 to 200 words each)
- Characters
- About 4,600 including spaces
- Reading time
- 3 minutes 22 seconds at 238 words a minute
- Speaking time
- 5 minutes 20 seconds at 150 words a minute
- Handwritten
- About 3.2 sides of lined paperin average handwriting, about 250 words a side
Check your own numbers
3.2
Pages · double spaced
Every spacing
800 wordsAlso worth knowing
Estimates assume 12pt Times New Roman or Arial with 1-inch margins on US Letter or A4.
800 words is a column
Weekly newspaper and magazine columns have run at around 700 to 900 words for generations, and 800 is the classic figure. It is about what a reader will give an opinion before deciding whether they agree, and it fills a predictable space on the page.
Online, 800 words is a solid explainer post: long enough to answer a question with an example or two, short enough to read in three or four minutes.
What 800 words holds
- An argument with two strong points, each with evidence, plus an opening and a close.
- A how-to with five or six steps, if each step is a short paragraph.
- One scene of fiction: a setting, a conflict and a change.
What it does not hold is a survey. If you are trying to cover “everything about” a topic in 800 words, each part gets a sentence or two, which reads as a list.
A column shape
| Part | Words |
|---|---|
| A concrete opening: a moment, a figure, a quote | 100 |
| Your point, stated plainly | 80 |
| First supporting point | 250 |
| Second supporting point | 220 |
| The turn: what it means, or what to do | 150 |
800 words of flash fiction
Flash fiction usually means a complete story of 1,000 words or fewer. At 800, the practical advice is to start late and leave early: open in the middle of the scene, use one or two characters, and end on the change rather than explaining it. Every sentence has to move the story or reveal a character, ideally both.