How Many Pages Is 1,500 Words?
1,500 words is about three pages single spaced, or six pages double spaced. That uses the usual planning figure of 500 words per single-spaced page, with a 12-point font and 1-inch margins.
In a tightly packed document, 1,500 words can fit on two and a half pages single spaced, or four and a half double spaced. A full MLA or APA essay with a heading, title page and reference list usually takes six or seven pages. Below are our measured numbers, and how to check your own draft with our free word counter.
1,500 words in different layouts
We wrapped about 2,900 words of real text onto pages using real font measurements, with 12-point type, 1-inch margins and no extra space between paragraphs. The full method is in our guide to how many pages 1,000 words is.
| Layout | Words per page | 1,500 words takes |
|---|---|---|
| Times, single spaced, US Letter | 662 | 2.3 pages |
| Arial-style font, single spaced, US Letter | 611 | 2.5 pages |
| Times, 1.5 spacing, US Letter | 446 | 3.4 pages |
| Arial-style font, 1.5 spacing, US Letter | 412 | 3.6 pages |
| Times, double spaced, US Letter | 331 | 4.5 pages |
| Arial-style font, double spaced, US Letter | 306 | 4.9 pages |
| Times, single spaced, A4 | 696 | 2.2 pages |
| Times, double spaced, A4 | 348 | 4.3 pages |
These are best-case figures for plain paragraphs. Headings, quotes, lists and space between sections all push text onto more pages, which is why 3 pages single spaced and 6 pages double spaced is the safer figure for planning.
How many pages is a 1,500-word MLA or APA essay?
Most “words to pages” answers ignore the parts of an essay that are not body text. School essays usually have to follow a style guide, and the guide adds space of its own.
MLA. An MLA paper has no title page. The first page starts with a four-line heading (your name, your instructor, the course and the date) and a centred title, all double spaced, according to the Purdue OWL MLA guide. The Works Cited list then starts on a separate page.
APA (student paper). APA 7 student papers have a title page, which counts as page 1. The title is repeated at the top of the first page of text, and the reference list starts on a new page after the text.
A double-spaced page with 1-inch margins holds 23 lines of 12-point type, which matches our measured 331 words per page for Times (about 14.4 words a line). Using that, here is where a 1,500-word essay ends:
| Style, font | Body text ends on | With the reference page |
|---|---|---|
| MLA, Times 12 pt | Page 5 (about three quarters full) | 6 pages |
| MLA, Arial-style 12 pt | Page 6 (a few lines) | 7 pages |
| APA, Times 12 pt | Page 6 (about half full) | 7 pages, including the title page |
| APA, Arial-style 12 pt | Page 6 (almost full) | 7 pages, including the title page |
So if a teacher says “about six pages”, they are probably thinking of a double-spaced 1,500-word paper. The word limit usually leaves out the heading, title page and references, but check your course handbook, because some courses count them.
These are estimates built from our measurements, not a test in Word itself. Word and Google Docs can differ slightly, and block quotes, headings or extra space after paragraphs will add more.
How long does 1,500 words take?
| Activity | Speed | Time for 1,500 words |
|---|---|---|
| Silent reading | 238 words per minute | About 6 minutes |
| Reading aloud | 183 words per minute | About 8 minutes |
| Giving a talk | 130 to 150 words per minute | About 10 to 11.5 minutes |
The reading speeds come from a 2019 review of 190 reading studies. If you paste 1,500 words into our word counter, it shows a reading time of 6 min 18 sec and a speaking time of 10 min 43 sec, because it uses 238 and 140 words per minute. For more on speeds, see our guide to average reading speed, and for talks, see how many words a 5 minute speech is.
How to plan a 1,500-word essay
A 1,500-word essay usually has 8 to 11 paragraphs. A simple plan:
| Section | Words | Paragraphs |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | 150 | 1 |
| Main point 1 | 400 | 2 to 3 |
| Main point 2 | 400 | 2 to 3 |
| Main point 3, or counter-argument | 400 | 2 to 3 |
| Conclusion | 150 | 1 |
| Total | 1,500 | 8 to 11 |
Writing to a budget like this stops your first point eating the whole word count. If paragraphs are a worry, our guide to how many paragraphs are in an essay covers it in more detail.
How to check your length with our word counter
- Open the word counter and paste your draft into the box. Nothing is uploaded; the counting happens in your browser.
- Read the word count at the top. It counts hyphenated words such as “well-known” as one word, the same way Word and Google Docs do.
- Check the paragraph count against your plan. With 1,500 words, 8 to 11 paragraphs means an average of about 135 to 190 words each.
- If you are giving the text as a talk, use the speaking time. If it is far over your slot, cut whole points rather than trimming every sentence.
If your teacher checks length in Word, trust the Word number in the end. Our guides show how to check word count in Word and how to count words in Google Docs.
Quick answers
- Single spaced: about 3 pages (2.3 to 2.5 pages of plain text).
- Double spaced: about 6 pages (4.5 to 4.9 pages of plain text).
- MLA essay with Works Cited: about 6 to 7 pages.
- APA student paper with title page and references: about 7 pages.
- Paragraphs: about 8 to 11.
- Reading time: about 6 minutes. Speaking time: about 10 to 11 minutes.
For other lengths, see how many pages 1,000 words is and how many pages 2,000 words is. To count your own text, use our free word counter.