How Many Times Did I Use That Word?

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills

Confession time. I can use the same word too many times in a story. I call them pet words, and they can vary from one story to another. It seems my mind forgets the times I’ve already used the same word. Oh, the frustration when I discover the flaw. This leads me to explore editing tools to help writers like me eliminate redundancy.

How Many Times Did I Use That Word?

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A writer is supposed to be in the word business. Finding the perfect word is part of the thrill for the writer and a joy to the reader. It’s an adventure . . . until I discover a character refers to the same storehouse of words repeatedly. 

I found an indispensable tool to aid writers overcome the dreaded problem of, “How many times did I use that word?” And it’s free!

It’s called the Word Frequency Counter

I’m sure you will appreciate it as much as I do. To give you an example, I’ve typed a ridiculous paragraph below to show the site’s usefulness. 

My heart leaped from my chest every moment we were together. My heart refused to stop pounding in my chest, and I feared he might hear it when we were together. Oh, heart, don’t betray me. Stay in my chest when we are together. Let him not hear or feel my heart clamoring for more of his time. (58 words)

  1. Copy/Paste the paragraph above into the box on this page Word Frequency Counter where it says “Paste your text”.
  2. Now hit “submit.” 
  3. Many words are used only once, and some words we expect to use more often. 
  4. Now look at a few overused ones:

6 – my

4 – heart

3 – together

3 – chest

Oh my! So many overused words in such a short paragraph.

Here’s another tip: The site can also check for overuse of phrases. Here’s a direct link to the Phrase Frequency Counter. 

Now you try. Copy and paste some of your work into the Word Frequency Counter and see what you find. How did the tool help your writing?

Comments 25

  4. Thanks so much for sharing these editing tools with your readers!
    I’m about to work through my 1st MG novel with my editor, (will be published this December) so I’m going through my mss with a fine tooth comb before she starts editing.
    How much text will be accepted at a time in these online editors? (I guess I can try a chapter at a time?)

    Reply

  5. I have used that tool also and it is such a great help. It is surprising to see the results and you are right, you do cringe when those repeated words glare at you. I am also helped with the read aloud tool on Word.

    Reply

  8. Brilliant! My mom was an editor and ghost writer (is that still a thing?). She gave me many tips for writing that stay with me to this day… I’m in my 70s… so, a very long time. The one that always comes to me when I write anything is “Never use the same multi-syllabic word twice on the same page”. I love words and some words more than others. Those words of wisdom have kept me from overusing my favorite words.

    I had not thought how using the same small word repeatedly could also diminish the impact of my message. Thank you for this tip.

    Reply

    1. Hi Dana, I appreciate your response. And, yes, ghostwriters are still out there. Thank you for your tips and glad you could use mine.

      Reply

  11. DiAnn, your post reminds me of an associate pastor our church had when I was a child. His pet phrase was, “Simply because.” One night I decided to count how many times he used it. I don’t remember now, but in the double digits. 🙂

    Reply

  13. That’s great! I usually find and highlight the words I am aware of, but this is so much better. We all know that “weasel words” run in packs and like to invite new ones into their family! 😘

    Reply

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