How Many Words Do We Speak in a Day?

While the number of words the average person speaks in a day can depend on age, culture and other factors, a University of Arizona study found that most people speak around 16,000 words in a day. This study found no significant difference between male and female subjects, debunking previous claims that women speak over 10,000 more words in a day than men.

The participants of the University of Arizona study were outfitted with devices that tracked how many words they spoke over an 8-year period by recording the subjects’ words every 12.5 minutes during waking hours. According to one of the researchers, the three participants who talked the most were all men.