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Filler word counter

Press start and talk for up to two minutes. Your um, like and you know are counted live, with your words per minute and a transcript showing every filler.

2:00Up to 2 minutes
Filler words
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Fillers per minute
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Words per minute
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transcript

Your words will appear here, fillers highlighted.

What are filler words?

Filler words are the small sounds and words we use to fill a gap while speaking: um, uh, er, like, so, you know. They carry no meaning of their own. They hold your place in the conversation while your brain catches up with your mouth.

Everyone uses them, and a few are fine. Nobody listening to a relaxed conversation counts ums. They become a problem when they pile up: in a presentation, a job interview or a standup, a string of fillers makes a clear idea sound unsure, and it makes you harder to follow. Many people only notice how many they use when they hear a recording of themselves, which is what the counter above is for.

Why we use them

Fillers usually turn up for one of three reasons:

  • You're planning the next sentence. Most ums sit at the start of a sentence or between ideas, while you work out what comes next.
  • You don't want to lose your turn. In a meeting, silence can feel like an invitation for someone else to jump in, so a filler keeps the floor.
  • Silence feels uncomfortable. A two-second pause feels like an age to the speaker. To the listener it sounds like thinking.

Under pressure all three get stronger. That's why someone who speaks smoothly in a one-to-one can fill a sprint review with "so, basically, kind of" when a senior colleague asks an unexpected question.

A simple drill to cut filler words

You don't fix fillers by trying hard not to say them. You fix them by practising the pause instead.

  1. Measure. Press start above and talk for two minutes on a prompt. Note your total and your top two fillers.
  2. Pick one. Choose your most common filler. Only that one. Trying to cut all of them at once makes you stiff.
  3. Swap it for a pause. Run the two minutes again. Every time you feel that filler coming, close your mouth, breathe, and carry on. The pause will feel long. It isn't.
  4. End sentences properly. Many fillers glue sentences together ("and so, um"). Let each sentence land with a full stop before you start the next.
  5. Repeat daily for a week. Two minutes a day is enough. Watch the count for your chosen filler come down, then pick the next one.

Once the drill feels easy, make it harder. Use a topic you haven't prepared, or ask a friend to interrupt you with a question halfway through. Fillers come back under pressure, so that's where to practise. For a longer guide, read how to stop saying um.

Filler words list

The counter listens for these 16 common fillers:

  • um
  • uh
  • er
  • erm
  • ah
  • like
  • so
  • basically
  • actually
  • literally
  • you know
  • kind of
  • sort of
  • I mean
  • right
  • okay

Some of these are only fillers some of the time. "I like the new design" uses like properly; "it's like, really slow" doesn't. The counter can't tell the difference, so read the highlighted transcript and judge for yourself. Watch for your own personal fillers too: some people lean on "to be honest", "at the end of the day" or "does that make sense?".

Should you cut every filler?

No. A few fillers make you sound human, and speech with none at all can sound rehearsed. The goal is that fillers stop getting in the way, so listeners hear your point rather than the gaps around it. If your count drops from a filler in every sentence to a handful in two minutes, that's a real improvement. Keep the pauses, keep the occasional so, and stop worrying about perfection.

Fillers in meetings

Talking to a timer on your own is the easy version. In a real meeting someone pushes back, asks a follow-up you didn't expect, or cuts in before you've finished. That's when the ums come back. Practising with interruptions, out loud and against the clock, is the closest thing to the real room.

Frequently asked questions

How do I stop saying um?

Notice it first: count your ums for two minutes with the counter above. Then practise swapping each um for a short, silent pause. Pauses feel long to you but sound normal to listeners. Repeat the two-minute drill daily for a week and watch your count rather than trying to be perfect in one go.

How do I stop saying um when presenting?

Most ums appear at the start of a sentence and between points, while you decide what comes next. Know your opening line and your transitions by heart, close each point with a full stop and a breath, and look at your next note before you speak rather than while you speak.

How can I speak without filler words?

Aim for fewer, not zero. Slow down slightly, finish sentences instead of joining them with 'so' and 'and', and let silence do the work a filler was doing. Practising out loud, on a clock, with someone asking questions, builds the habit faster than reading tips.

What are the most common filler words?

Common filler words and phrases include um, uh, er, erm, ah, like, so, basically, actually, literally, you know, kind of, sort of, I mean, right and okay. Many of them are normal words that only count as fillers when they add no meaning.

Does the filler word counter record or store what I say?

Staging Mind stores nothing and sends nothing to our servers: the transcript lives in your browser tab and disappears when you close it. But the speech recognition is your browser's own, and in Chrome and Edge the browser sends your audio to Google or Microsoft to turn it into text. Safari uses Apple's speech recognition, which may run on your device or on Apple's servers.

Why didn't it count all my ums?

Browser speech recognition is built to write down what you meant, so it often leaves out um and uh. Treat the um count as a minimum. Words like 'like' and 'so' are counted every time, including when you meant them, so use the breakdown as a guide rather than a score.

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