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How to sort list of cells by word count in Excel?

Author Sun Last modified

In this article, we'll explore how to sort a list of text entries in Excel based on the number of words they contain. If you're looking to organize your data by word count, keep reading for step-by-step instructions on the below two approaches.

Sort by word count with a formula

Sort by word count with Kutools for Excelgood idea3

Sort by word count with a formula

To sort the list by word count, you need to know the count of the word in each cell first.

1. Select a cell next to the list, type this formula =LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))+1, press Enter key, and drag fill handle down to the cells formulas you need.
A screenshot showing the formula to count words in cells in Excel

2. Keep formula cells selected, and click Data > Sort A to Z, check the Expand the selection option in the Sort Warning dialog.
A screenshot showing the Sort Warning dialog

3. Click Sort. The list has been sorted by word count.
A screenshot of the sorted list in Excel based on word count

Tip:

1. The above formula does not directly count words, but count spaces between words and add 1 to get the number of words, if there are some extra spaces such as leading space in the string, the result will be incorrect.
A screenshot showing extra spaces that could affect word count formula

2. If you want to sort by character count, use this formula =LEN(A1) to count characters and then sort.

Sort by word count with Kutools for Excel

To count the number of words in a cell or a range, the Count total words of Kutools for Excel can do a perfect favor.

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1. Select a cell next to the list of strings, and click Kutools > Formula Helper > Statistical > Count total words. See screenshot:
A screenshot showing the Count Total Words option in Kutools tab in Excel

2. Then in the Formula Helper dialog, select the cell you use to count in Range, in default, the cells will be selecetd as absolute reference, you can change it to relative refenece. See screenshot:
A screenshot of the Formula Helper dialog

3. Click Ok, and the number of words has been counted in the cell. Drag the fill handle down to apply the formula to the cells.
A screenshot showing the result of word count in Excel after applying Kutools

4. Keep the formula cells selected, click Data > Sort A to Z, and check Expand the selection in the popping dialog.
A screenshot showing the Sort dialog with Expand Selection

5. Click Sort, and the list has been sorted by word count.
A screenshot showing the sorted list by word count in Excel

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