Word Cloud Generator
Paste any text and get a word cloud sized by how often each word appears, in a rectangle, circle, heart, star or cloud shape. Everything is counted and drawn in your browser, so your text never leaves your device.
Paste an article, speech, survey answers or notes. Words are counted automatically.
Shape & canvas
Style
Words
Top words
How to use the Word Cloud Generator
- Paste your text into the box, or switch to Word list mode and type one word per line with an optional weight, like
coffee, 12. - Pick a shape, a color palette, a font and a rotation style. Use Max words and Word spacing to control density.
- Press Generate word cloud. Press Shuffle layout to get a different arrangement with the same words.
- Refine the words: keep Remove common words on and add your own words to the Exclude box.
- Download PNG for slides and social posts (2x resolution) or Download SVG for print and further editing.
How the word cloud layout works
This generator does not use a third-party word cloud library. It counts your words, then places them one at a time from the most frequent to the least frequent:
- Counting: the text is split into words, a trailing possessive 's is removed, words are compared without regard to case, and stopwords, numbers and words shorter than the minimum length are dropped.
- Sizing: each word gets a font size between a minimum and maximum. With square-root scaling the size grows with √count, so a word used 100 times is about 3× the size of one used 11 times rather than 9×.
- Spiral search: starting near the center, the word is moved outward along an Archimedean spiral (radius grows steadily with the angle) until a free spot is found.
- Collision detection: every word is rasterized to a 4-pixel occupancy grid using its real glyph outlines, so small words can tuck into the gaps between letters of large ones without ever overlapping. Shapes simply mark the area outside the outline as occupied.
Tips for a great-looking word cloud
- Use enough text. A few hundred words gives a natural spread of sizes. With very short text every word appears once and they all end up the same size; use Word list mode to set weights yourself.
- Shapes need words. Hearts, stars and clouds read best with 100–200 words, mostly horizontal rotation and word spacing of 1–2.
- Pick contrast. Dark palettes on a white or cream background, or light pastel palettes on a dark background, keep small words legible.
- Remove noise. Add words like the name of the speaker, "chapter" or filler terms to Exclude words so the important themes stand out.
- Export for the job. Use PNG for slides, documents and social media (exported at 2× resolution, so a 1200×800 canvas becomes 2400×1600 pixels). Use SVG for print, posters and editing in vector apps.
Canvas sizes and where to use them
| Canvas | PNG export | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Landscape 1200×800 | 2400×1600 px | Slides, reports, blog headers |
| Square 1000×1000 | 2000×2000 px | Instagram and Facebook posts, circle and heart shapes |
| Portrait 800×1100 | 1600×2200 px | Posters, classroom handouts, A4/Letter prints |
| Wide 1600×900 | 3200×1800 px | 16:9 presentations, YouTube thumbnails, desktop wallpapers |
| Instagram 1080×1350 | 2160×2700 px | 4:5 portrait feed posts |
Want to analyze the text first? The Chart Maker turns word counts into a bar chart, and the Color Palette Generator helps you find colors that match your brand.
Frequently asked questions
How does the word cloud decide word sizes?
Each word's size depends on how many times it appears in your text. The most frequent word gets the largest font, the least frequent the smallest, and the Size scaling setting controls the curve in between (square root is the default because it keeps mid-frequency words readable).
What are stopwords and should I remove them?
Stopwords are very common words such as the, and, of, is and you that appear in almost every text and say little about its topic. Removing them, which is on by default, makes the meaningful words stand out. You can also exclude any extra words you do not want.
Can I make a word cloud in a heart or other shape?
Yes. Choose rectangle, ellipse, circle, heart, star, cloud or diamond. Words are placed only inside the shape, so the outline forms from the words themselves. Shapes look best with 100 or more words.
Can I set my own word weights?
Yes. Switch Input to Word list and enter one word or phrase per line followed by a comma, tab or colon and a number, for example: coffee, 12. Lines without a number get a weight of 1.
Why are some words missing from the cloud?
If a word cannot fit anywhere without overlapping, it is shrunk a little and tried again; if it still does not fit it is skipped. The status line tells you how many words were placed. Reduce Max words, reduce Word spacing, choose a larger canvas or a roomier shape to fit more.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. Counting, layout and image export all run locally in your browser with JavaScript. Your text is only stored in your own browser's local storage so it is still there next time.
What is the difference between the PNG and SVG download?
PNG is a pixel image exported at twice the canvas size for sharp results on slides and social media. SVG is a vector file where every word is real text, so it scales to any size and can be edited in tools like Illustrator, Inkscape or Figma.