How many words should my toddler say? Word counts by age

Most toddlers say a few words by 12 months, around 20 by 18 months, and at least 50 words with some two-word phrases by 24 months. By 30 months vocabulary is growing too fast to count easily, and by 3 most children are speaking in short sentences. This guide gives the numbers by age, explains what counts as a word, and shows how to count your own toddler’s vocabulary.

Word counts by age

Two sets of numbers are widely used in Ontario. The ASHA 2023 communication milestones, endorsed by Speech-Language & Audiology Canada in 2024, give ages by which at least 75 percent of monolingual English-speaking children have a skill. The SickKids and Toronto Preschool Speech and Language benchmarks describe what a typical child is doing at each age. Both are shown below.

A few things stand out from the table.

First, the two columns differ at 24 months. ASHA’s 50 words is a floor that most children have passed. The Toronto benchmark of 100 to 150 is an average. A 2-year-old with 50 words is at the low edge of typical, and a child with 20 is behind.

Second, counting becomes impractical after about 30 months. Clinicians stop counting words and start looking at sentence length (mean length of utterance), grammar and clarity. Our guide on MLU and Brown’s stages explains how sentence length is measured, and the MLU calculator lets you try it yourself.

Third, the biggest growth happens between 18 and 24 months. Many children go through a “word spurt” in this window, adding several words a day. A child who is quiet at 18 months but gaining new words every week is on a different path from one whose count has not moved in two months.

What counts as a word

Parents often undercount because they only include clearly pronounced adult words. Speech-language pathologists count more generously. A word is any sound, sign or approximation that your child uses consistently and on purpose to mean the same thing. By that definition, all of the following count:

• Word approximations. “Ba” for ball, “nana” for banana, “wawa” for water. Pronunciation does not need to be correct.
• Animal and vehicle sounds. “Moo” for cow, “vroom” for car, “woof” for dog, as long as they are used to label or refer.
• Signs and gestures with a fixed meaning. A baby sign for “more” or “all done” counts as a word if it is used consistently. Pointing on its own does not, because it is used for many things.
• Exclamations and social words. “Uh-oh”, “hi”, “bye”, “no”, “yay”, “night-night”.
• Names. “Mama”, “dada”, a sibling’s or pet’s name, used for that specific person or animal.
• Words in any language. For bilingual children, count the total across all languages. “Dog” and “perro” are two words. See our guide on bilingual children and speech delay.

Things that do not count:

• Imitation only. If your child only says “ball” right after you say it and never on their own, it is not yet a word they own.
• One sound used for everything. A child who says “da” for every object is not using it as a word.
• Babbling. Strings such as “bababa” with no fixed meaning.
• Words heard once. A word said one time last month and never again is not in the active vocabulary.

Count different words, not repetitions. If your child says “ball” twenty times a day, that is one word. “Ball” and “balls” are also one word for counting purposes.

How to count your toddler’s words

The simplest method is to keep a running list for one to two weeks. A note on the fridge or your phone works. Here is how speech-language pathologists suggest doing it.

1. Write down every word you hear your child use on their own, in any form that meets the definition above. Include approximations and note what they mean (“bu” = bus).
2. Ask everyone who cares for your child (the other parent, grandparents, daycare) to add what they hear. Toddlers often use different words in different places.
3. Go through categories to jog your memory. Food, animals, toys, body parts, clothing, people, actions (“go”, “eat”, “up”), describing words (“hot”, “big”), social words (“hi”, “no”), and routines (“bath”, “night-night”).
4. Use a checklist. The free toddler word counter lists the words toddlers most commonly say first and lets you tick off the ones your child uses. It is based on the same approach as parent-report vocabulary inventories that clinicians use.
5. Note combinations separately. Write down any time your child puts two words together on their own, such as “more milk” or “daddy go”. Rote phrases that always appear together (“all done”, “thank you”) count as one word, not a combination.

After two weeks you will have a reasonable estimate. Parent-report counts are a standard tool in research and clinical practice because parents hear far more of a child’s language than a clinician sees in a single visit.

Why word counts vary so much

Two typically developing 2-year-olds can have vocabularies of 60 and 300 words. That spread is real and expected. Several things explain it.

Temperament and style. Some toddlers are cautious and wait until they can say a word well. Others try everything. Some use lots of nouns, others lean on social phrases.

Timing of the word spurt. The spurt can begin anywhere from 16 to 24 months, so two children a few months apart in their spurt can look very different at the same age for a while.

Exposure. Children who hear more conversational, face-to-face talk tend to learn words faster. This is not about being talked at. It is about back-and-forth exchanges that respond to what the child is interested in.

Bilingual homes. Words are split between languages, so each language alone looks smaller than a monolingual child’s, while the total is similar.

Birth history. Children born prematurely are often assessed by corrected age in the first two years.

Variation is one reason clinicians look at the whole picture rather than one number. A word count is a useful starting point, not a verdict. The milestone checklist puts word counts alongside understanding, gestures, play and speech sounds.

When a low count is worth an assessment

Speech-language pathologists in Ontario generally recommend an assessment when a child:

• has no words at 18 months,
• has fewer than 50 words or no two-word combinations at 24 months,
• is not adding new words over a period of several weeks,
• uses few gestures, or seems not to understand simple words and directions,
• has lost words they once used, or
• has any history of hearing concerns or frequent ear infections.

A child with fewer than 50 words at 24 months but good understanding, lots of gestures and plenty of play is often described as a late talker. Many late talkers catch up, but research reviewed in the ASHA Practice Portal on late language emergence shows that a meaningful share do not, and it is not possible to predict which child is which at this age. That is why an assessment is recommended rather than waiting. Our guide on what parents of late talkers can do explains the risk factors and strategies in detail.

In Ontario, families can self-refer to the free Preschool Speech and Language Program for children from birth until they start school. No doctor’s note or diagnosis is needed. Our guide on when to see a speech-language pathologist covers the signs by age and what to expect.

What you can do at home

Whatever the count, the same habits help vocabulary grow. Talk about what your child is paying attention to. Name things as you hand them over. Pause and wait for your child to take a turn. Repeat what your child says and add a word. Offer choices (“apple or banana?”) so there is a reason to use a word. Read books together every day and sing songs with actions.

Keep your word list going even after the assessment. Seeing new words appear week by week is encouraging, and it gives you something concrete to share with a speech-language pathologist if you need one. Our guide to everyday strategies to help your child talk goes through each strategy by age.