As writers we all have problem words. Words that we use all the time and can’t rid of because it is a habit.

This is where a couple of tools can come in handy where the first is easy to use while the other requires advanced understanding.

Here are two of these writing tools that can come in handy:

 1: Web App Solution

Probably the easiest to get an idea of how many times you are using a particular word is by using an online app.

All you have to do is cut and paste the text and hit the count button. It will throw up a report and that should tell you all you need to know. One of these tools is Text Fixer. Just paste the text under the area ‘Word Analysis Tool’ and select the ‘Count Words’ button. Also, just uncheck the option ‘Exclude common areas from word frequency count’.

 2: Microsoft Add-In

Adding a Microsoft add-in requires you to go through Windows folders. For this, you need to look at your hidden folder by selecting Windows + E. Click the View tab and make sure you check the Hidden Items box. Now you have to look for add-ons by the developer, Gregory Maxey. A ZIP file containing a .dot and .dotm file will be downloaded. Extract the latter file.

Now copy and paste this file to the following path: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP

After this, open a Word document that you’d like to check. Now look for a new tab at the top of Word menu titled Add-Ins. When you click that tab, you’ll find a menu item for word usage. You can obtain a word frequency report that will appear as a new document.