Single quotes and punctuation incorrectly adding to word count

Bug reports
1

Steps to reproduce

Any use of single quotes ‘’ (straight or curly) increases the word count.

  1. Open any .md file, Obsidian 1.10.3, MacOS 26.1.
  2. Type in: ‘No,’ he said.
  3. The word count shows 4 words, and not 3 (No, he, said). Using double quotes “” shows the correct word count.
  4. This happens in the Core word count plugin and Better Word Count.
  5. The Novel Word Count plugin shows the correct 3 words.
  6. Tried with MacOS smart quotes enabled/disabled with the same result.

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? [Y/N]

Issue persists in restricted mode.

Expected result

To see the correct word count using single quotes as with double quotes. Single are the UK standard.

Actual result

Incorrect word count.

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: v1.10.3
Installer version: v1.9.14
Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 25.1.0: Mon Oct 20 19:32:56 PDT 2025; root:xnu-12377.41.6~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T8132 25.1.0
Login status: logged in
Language: en-GB
Catalyst license: none
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Base theme: light
Community theme: none
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: off
Plugins installed: 4
Plugins enabled: 4
1: LanguageTool v1.4.1
2: Editing Toolbar v3.1.18
3: Better Word Count v0.10.1
4: Novel word count v4.6.0

Single quotes, wrong word count

image
image440×327 6.94 KB

Double quotes, correct word count

image
image434×319 6.2 KB

Novel word count correct:

image
image777×149 5.63 KB

1 Like
2

That’s an oddity. Seems to be related to the positioning of the punctuation marks. I see:

‘No’ he said = 3 words

‘No’, he said = 3 words

‘No,’ he said = 4 words

Same for you?

3

You’re absolutely right. The closing comma or period is what increases the word count.

‘No.’ - this reads as 2 words.
‘No’ - this is 1 word.

4

thanks. renamed for clarity