because it struck me that word counting is much harder than it looks

There is another dimension to what constitutes a word and how they can be differentiated programmatically. They require context which takes us into a totally different level of complexity.

Let's take the seemingly simple word post

When you read the word you might think of what someone puts on social media, or perhaps the mail that gets delivered to your door. But equally you may imagine the pole in the ground that keeps your fence upright. Perhaps you have been given a new post at work as your role has changed due to the company being able to post a good profit. Of course, at one time we didn't need to worry - but post the advent of computing, we do!