diff --git a/src/renderer/components/Editor/MarkdownEditor.tsx b/src/renderer/components/Editor/MarkdownEditor.tsx
index 58aca2d..9aa2ab3 100644
--- a/src/renderer/components/Editor/MarkdownEditor.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/components/Editor/MarkdownEditor.tsx
@@ -697,7 +697,15 @@ export function MarkdownEditor(): JSX.Element {
             }
             if (update.selectionSet) {
               const { from, to } = update.state.selection.main
-              setHasSelection(from !== to)
+              const hasNonEmpty = from !== to
+              setHasSelection(hasNonEmpty)
+              if (hasNonEmpty) {
+                const sel = update.state.sliceDoc(from, to)
+                const words = sel.trim() === '' ? 0 : sel.trim().split(/\s+/).length
+                useEditorStore.getState().setSelectionWordCount(words)
+              } else {
+                useEditorStore.getState().setSelectionWordCount(null)
+              }
             }
             // When the user Cmd+Z's through an Apply, invertedEffects fires a
             // setAnnotationsEffect restoring the old list inside CM. Sync that
diff --git a/src/renderer/components/Toolbar/AnalysisToolbar.tsx b/src/renderer/components/Toolbar/AnalysisToolbar.tsx
index 69fd510..e34c669 100644
--- a/src/renderer/components/Toolbar/AnalysisToolbar.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/components/Toolbar/AnalysisToolbar.tsx
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@ export function AnalysisToolbar(): JSX.Element {
     outlineOpen,
     toggleOutline,
     revisionPanelOpen,
-    toggleRevisionPanel
+    toggleRevisionPanel,
+    selectionWordCount
   } = useEditorStore()
 
   const [analyzeOpen, setAnalyzeOpen] = useState(false)
@@ -381,6 +382,11 @@ export function AnalysisToolbar(): JSX.Element {
             A+
           </button>
         </div>
+        {selectionWordCount !== null && (
+          <span className="toolbar-selection-wordcount" title={`${selectionWordCount} words selected`}>
+            {formatWordCount(selectionWordCount)} sel
+          </span>
+        )}
         {activeFilePath && (
           <span
             className="toolbar-wordcount"
diff --git a/src/renderer/components/Toolbar/Toolbar.css b/src/renderer/components/Toolbar/Toolbar.css
index 10497b5..d55a432 100644
--- a/src/renderer/components/Toolbar/Toolbar.css
+++ b/src/renderer/components/Toolbar/Toolbar.css
@@ -142,6 +142,17 @@
   opacity: 0.5;
 }
 
+.toolbar-selection-wordcount {
+  color: var(--text-muted);
+  font-size: 11px;
+  font-family: var(--font-sans);
+  white-space: nowrap;
+  flex-shrink: 0;
+  cursor: default;
+  opacity: 0.6;
+  letter-spacing: 0.02em;
+}
+
 /* ── Outline toggle button ───────────────────────────────────────── */
 .toolbar-btn-outline {
   padding: 4px 8px;
diff --git a/src/renderer/store/editorStore.ts b/src/renderer/store/editorStore.ts
index 5629f82..3e3042a 100644
--- a/src/renderer/store/editorStore.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/store/editorStore.ts
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ interface EditorState {
   // Word counts
   projectWordCount: number
   setProjectWordCount: (count: number) => void
+  selectionWordCount: number | null
+  setSelectionWordCount: (count: number | null) => void
 
   // Editor font size
   fontSize: number
@@ -593,6 +595,9 @@ export const useEditorStore = create<EditorState>((set, get) => ({
   projectWordCount: 0,
   setProjectWordCount: (projectWordCount) => set({ projectWordCount }),
 
+  selectionWordCount: null as number | null,
+  setSelectionWordCount: (count: number | null) => set({ selectionWordCount: count }),
+
   revisionPanelOpen: false,
   toggleRevisionPanel: () => set((s) => ({ revisionPanelOpen: !s.revisionPanelOpen })),