How to count total words in a column?

Hi All,

I need to determine the total number of words in a column and output the total to a different cell. Each cell will only ever have one word. I can do this with ASAP Utilities, but I need to be able to repeat this automatically as the word list changes. so I need a formula instead. Can someone please show me how to do this? I can find references online for how to count instances of a certain word, or duplicates, but nothing for the total words in a column. Thanks!

(Example of a list; generally with hundreds of words):
a
alone
also
an
and
any
anything
anytime
as
beautiful
.
.
.

Originally Posted by shg

Maybe =COUNTA(A:A)

Well that's just sad that it is so simple. After reading that excel had no native way of doing this (which I thought was crazy) I assumed it would be harder. I did try a few COUNTIFs but no COUNTA. Thank you so much.