Read in a docx, save into variable and count the words. Word 2007 format only.

phpWordCountWords.php

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$source = 'example.docx';

$phpword = \PhpOffice\PhpWord\IOFactory::load($source);

$sections = $phpword->getSections();

$uploadedText = '';

foreach ($sections as $section) {
    $elements = $section->getElements();
    foreach ($elements as $element) {
	if (get_class($element) === 'PhpOffice\PhpWord\Element\Text') {
	    $uploadedText .= $element->getText();
	    $uploadedText .= ' ';
	} else if (get_class($element) === 'PhpOffice\PhpWord\Element\TextRun') {
	    $textRunElements = $element->getElements();
	    foreach ($textRunElements as $textRunElement) {
		$uploadedText .= $textRunElement->getText();
		$uploadedText .= ' ';
	    }
	} else if (get_class($element) === 'PhpOffice\PhpWord\Element\TextBreak') {
	    $uploadedText .= ' ';
	} else {
	    throw new Exception('Unknown class type ' . get_class($e));
	}
    }
}

$uploadedText = str_replace('&nbsp;',"", $uploadedText);
$uploadedText = str_replace('•',"",$uploadedText);
$uploadedText = preg_split('/\s+/', $uploadedText);

$numberWords = count($uploadedText);

very good
thanks

Excellent code try to define $uploadedText=''; somewhere around line 10