diff --git a/exercism/word-count/word_count.c b/exercism/word-count/word_count.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4bdf27f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/exercism/word-count/word_count.c
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+#include "word_count.h"
+#include <string.h>
+
+/*
+    word_count: returns the full number of words in the input_text, 
+                otherwise an error code: (see below)
+
+    error codes: EXCESSIVE_LENGTH_WORD     -1
+                 EXCESSIVE_NUMBER_OF_WORDS -2
+
+    The function manipulates the given structure of type word_count_word_t
+    After that process the member count contains the number of occures.
+*/
+int word_count(const char *input_text, word_count_word_t *words)
+{
+    char word_list[MAX_WORDS][MAX_WORD_LENGTH];
+    char input[1000];
+    strcpy(input, input_text);
+    char *p_str = input;
+
+    /* index for iteration over input string */
+    int index = 0;
+
+    /* index for word_list */
+    int index_list = 0;
+
+    /* counts all words */
+    int count_all = 0;
+
+    /* for controlling the while loop */
+    int loop = 1;
+
+    /* for the for-loop */
+    int i = 0;
+
+    /* collects all words in the word_list */
+    while (input[index] && loop)
+    {
+        if (input[index] == ' ')
+        {
+            input[index] = '\0';
+            if (strlen(p_str) <= MAX_WORD_LENGTH)
+            {
+
+                if (index_list <= MAX_WORDS)
+                {
+                    strcpy(word_list[index_list], p_str);
+
+                    /* sets pointer to the next position */
+                    p_str = input + index + 1;
+                    index_list++;
+
+                    /* counts the word */
+                    count_all++;
+                }
+                else /* error case too many words */
+                {
+                    count_all = EXCESSIVE_NUMBER_OF_WORDS;
+                    loop = 0;
+                }
+            }
+            else /* error case: word is too long */
+            {
+                count_all = EXCESSIVE_LENGTH_WORD;
+                loop = 0;
+            }
+        }
+
+        index++;
+    }
+
+    words->count = 0;
+
+    /* make sure none error is occured */
+    if (loop)
+    {
+        /* collects the last word up to the \0-character. and counts it.*/
+        strcpy(word_list[index_list], p_str);
+        count_all++;
+
+        for (i = 0; i <= index_list; i++)
+        {
+            if (strcmp(word_list[i],words->text) == 0)
+            {
+                words->count++;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /* returns the number of words or an error code */
+    return count_all;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/exercism/word-count/word_count.h b/exercism/word-count/word_count.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ba819414
--- /dev/null
+++ b/exercism/word-count/word_count.h
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#ifndef WORD_COUNT_H
+#define WORD_COUNT_H
+
+#define MAX_WORDS 20            // at most MAX_WORDS can be found in the test input string
+#define MAX_WORD_LENGTH 50      // no individual word can exceed this length
+
+// results structure
+typedef struct word_count_word {
+   char text[MAX_WORD_LENGTH];
+   int count;
+} word_count_word_t;
+
+#define EXCESSIVE_LENGTH_WORD     -1
+#define EXCESSIVE_NUMBER_OF_WORDS -2
+
+// word_count - routine to classify the unique words and their frequency in a test input string
+// inputs:
+//    input_text =  a null-terminated string containing that is analyzed
+//
+// outputs:
+//    words = allocated structure to record the words found and their frequency
+//    uniqueWords - number of words in the words structure
+//           returns a negative number if an error.
+//           words will contain the results up to that point.
+int word_count(const char *input_text, word_count_word_t * words);
+
+#endif