diff --git a/include/openmc/string_functions.h b/include/openmc/string_functions.h
index a3da179a0..acbbe4e1d 100644
--- a/include/openmc/string_functions.h
+++ b/include/openmc/string_functions.h
@@ -14,5 +14,7 @@ char* strtrim(char* c_str);
 
 void to_lower(std::string& str);
 
+int word_count(std::string const& str);
+ 
 } // namespace openmc
 #endif // STRING_FUNCTIONS_H
diff --git a/src/string_functions.cpp b/src/string_functions.cpp
index f81b09aef..6c077c8c0 100644
--- a/src/string_functions.cpp
+++ b/src/string_functions.cpp
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #include "openmc/string_functions.h"
+#include <sstream>
 
 namespace openmc {
 
@@ -27,4 +28,15 @@ void to_lower(std::string& str)
   for (int i = 0; i < str.size(); i++) str[i] = std::tolower(str[i]);
 }
 
+int word_count(std::string const& str) {
+  std::stringstream stream(str);
+  std::string dum;
+  int count = 0;
+  while(stream >> dum) { count++; }
+  return count;
+}
+  
 } // namespace openmc
+
+
+
diff --git a/src/surface.cpp b/src/surface.cpp
index bf1c2e58c..f535615e8 100644
--- a/src/surface.cpp
+++ b/src/surface.cpp
@@ -35,24 +35,6 @@ std::map<int, int> surface_map;
 // Helper functions for reading the "coeffs" node of an XML surface element
 //==============================================================================
 
-int word_count(const std::string &text)
-{
-  bool in_word = false;
-  int count {0};
-  for (auto c = text.begin(); c != text.end(); c++) {
-    if (std::isspace(*c)) {
-      if (in_word) {
-        in_word = false;
-        count++;
-      }
-    } else {
-      in_word = true;
-    }
-  }
-  if (in_word) count++;
-  return count;
-}
-
 void read_coeffs(pugi::xml_node surf_node, int surf_id, double &c1)
 {
   // Check the given number of coefficients.