Some writers – I'm one of them – habitually overwrite, and provide editors with more words than requested. Generally, I deliver up to 10% over the agreed word count. I would advise against sending in much more than that. It might look like vanity, or that you've misunderstand the commission. The editor will likely send the piece back and ask you to cut it down to size.
If you find yourself with a surfeit of good information and you're loath to make cuts, explain this to the editor. Ask him if he can set aside more space for your article or run it as a two-part feature. In my experience, there's a good chance he'll agree. He may, however, explain that the additional content won't earn you any extra money. If that's the case, two courses of action are open to you. One is to give the editor everything you've written and enjoy seeing a meaty piece of work appear with your byline; the other is to cut the article down to size and use the scraps elsewhere.
On the subject of word count, this intriguing site "presents the 86,800 most frequently used English words, ranked in order of commonness."
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