How to use the Readability Checker
Paste at least a few sentences; 100 words or more gives a stable score.
Read the Flesch Reading Ease score (0 to 100, higher is easier) and its plain-English band.
Check the Flesch-Kincaid grade, the approximate US school grade needed to follow the text.
Shorten long sentences and swap long words for simpler ones, then watch the score improve.
Examples
The cat sat on the mat. It was happy. The sun was warm.
Reading Ease 100 (very easy) · grade level below 1
Notwithstanding considerable organisational complexity, interdepartmental communication methodologies necessitate comprehensive reevaluation.
Reading Ease 0 (very difficult) · grade level above 20
The two scores explained
Flesch Reading Ease scores text from 0 to 100. Higher means easier. It is calculated from the average number of words per sentence and syllables per word:
206.835 − 1.015 × (words ÷ sentences) − 84.6 × (syllables ÷ words)
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level turns the same two inputs into an approximate US school grade:
0.39 × (words ÷ sentences) + 11.8 × (syllables ÷ words) − 15.59
A grade of 8 means a typical 13 to 14-year-old should be able to follow the text. Both formulas were developed for English; scores for other languages are not meaningful.
What is a good readability score?
| Reading Ease | Band | Typical audience |
|---|---|---|
| 90–100 | Very easy | Age 11, children's books |
| 80–89 | Easy | Conversational English |
| 70–79 | Fairly easy | Popular fiction |
| 60–69 | Plain English | Most web content, news |
| 50–59 | Fairly difficult | Quality newspapers |
| 30–49 | Difficult | Academic writing |
| 0–29 | Very difficult | Legal and scientific papers |
For most websites, aim for 60 or higher (grade 8 to 9). Government plain-language guidance and many style guides recommend writing for this level even for expert readers, because simpler text is faster to read for everyone.
How to make your writing easier to read
- Shorten sentences. Split any sentence over 25 to 30 words. The Sentence Counter shows your average.
- Prefer short, common words: "use" not "utilise", "help" not "facilitate", "start" not "commence".
- Use the active voice. "The team wrote the report" is clearer than "The report was written by the team". Find passive sentences with the Passive Voice Checker.
- One idea per sentence, and one topic per paragraph.
- Break up text with headings, lists and short paragraphs.
Limits of readability formulas
Formulas only measure surface features: sentence length and word length. They cannot tell whether text is well organised, accurate or interesting, and they can be fooled by very short sentences of jargon. Syllables are counted with an approximate rule, so scores may differ by a few points from other tools. Use the score as a guide to spot problem passages, then read the text aloud to judge it properly.
Frequently asked questions
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