What readability scores tell you
Readability formulas estimate how hard a text is to read from simple measurements: how long the sentences are and how long the words are. They cannot judge ideas, tone or accuracy, but they are a quick way to find writing that is heavier than it needs to be. This checker reports six well-known scores and an average, and it explains each result in plain words with a suggested target.
The scores
- Flesch Reading Ease runs from 0 to 100. Higher is easier. Scores of 60 to 70 are considered plain English.
- Flesch-Kincaid Grade turns the same measurements into a US school grade level.
- Gunning Fog estimates the years of schooling needed, and penalizes words with three or more syllables.
- Coleman-Liau and the Automated Readability Index use letters per word instead of syllables, so they do not depend on syllable counting.
- SMOG is based on words of three or more syllables and needs at least 30 sentences to be meaningful, so it is hidden for shorter texts.
Before
The utilization of unnecessarily complicated terminology frequently diminishes comprehension.
After
Using needlessly complex words often makes text harder to understand.
How the checker counts
Words and sentences are counted the same way as in the word counter, and common abbreviations such as Mr. and e.g. do not end a sentence. Syllables are estimated from spelling, using rules for silent letters and endings plus a short list of common exceptions. That works well for everyday English but it is an estimate, so a score can be a little off, especially with names, technical terms and unusual words.
Using the highlighted view
The highlighted view marks sentences longer than 20 words in yellow and longer than 30 words in red, and underlines words with three or more syllables. The counts next to each option tell you how many there are. Long sentences are usually the quickest win: split them in two, or cut the clause that does not carry your main point.
Tips and limits
Treat the numbers as a guide. A legal contract or a scientific paper may rightly score as difficult, because its readers expect precise terms. For web pages, emails and instructions, aim for the easier end. This checker is built for English text only, and results for other languages are not reliable. For counts of your most repeated words, see the keyword density checker.