Readability Score Checker

Make your writing easier to read

Readable text is read to the end, understood, and acted on. This checker scores your writing with five well known formulas and shows exactly which sentences are dragging the score down.

How to use it

1. Paste or type your text. Use the sample to see how the highlighting works.
2. Read the headline score, which is the Flesch Reading Ease with a plain label such as "Plain English".
3. Compare the grade levels for Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog, SMOG and Coleman-Liau, and the average of the four.
4. Switch the highlights on or off: long sentences (over 25 words), passive voice and adverbs are each marked in their own colour.
5. Edit in the box and watch the numbers move.

What the formulas measure

• Flesch Reading Ease rewards short sentences and short words. 60 to 70 is a good target for the web.
• Flesch-Kincaid Grade converts the same inputs into a US school grade.
• Gunning Fog adds the share of long words (three or more syllables).
• SMOG is popular for health and public information because it focuses on long words in the sentences.
• Coleman-Liau counts letters per word rather than syllables, which makes it steadier for technical text.

Practical editing tips

• Split every long sentence that carries two ideas.
• Replace a long word with a short one when the meaning is the same: "use" instead of "utilise".
• Turn passive voice around: "The team fixed the bug" beats "The bug was fixed by the team".
• Cut adverbs that prop up weak verbs. "Walked quickly" can be "hurried".
• Keep paragraphs short, especially on phones.

Limits

Scores cannot judge accuracy, tone or structure. Technical writing may score as difficult for good reasons, and a very low score on a short snippet is not reliable. Use the numbers as a guide, then read the text aloud.