Readability Checker

How to use

1. Paste the paragraph, article or page copy into the text box.
2. Press Check Readability.
3. Read the Flesch score - 0 is hardest, 100 easiest, and 60 to 70 is the usual target for web copy.
4. Check Avg words/sentence; figures well above 20 usually explain a low score.
5. Check Syllables/word to see whether long words or long sentences are the heavier culprit.
6. Edit the text, run it again, and compare Words and score to confirm the revision helped.

About this tool

The Flesch Reading Ease formula scores text from 0 (very difficult) to 100 (very easy): 206.835 − 1.015 × (words/sentence) − 84.6 × (syllables/word). Most web content should score 60–70 (plain English, ~8th grade). Shorter sentences and simpler words raise the score — which correlates with better engagement and rankings.

Dense writing loses readers before they reach the point, and most writers simply cannot feel density in their own drafts. This checker measures it with the Flesch Reading Ease formula, the standard readability test used across publishing and government communication: average sentence length and average syllables per word combine into a score from 0 (very difficult) to 100 (very easy). Web copy generally aims for sixty to seventy. The tool also shows the two ingredients separately, so you can see whether long sentences or heavy words are dragging your text down.

The syllable count uses a vowel-group heuristic rather than a dictionary, which keeps the page instant and offline; it can disagree with a dictionary by one syllable on unusual words, so chase trends, not single points. Editing guidance: split sentences past roughly twenty words first - sentence length is the biggest lever - then swap polysyllabic nouns for plain ones. Re-run the check after each pass to confirm the score moved. Remember what the number ignores: accuracy, tone, structure and audience. Legal and academic prose scores low by nature and is not automatically bad writing.

FAQ

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