Readability Checker
Check how easy your writing is to read. Get Flesch Reading Ease, a consensus grade level, word stats, and inline highlights for passive voice, adverbs, and long sentences — all in your browser.
How to use this tool
- Paste your text into the editor.
- Read the Flesch Reading Ease score and the grade level. Aim for 60+ and grade 7 to 9 for general readers.
- Fix the highlighted long sentences first, then passive voice and adverbs.
- Watch the scores update as you edit.
Paste your writing to see how easy it is to read, with scores explained in plain English.
Your text
Enter some text to see your scores.
How the Readability Checker works
Paste your text and the checker counts words, sentences, paragraphs and syllables, then runs the standard readability formulas on those counts. Everything happens in your browser; your text is never uploaded.
Flesch Reading Ease scores text from roughly 0 to 100 using average sentence length and average syllables per word: 206.835 − 1.015 × (words per sentence) − 84.6 × (syllables per word). Higher is easier. Around 60 to 70 is plain English that most adults read comfortably; below 30 reads like an academic paper.
The consensus grade averages five grade-level formulas: Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog, SMOG, Coleman-Liau and the Automated Readability Index. Each one weighs sentence length, word length or syllables a little differently, so the average is steadier than any single formula. Grade 8 means a typical 13 to 14 year old could follow it.
Inline highlights show where to edit. Long sentences are 25 words or more. Passive voice is flagged when a form of "to be" is followed within two words by a past participle ("was approved by"). Adverbs are words ending in "-ly", with common exceptions like "only" and "family" excluded. Complex words have three or more syllables. Reading time assumes 200 words per minute and speaking time 130.
When to use it
- Editing a blog post, help article or documentation page for a general audience.
- Checking an email, proposal or announcement before it goes to people outside your team.
- Simplifying UI copy, onboarding text or error messages.
- Estimating how long a talk or video script will take to read aloud.
Tips
- Fix the longest sentences first. Splitting one 40-word sentence usually moves the score more than any other edit.
- Not every passive sentence is wrong. Keep it when the actor does not matter ("the server was restarted"); change it when it hides who is responsible.
- Swap long words for short ones where the meaning holds: "use" for "utilise", "help" for "facilitate".
- Technical writing will score harder because of necessary jargon. Compare drafts of the same piece against each other, not against a novel.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good Flesch Reading Ease score?
For general web content, aim for 60 or higher. Technical documentation often lands between 40 and 60, which is fine for an expert audience. Below 30 is hard going for most readers.
What grade level should I aim for?
Grade 7 to 9 suits most public-facing writing. Specialist content can go higher, but every extra grade narrows the audience that reads it comfortably.
Why do different formulas give different grades?
They measure different things. Flesch-Kincaid and SMOG lean on syllables, Coleman-Liau and ARI on characters per word, and Gunning Fog on the share of complex words. That is why the checker shows an average of all five.
How accurate is the passive voice detection?
It is a pattern-based check, so it catches most passive constructions but can occasionally flag an adjective that looks like a participle ("is tired"). Treat highlights as suggestions to review.
Is my text saved or sent anywhere?
No. All analysis runs locally in your browser and nothing is stored.