Readability Checker
Score your writing with the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formulas — and see exactly which numbers to improve.
About this tool
Readability formulas estimate how hard text is to read from two measurable ingredients: sentence length and word length (in syllables). The Flesch Reading Ease score runs 0–100 — higher is easier — and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level maps the same inputs to US school grades.
Most successful web writing scores 60–70 on Reading Ease (plain English, 8th–9th grade). Newspapers average around grade 9–11; academic papers often score below 30.
To improve a low score: shorten sentences first (biggest lever), then swap multi-syllable words for shorter ones where meaning allows.
Everything runs locally in your browser — your text is never uploaded, stored, or shared.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good Flesch Reading Ease score?
60–70 for general audiences — that’s plain English readable by 13–15 year olds. Consumer marketing often targets 70+; technical and legal content commonly lands below 50.
How accurate is the syllable count?
Syllables are estimated with an English heuristic (vowel groups with silent-e handling), accurate to within a few percent on normal prose — more than enough for a stable score. Non-English text will score unreliably.
What grade level should I write for?
US adults read most comfortably at grade 7–9. Writing at that level isn’t "dumbing down" — studies show expert readers also prefer and better retain simpler prose.