Tip: Press Ctrl/Cmd + K to focus the text box. Ctrl/Cmd + Enter re-analyzes.
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Highlighted words have three or more estimated syllables or are flagged as jargon. A highlight is a review prompt, not proof that the word is wrong.
Have you ever wondered if a passage is easy for your audience to read? A readability score estimates how difficult a piece of writing is based on how it is structured. This readability calculator helps you evaluate text in seconds, whether you are writing a blog post, a lesson, a report, or an email. It is designed for non-experts, so you can get useful guidance without studying complex linguistics.
Readability looks at patterns that often make writing harder or easier to understand. Longer sentences usually require more focus, and longer words often signal more complex vocabulary. Most readability formulas measure things like average words per sentence, characters per word, or syllables per word. The result is a score or grade level that estimates how much education a reader might need to follow the text comfortably.
| Score | Difficulty | Approximate U.S. grade / audience | Example content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90–100 | Very easy | Grade 5 | Simple instructions and children’s stories |
| 80–89 | Easy | Grade 6 | Conversational consumer copy |
| 70–79 | Fairly easy | Grade 7 | General-interest articles |
| 60–69 | Standard | Grades 8–9 | Plain-English web and news copy |
| 50–59 | Fairly difficult | Grades 10–12 | Detailed business material |
| 30–49 | Difficult | College | Academic or specialist writing |
| 0–29 | Very difficult | College graduate | Dense scholarly or legal prose |
Scores can fall below 0 or above 100. The bands are rough descriptions, not a test of a reader’s ability.
Variables: W = words, S = sentences, Y = syllables, C = letters and numbers, P = polysyllabic words, L = average letters per 100 words, N = average sentences per 100 words, and D = percentage of words not in the bundled familiar-word list.
206.835 − 1.015 × (W ÷ S) − 84.6 × (Y ÷ W)
Output: a roughly 0–100 ease score, where higher is easier. It is useful for a quick plain-language check and is deliberately excluded from the consensus grade because it is not a grade-level scale.
0.39 × (W ÷ S) + 11.8 × (Y ÷ W) − 15.59
Output: estimated U.S. school grade. It is useful for education and general audience matching, but technical names can raise it.
4.71 × (C ÷ W) + 0.5 × (W ÷ S) − 21.43
Output: estimated U.S. grade. ARI uses character count instead of syllables, making it reproducible for machine-scored text.
0.4 × ((W ÷ S) + 100 × (complex words ÷ W))
Output: estimated years of education. This implementation treats words with three or more estimated syllables as complex, then excludes likely proper nouns and words made polysyllabic only by common endings. It is still a heuristic.
1.043 × √(P × (30 ÷ S)) + 3.1291
Output: estimated grade from polysyllabic words. It is intended for a 30-sentence sample; shorter results are explicitly provisional.
0.0588 × L − 0.296 × N − 15.8
Output: estimated U.S. grade based on letters and sentence frequency. It avoids syllable estimation but can react differently to abbreviations and numbers.
0.1579 × D + 0.0496 × (W ÷ S) + 3.6365 when D > 5%
Output: a difficulty score mapped to grade bands. Unlike length-only formulas, it checks vocabulary familiarity. This browser implementation uses a smaller bundled familiar-word set, so the result is labeled as an estimate and is not a replacement for an official New Dale–Chall implementation.
Formulas disagree because they measure different proxies: syllables, characters, sentence length, polysyllabic words, or vocabulary familiarity. Tokenization and syllable rules also vary between calculators. Use the consensus as a range-finding aid, then read the flagged sentences in context.
Teachers use readability scores to match assignments to grade level. Content creators check blog posts to keep them easy to scan. Healthcare and government teams verify that public-facing instructions are understandable. Product teams test onboarding text and help articles to reduce support tickets. If you are simplifying a draft, the scores can show whether edits made a real difference.
This readability score calculator runs entirely in your browser. It counts words, sentences, characters, and syllables, then applies multiple formulas to give you a balanced view of complexity. Your text is never uploaded, so you can analyze private or sensitive writing with confidence.
Abbreviations, names, formulas, code, bullet fragments, dialect, and specialist terminology can distort results. Readability formulas do not measure meaning, factual accuracy, organization, page layout, tone, accessibility, reader motivation, or familiarity with the subject.
Privacy: pasted text is analyzed in this page and is not sent to or stored by Starlight Tools.
Editorial responsibility: Starlight Tools editorial team · Last reviewed: 17 July 2026.
Primary and institutional references: Rudolf Flesch, “A new readability yardstick” (1948); Kincaid, Fishburne, Rogers & Chissom, U.S. Navy readability formulas report (1975); McLaughlin, “SMOG Grading” (1969); Coleman & Liau, “A computer readability formula” (1975); and Chall & Dale, Readability Revisited (1995). Dale–Chall vocabulary scoring follows the revised formula concept but uses the smaller local list disclosed above.
The scores below are calculated on this page with the same method as the checker. Because each sample is short, use the change—not the decimal—as the useful signal.
The implementation of the organizational communication methodology necessitates the utilization of multifaceted documentation procedures, which are subsequently evaluated by departmental representatives in order to facilitate the identification of operational inefficiencies and the commencement of appropriate remediation activities.
Calculating…
Teams document how they communicate. Department leads review those notes and find problems. They then fix the problems with a clear action plan.
Calculating…
A good score depends on the audience. For general web content, Flesch Reading Ease around 60–70 and a consensus grade around 8–10 are common guideposts, not universal rules. Follow any standard set by your client, school, regulator, or institution.
Flesch Reading Ease uses a roughly 0–100 scale where higher is easier. Grade-level formulas estimate the years of U.S. schooling a reader may need. They are different scales and should not be averaged together.
Formulas weigh different features, and calculators may split sentences or estimate syllables differently. Readability is best treated as a range: compare several formulas and inspect the actual sentences and vocabulary.
Use at least 30 words to get a rough result and preferably 100 or more words from a representative section. Very short or unusually simple samples can produce unstable scores.
The standard SMOG sampling method uses 30 sentences. This calculator can show a provisional estimate for shorter passages, but it labels that value clearly because it is less stable.
No. The formulas, syllable rules, and familiar-word checks are designed for English. Results for other languages are not reliable.
Readability can help people understand and use a page, but no single readability score guarantees search rankings. Write for the user’s intent, accuracy, usefulness, and accessibility rather than chasing one formula.
No. Analysis runs locally in your browser. The page does not upload or store the text you paste into the checker.
Use the audience comparison and consensus grade as a starting point, then review Flesch Reading Ease and sentence guidance. If an organization specifies a particular formula or grade, use that requirement instead.
