Readability Checker

Check the reading level of any text.

How it works

1. Paste your text into the box.
2. Click Check to analyse it.
3. See the reading level and grade score.
4. Simplify long sentences if the level is too high.

Frequently asked questions

What is a reading level?

A reading level estimates how easy a text is to read and which school grade it suits, based on sentence and word length.

What text can I check?

Any text — an essay, a worksheet, a story or a set of instructions.

Is my text uploaded anywhere?

No. The check runs in your browser, so your text never leaves your device.

What is the Readability Checker?

The Readability Checker measures how easy a piece of text is to read. Paste any text into the box and the scores update live as you type: a Flesch Reading Ease score from 0 to 100, a grade level, a reading level, plus counts for words, sentences and syllables. A score of 90 to 100 is very easy, 60 to 70 is standard, and below 30 is very hard — higher always means easier.

It is made for teachers who write worksheets, instructions and reading passages and need to know whether the text suits the age they are teaching. The grade level tells you the US school grade a reader needs to understand the text, so a grade level of 5 means a typical fifth-grade pupil can read it. Use it to check your own writing before you hand it out, or to compare two drafts and see which one reads more clearly.

What you can use it for

Readability is about sentence length and word length, so small edits make a big difference to the score. Here are four classroom uses.

• Checking worksheets: paste in the instructions for a Year 4 worksheet and check the grade level comes out near 4. If it reads at grade 8, split the long sentences and swap long words for shorter ones.
• Levelling reading passages: compare two versions of the same passage and pick the one whose Flesch score matches your class, so weaker readers get the easier version and stronger readers get the harder one.
• Teaching pupils to write clearly: show the class how a long, tangled sentence scores badly, then rewrite it together in short sentences and watch the score climb.
• Checking pupil writing: paste a pupil’s paragraph into the checker to see whether their sentences are running too long, then talk through where to break them up.

Good to know

• The score is a guide, not a verdict. It counts sentence length and syllables, so lists, names and short headings can shift the score even when the text reads fine.
• Shorter sentences and shorter words give an easier score. If a text scores too hard, break the longest sentences first — that usually moves the number more than changing single words.
• Check a decent chunk of text, not one sentence. A single short sentence can score 100 while the passage around it is much harder, so paste the whole worksheet or passage in.
• For a quick count of words and reading time without the readability scores, use the Word Counter. To check sentence length in a pupil’s essay, try the Essay Grader Helper, and for guided reading practice the Reading Level Practice Tool pairs well with this checker.

Why does my text score harder than I expected?

Usually because of long sentences or long subject words. Science and history writing is full of both: a sentence such as “Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants convert sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen” is long and packed with multi-syllable words, so it scores as hard even though the idea is simple. Split it into two shorter sentences and the score improves without changing what the text says.