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Flesch Reading Ease Calculator

Measure how easy your text is to read.

How it is calculated

The tool counts words (W, runs of non-space characters), sentences (S, each run of . ! or ? counts once, minimum 1) and syllables (Y). Syllables are estimated per word as groups of vowels a, e, i, o, u, y, with one subtracted for a silent final e, and at least 1 per word. Then Ease = 206.835 − 1.015 × (W/S) − 84.6 × (Y/W) and Grade = 0.39 × (W/S) + 11.8 × (Y/W) − 15.59.

Only English letters are counted in syllables, so the formulas suit English text. The syllable counter is a heuristic and can be off by one for some words. Very short or very long-worded text can score above 100 or below 0; the scale is not clamped.

Worked example

The sample has 28 words in 3 sentences, so W/S = 9.33. The syllable estimate is 39, so Y/W = 1.39. Ease = 206.835 − 1.015 × 9.33 − 84.6 × 1.39 ≈ 79.53. Grade = 0.39 × 9.33 + 11.8 × 1.39 − 15.59 ≈ 4.49. A reading ease near 80 means fairly easy text, and a grade of about 4.5 is roughly a fourth-to-fifth-grade U.S. reading level.

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Common mistakes

  • Pasting non-English text. Syllable detection only looks at English letters and vowels a, e, i, o, u, y, so scores for other languages are not meaningful.
  • Expecting every score to stay between 0 and 100. Very simple text can exceed 100, and dense text can go far below 0.
  • Using decimals, URLs or abbreviations like 3.14 or e.g. in the text. Every run of . ! or ? counts as a sentence end, which inflates the sentence count and the ease score.
  • Testing a headline or a few words. With one sentence the averages swing wildly; use at least a paragraph.
  • Believing a high ease score means good writing. It only measures sentence length and word length, not clarity, accuracy or structure.

About this calculator

This calculator scores English text with the Flesch Reading Ease formula: 206.835 − 1.015×(words/sentences) − 84.6×(syllables/words), producing a 0–100 score where higher means easier to read. It also derives the Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level, which estimates the U.S. school grade needed to comprehend the text.

Editors, UX writers, technical writers, and students use it to check whether a document, web copy, or article matches its intended audience — plain-language guidelines for government and healthcare writing often require a minimum Reading Ease score.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    The two parts of the formula do not weigh the same. Each extra word in the average sentence lowers the ease score by about 1 point, while each extra 0.1 syllables per word lowers it by about 8.5. So swapping long words for short ones usually moves the score more than trimming sentences. Compare drafts by pasting both versions. Which kind of text do you check, web copy, reports or school work? Tell us what score you aim for.

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