How to Check Your Writing's Readability Score

Readability is how easily a reader can understand your writing. It's not about writing "simply" — it's about writing efficiently: clear, direct, well-structured text that delivers ideas without friction. Readability scores quantify this so you can measure and improve it.

Why Readability Matters

The web is brutal for attention. Studies show most people scan rather than read — they skim headlines, the first sentence of paragraphs, and bullet points. Dense walls of text lose readers immediately.

Readable content benefits you in several ways:

• Lower bounce rate: Readers stay on the page when they can follow the text without effort
• Broader audience: Content written at grade 8 is accessible to ~80% of adults, not just specialists
• Better conversion: Landing pages and emails with clearer copy convert better
• Indirect SEO: More time-on-page and fewer bounces are positive user experience signals

The Most Common Readability Formulas

Flesch Reading Ease

The most widely used readability metric. Scores range from 0 to 100 — higher is easier.

• 90–100: Very easy (5th grade). Conversational, simple.
• 70–80: Fairly easy (6th grade). Most consumer content.
• 60–70: Standard (7th grade). Most blog posts and news articles.
• 50–60: Fairly difficult (10th–12th grade). Technical topics.
• 30–50: Difficult (college level). Academic papers.
• 0–30: Very difficult. Legal and scientific texts.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level

Translates readability into a US school grade level. A score of 8.0 means an 8th grader can understand it. Most major newspapers target grade 8. Most web content should target grade 6–8.

Gunning Fog Index

Estimates the years of formal education required to read text on first pass. Focus is on polysyllabic words (3+ syllables). A score of 12 = US high school graduation level. Target: below 12 for general content.

SMOG Index

Similar to Gunning Fog but considered more accurate for health communication. Counts words with 3+ syllables. Used extensively in health and patient education materials.

How to Check Readability Online

Use TextWonder's Readability Score tool:

1. Paste your text into the tool.
2. Get instant scores: Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog, SMOG, average sentence length, average word length, and syllable count.
3. Use the scores to identify which parts of your text need simplification.

How to Improve Readability

1. Shorten your sentences

Long sentences are the single biggest readability killer. Aim for an average sentence length of 15–20 words. If a sentence exceeds 30 words, split it.

2. Use simple words

Replace polysyllabic words with simpler alternatives. Readability formulas penalise words with 3+ syllables because they slow readers down.

• "utilise" → "use"
• "demonstrate" → "show"
• "approximately" → "about"
• "facilitate" → "help"
• "terminate" → "end"

3. Use active voice

Passive voice adds words and makes sentences harder to follow. "The report was written by the team" → "The team wrote the report."

4. Break up paragraphs

Short paragraphs (3–4 sentences max) are easier to scan. Long paragraphs feel dense and invite skipping. Use subheadings to signal topic changes.

5. Use lists for parallel items

When you have 3+ parallel items, a bullet list is almost always more readable than a sentence listing them with commas.

Readability Targets by Content Type

• General blog posts: Flesch 60–70, Grade 7–8
• News articles: Flesch 60–65, Grade 8
• Email newsletters: Flesch 65–75, Grade 6–7
• Technical documentation: Flesch 40–60, Grade 10–12 (some complexity unavoidable)
• Health information: Flesch 70+, Grade 6 or below
• Academic papers: Flesch 20–40, Grade 14–16