Free Online Readability Score Checker

1. Paste the paragraph or article you want to score into the text box.
2. Read the Flesch Reading Ease score and its plain-language difficulty band.
3. Check the Flesch-Kincaid grade level — aim for roughly 7-9 for broad web audiences.
4. Use the average sentence length and complex-word percentage to find what to simplify.
5. Shorten long sentences and replace multi-syllable words, then re-paste to see the score improve.

Readability formulas estimate how hard a passage is to read from two surface signals: sentence length and word length. The Flesch Reading Ease score is 206.835 − 1.015 × (words ÷ sentences) − 84.6 × (syllables ÷ words); higher is easier, where 60-70 is plain English understood by most adults and scores below 30 read like dense academic prose. Its companion, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level — 0.39 × (words ÷ sentences) + 11.8 × (syllables ÷ words) − 15.59 — maps the same inputs onto a US school grade.

This tool computes both from the text you paste, along with the average sentence length in words and the percentage of complex words (three or more syllables). Syllables are estimated with a vowel-group heuristic, the standard approach in readability tools — close but imperfect for unusual spellings and proper nouns, so treat the scores as guidance rather than exact measurements.

Clearer copy tends to keep readers on the page and is easier for everyone, including non-native speakers, to scan — both indirectly helpful for SEO. Most web content aims for a Flesch-Kincaid grade of about 7-9. To raise the ease score, shorten sentences and swap long words for shorter ones. The analysis runs entirely in your browser on pasted text.