Readability Score Calculator
How it works
Flesch Reading Ease is 206.835 − 1.015 × (words / sentences) − 84.6 × (syllables / words),
scored roughly 0-100 (higher is easier); Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level is
0.39 × (words / sentences) + 11.8 × (syllables / words) − 15.59, scored as a
US school grade. Both come from the same three counts — words split on whitespace,
sentences split on . ! ? (a line with no terminal punctuation still counts as
one sentence), and syllables estimated per word by counting vowel groupings. A raw reading-ease
score outside the usual 0-100 range is labeled by clamping into the nearest named band rather
than treated as an error.
Frequently asked questions
What do Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level actually measure?
Word length and sentence length, used as a proxy for how hard a text is to read — nothing more. A high score means short words and short sentences, not accurate, well-organized or sophisticated writing. A technically wrong sentence can still score "Very easy", and a precise, well-written one can score "Difficult" simply for using long words — these formulas measure surface difficulty, not quality.
How are syllables estimated? Is it exact?
No — there is no dictionary behind it. Each word is checked for runs of vowels (a heuristic: "banana" has three, "the" has one), with a small adjustment for a trailing silent "e". That gets most everyday words close enough for the formulas below to be meaningful, but it is genuinely wrong on irregular words (silent letters, unusual spellings, abbreviations), so treat the syllable count as an estimate, not a fact.
How is this different from the Word Counter?
The Word Counter reports simple counts — words, characters, sentences — and an estimated reading TIME. This tool estimates reading DIFFICULTY, via the established Flesch formulas, from those same underlying counts. Use the Word Counter to know how long a text is; use this one to know how hard it is to read.