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Readability Score Checker

Score any text against the five most-cited readability formulas — Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade, Gunning Fog, SMOG, the Automated Readability Index (ARI), and Coleman-Liau — so you can match your writing to the audience you actually want to reach. See the averaged grade level, the school-level audience label, and word/sentence/syllable stats at a glance.

Tool Summary Answer Block

This tool accepts structured input and returns deterministic output in the browser with no server upload.

Tool name: Readability Score Checker
Input intent: Provide source content to transform, validate, or analyze.
Output intent: Receive normalized output suitable for copy, reuse, or debugging.
Example input: Plain language is a style of writing that values clarity over cleverness. When you write for general readers, short sentences and familiar words help your message land.
Example output: Flesch ease: 67.0 (8th-9th grade — plain English) · Average grade: 8.2

Text to analyzeDrop file

Recent inputs0

Your last 5 inputs will appear here.

Flesch Reading Ease

70.17th grade — fairly easy

Average grade level

8.2

HarderEasier

Flesch-Kincaid

5.7grade

U.S. school grade required to read the text on first pass.

Gunning Fog

8.0grade

Years of formal education needed; weights complex (3+ syllable) words.

SMOG

8.8grade

Estimated years of education for full comprehension. Best on 30+ sentence samples.

Automated Readability

7.2grade

ARI uses characters and sentences instead of syllables — useful for short text.

Coleman-Liau

11.0grade

Like ARI, character-based. Good for OCR'd or auto-generated text.

Average of five

8.2grade

Average of all five grade-level formulas. A balanced single number.

Sentences8

Words73

Syllables110

Complex words8

Letters373

Tool Introduction

Tool Overview

Different formulas weight different things — Flesch-Kincaid leans on syllable counts, ARI and Coleman-Liau use character counts, Gunning Fog and SMOG penalize long words. Each gives a slightly different angle on the same draft. Showing all five plus their average makes it easy to spot when your writing is genuinely too dense versus when one formula is over-penalizing a niche style. Everything runs client-side; no draft is uploaded.

Use Cases

Tune marketing copy to a 6th-9th grade reading level for broad reach
Audit technical documentation for accidental jargon density
Match academic writing to journal or course expectations
Test ESL-friendly content against the Flesch ease score
Compare different drafts of the same paragraph side-by-side

Input/Output Examples

Short sentences and familiar words land in the 'plain English' band — exactly what most marketing and journalism target.

Input Intent

Plain language is a style of writing that values clarity over cleverness. When you write for general readers, short sentences and familiar words help your message land.

Output Intent

Flesch ease: 67.0 (8th-9th grade — plain English) · Average grade: 8.2

FAQ

Which score should I trust?+

Look at the average. For most general writing the Flesch Reading Ease is the most intuitive — aim for 60-70 to reach the broad public. For technical writing, the average grade level is the more useful number.

Why do the scores disagree?+

Each formula weights different signals. SMOG penalizes 3+ syllable words heavily, ARI focuses on character counts. A draft full of short technical jargon (like 'SQL', 'API') confuses character-based formulas but Flesch-Kincaid handles it fine.

Is the syllable count exact?+

It's heuristic — like every browser-based readability tool — and accurate within a few percent for English text. Names, acronyms, and very unusual spellings can drift.

Does it work for non-English?+

The formulas were calibrated for English. Spanish, French, German, etc. will still produce numbers, but the grade-level mapping isn't valid. Use it for relative comparisons, not absolute claims.