Readability Score Calculator
Score any text with Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid grade level to see how easy it is to read.
Easy — 6th grade. Flesch Reading Ease runs 0–100 — higher is easier. Most web writing aims for 60+ (plain English). The grade level estimates the US school grade needed to follow it on the first read.
How it works
The tool counts sentences, words, and syllables in your text, then feeds those into two well-known formulas. Flesch Reading Ease scores from 0 to 100 — higher means easier — while Flesch-Kincaid translates the same inputs into a US school grade level.
Both formulas lean on two things: how long your sentences are and how many syllables your words carry. Shorter sentences and simpler words push the ease score up and the grade level down. Syllables are estimated with a vowel-group heuristic, so the count is close but not dictionary-perfect.
For general web writing, aiming for a reading ease of about 60 or higher keeps things approachable for most readers. Technical or academic writing naturally scores lower, and that's fine — the point is to match the difficulty to your audience.
Frequently asked questions
What Flesch Reading Ease score should I target?
For a broad web audience, 60 to 70 is a good zone — that's roughly 8th-to-9th-grade plain English. Marketing copy often goes higher, while technical documentation sits lower and that's expected.
How is the grade level different from the ease score?
They use the same sentence-length and syllable inputs but present them differently. Reading Ease is a 0–100 comfort scale; the grade level tells you roughly which US school grade could read it on the first pass.
Why might the syllable count be slightly off?
Counting syllables perfectly requires a pronunciation dictionary. This tool uses a fast vowel-group rule that handles most words well but can miss a few tricky ones, which nudges the scores a little.