Flesch, Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog, SMOG, Coleman-Liau and ARI scores at once
Processed in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. Updated on 24 Oct 2026.A readability score estimates how hard a text is to read from the length of its sentences and words. Paste text here to get 6 scores at once: Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade, Gunning Fog, SMOG, Coleman-Liau and ARI, each explained, with the longest sentences marked. Free; nothing is uploaded.
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Read the six scores on the right; each one says in plain words what it means.
Check the Longest sentences list and press one to select it in your text.
Press Mark long sentences to see every sentence over 25 words marked in place.
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Readability formulas count two things: how many words a sentence has and how long the words are, in syllables or letters. Long sentences and long words make a text harder, so the score falls. Formulas cannot judge meaning, order or tone, so treat a score as a prompt to edit, not a verdict on quality.
Most writing for the public should score between 60 and 70 on Flesch Reading Ease, the band Flesch called plain English, which 13- to 15-year-olds read easily. Higher is easier. Reader's Digest scores about 65, Time magazine about 52 and the Harvard Law Review in the low 30s.
| Score | What it means |
|---|---|
| 90-100 | Very easy: an average 11-year-old understands it |
| 60-70 | Plain English: 13- to 15-year-olds read it easily |
| 30-50 | Difficult: written at university level |
| 0-30 | Very difficult: best for university graduates |
Flesch-Kincaid Grade and the Automated Readability Index give a US school grade. Gunning Fog counts words of three or more syllables and suits business writing. SMOG is the usual choice for health information and is designed for 30 sentences or more. Coleman-Liau counts letters instead of syllables, so it is the most stable on unusual words.
The six formulas above are for English only. Spanish text gets Fernández Huerta and Szigriszt-Pazos (INFLESZ), French gets Kandel-Moles, German gets Amstad and the Wiener Sachtextformel, Portuguese gets the Brazilian Flesch adaptation and Russian gets Oborneva's. The language is detected and can be changed. Other languages, such as Polish, Arabic or Bengali, get counts but no formula.
Syllables are counted from spelling, which in our tests matches a dictionary for about 97 English words in 100. Pure numbers are not counted as words. Count words and reading time with the Word Counter, check repeated phrases with Keyword Density and Readability, or listen to your draft with Text to Speech.
Flesch Reading Ease is 206.835, minus 1.015 times the average words per sentence, minus 84.6 times the average syllables per word. A text of 15-word sentences and 1.5 syllables a word scores about 65, plain English. Rudolf Flesch published the formula in 1948, and it is still the score most style guides quote.
Writing for the general public should aim for grade 8 or below, the level of a 13- to 14-year-old. Health leaflets often aim for grade 6. Academic and legal writing usually scores 12 to 16, which is fine for specialist readers but loses most others, including busy experts reading on a phone.
Each formula weighs sentence length and word length differently and was fitted to different readers. Gunning Fog and SMOG count long words rather than every syllable, Coleman-Liau counts letters, and Flesch-Kincaid counts every syllable. Grades usually agree within two or three years; when one stands out, look at what it counts.
Yes. Spanish text is scored with Fernández Huerta and Szigriszt-Pazos on the INFLESZ scale, French with Kandel-Moles, German with Amstad and the Wiener Sachtextformel, Portuguese with the Brazilian Flesch adaptation and Russian with Oborneva's formula. English formulas would mislead on those languages, so they are not shown.
Split the longest sentences first: sentence length moves every formula. Then swap long words for short common ones where the meaning stays the same, such as use for utilise. The Longest sentences list shows where to start, and pressing a sentence selects it in your text so you can rewrite it.
No. The scores are calculated in your browser and the text is never sent to a server or saved. Closing or reloading the page clears it. Text up to 300,000 characters, about 50,000 words, can be scored at once.
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