Frequently Asked Questions

What is a readability score?

A readability score is a computer-calculated index which can tell you roughly what level of education someone will need to be able to read a piece of text easily.

There are several algorithms available for measuring scores, and these use factors like sentence length, syllable count, the percentage of multi-syllable words and so on to calculate their own readability score.

What is a good readability score?

A readability score is a computer-calculated index which can tell you roughly what level of education someone will need to be able to read a piece of text easily.

There are several algorithms available for measuring scores, and these use factors like sentence length, syllable count, the percentage of multi-syllable words and so on to calculate their own readability score.

Does this only work with English?

Several readability algorithms use syllable counting to determine their scores. The current syllable counter used here will only work with English text, so scores for other languages may be inaccurate.

The Coleman-Liau and Automated Readability Indexes do not use syllable counting, so should produce a reasonably accurate score in most European languages.

Languages like Arabic or Chinese, which reference words in different ways, will not score accurately due to inaccurate letter counting and sentence analysis.

What readability formula do you use?

We provide scores based on a number following formulas, including:

• Flesch Reading Ease
• Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
• Gunning Fog Index
• Coleman-Liau Index
• Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
• SMOG Index
• Automated Readability Index

For a full list, take a look at our readability formulas page.

For further support and walk through guides, take a look at our help section.