Readability Analyzer
Measure text readability with Flesch score
How to use Readability Analyzer
Analyze text readability with Flesch Reading Ease score and grade level. Improve your writing clarity. Free online tool.
Why does readability matter?
Readability determines how quickly and easily your audience can understand your writing. Overly complex text loses readers, reduces comprehension, and hurts SEO — Google explicitly values content written at an appropriate reading level for its audience.
- Content marketing: Blog posts targeting a general audience should score 60-70 on the Flesch Reading Ease scale (standard/plain English). Technical content for experts can score lower.
- Legal and government documents: Plain language laws in many countries require government communications to be readable at a certain grade level. A Flesch score below 30 may indicate unnecessarily complex language.
- Medical writing: Patient information leaflets should target a 6th-grade reading level (Flesch-Kincaid Grade ~6) to ensure comprehension across the population.
- Academic writing: Dissertations and research papers typically score 30-50 — complex by design, written for expert readers.
- Email communication: Business emails perform better when kept at a high Flesch score (easy to read) — shorter sentences, common words.
The Flesch formula: Score = 206.835 − (1.015 × avg words per sentence) − (84.6 × avg syllables per word). Scores range from 0 (very difficult) to 100 (very easy).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good Flesch Reading Ease score?
90-100: Very easy (5th grade). 80-90: Easy (6th grade). 70-80: Fairly easy (7th grade). 60-70: Standard (8th-9th grade) — ideal for general audiences. 50-60: Fairly difficult (10th-12th grade). 30-50: Difficult (college level). 0-30: Very difficult (professional/academic).
What is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level?
The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level converts readability into a US school grade equivalent. A score of 8 means the text is appropriate for an 8th grader. The formula: 0.39 × (words/sentences) + 11.8 × (syllables/words) − 15.59.
How can I improve my readability score?
Shorten sentences (aim for 15-20 words average). Use common, shorter words. Break up long paragraphs. Use active voice instead of passive. Avoid jargon unless writing for specialists. Each of these changes directly improves the Flesch score.
Does readability affect SEO?
Google does not directly use readability scores as a ranking factor, but readability affects user behavior — time on page, bounce rate, and social sharing — which are signals Google does measure. Readable content also tends to earn more backlinks.
Is readability analysis accurate for non-English text?
The Flesch formula was designed for English. Applying it to other languages gives inaccurate results because syllable counts and word lengths vary significantly. Language-specific formulas exist (LIX for Scandinavian languages, Flesch-Douma for Dutch).
Flesch score vs Gunning Fog vs SMOG vs Dale-Chall
The Flesch Reading Ease score is the most widely used — simple, well-understood, and built into Microsoft Word. Gunning Fog Index focuses on complex words (3+ syllables) and is popular in journalism. SMOG Grade (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook) is preferred in healthcare communications. Dale-Chall uses a list of 3,000 familiar words and is considered the most accurate for general audiences. For most content marketing and blogging purposes, Flesch Reading Ease is the standard metric to track.