Readability Tests
This tool does readability test on the input text and gives you various metrics:
- The Flesch-Kincaid reading ease score
- The Flesch-Kincaid grade level
- The Gunning Fog score
- The Coleman-Liau index
- The SMOG index
- The automated readability index
September 23rd, at 7:03 am
Thank you so much. This readability test is a very beneficial tool as I attempt to find appropriate texts for struggling readers.
November 20th, at 6:58 pm
Thank you. This is very interesting. Now I just need to find out a little more about how to interpret these numbers!
January 15th, at 6:42 am
How can I test my students? Where is the text that is used for testing?
February 12th, at 10:02 pm
This is really cool! I entered some of my own writing and was annoyed that it’s currently a 4th grade reading level, but w/e. I’ll get there.
March 26th, at 11:44 pm
First of all, a great thank you for this. It’s very useful (to say the least) in analyzing texts. Quick and easy to use with a very clean interface makes this an excellent tool. Again, many thanks for providing this.
March 30th, at 7:38 am
That’s very kind of you, its so convenient to use. It helps me a lot on my thesis writing.
March 30th, at 7:39 am
Thank you.It helps me a lot on my thesis writing.
April 15th, at 8:07 pm
This tool is great. I am studying for the GMAT writing assessment with it. I found the link to this site on Wikipedia. That site, however, notes that a lower Flesch-Kincaid score means it is more advanced:
90.0-100 easily understandable by an average 11-year-old student
0-30.0 best understood by university graduates
I would like to know if above better means easier?
April 18th, at 11:13 pm
If you want to have some fun, check out the writings of James Hutton, an 18th century geologist whose style of writing has been deemed practically unreadable by many.
April 18th, at 11:14 pm
For your convenience here is a paragraph by James Hutton:
“the world which we inhabit is composed of the materials, not of the earth which was the immediate predecessor of the present, but of the earth which, in ascending from the present, we consider the third…. Here are three distinct successive periods of existence, and each of these is, in our measurement of time, a thing of indefinite duration”
April 18th, at 11:18 pm
Sorry, last post but I absolutely had to post THIS one:
“if an organised body is not in the situation and circumstances best adapted to its sustenance and propagation, then, in conceiving an indefinite variety among the individuals of that species, we must be assured, that, on the one hand, those which depart most from the best adapted constitution, will be the most liable to perish, while, on the other hand, those organised bodies, which most approach to the best constitution for the present circumstances, will be best adapted to continue, in preserving themselves and multiplying the individuals of their race”
- James Hutton
May 26th, at 2:20 pm
Thank you. This is so helpful in grading texts students are reading. Even though the grade levels don’t relate to Australia, it is still easy to determine if students are reading material that is easier or harder. I can be confident that students are receiving texts that are more challenging than the last one. I use this often.
August 10th, at 2:49 pm
This is really helpful! I’m a seventh grade student and my classmates frequently have trouble understanding my work- I get why now!
August 11th, at 4:01 pm
I’m wondering if I should be horrified at the results I had when I tested a piece of my own writing. The results were the following: the Flesch-Kincaid reading ease score is 78.1, the Flesch-Kincaid grade level is 5.8th grade, the Gunning Fog index is 8.5, the Coleman-Liau index is 7.2, the SMOG index is 6.4, the automated readability index is 3.8. I am a writer, so it is crucial that my reading audience has the ability to easily understand what I have written. However, I personally feel less intelligent now that I have discovered how…simple my writing is. On the other hand, I have tested a published and very popular novel, and to my surprise the scores were lower, with the Flesch-Kincaid grade level at fourth grade. Despite my personal misgivings I must say that this is truly useful, as long as the person using it has a clear understanding of the meaning of the numbers.
September 22nd, at 11:59 am
I put in Lucky’s monologue from the play Waiting for Godot and got a reading ease score of -628. Sounds about right.
January 3rd, at 6:03 am
my website was analized to be -37.4! No wonder people click of after 2seconds!
April 3rd, at 3:54 pm
Oh dear, James Hutton comes out at 39th grade reading level!
May 8th, at 11:17 pm
Joe, do you know of any readability index that looks at the level of technical or domain-specific knowledge required to interpret the text? I’ve developing something myself but I’d rather use something that already exists. I want to look at the density of the acronyms and abbreviations in a given text and give the text a rating based on the results. The rating would describe how much knowledge would be required to interpret the text.
Cheers,
Dan.
May 11th, at 12:54 am
These indexes give a good indication of the structural complexity of a sentence but don’t actually try to gauge how difficult it is to understand arcane concepts like technology acronyms and abbreviations. I’m developing an “Arcanicity Index” that rates how technically obscure a piece of text is.
Nice site BTW Joe.
Dan.