Paste a paragraph or a whole article. You get its Flesch reading ease score, the school grade it reads at, and the sentences that make it hard going. What you paste stays in your browser.
Reading the score
The score runs from 0 to 100, and higher means easier. For writing aimed at a general audience online, 60 or above is a good target.
In the Publisha editor, a score of 70 or more shows as Easy to read, 50 to 69 as Standard, and anything under 50 as Difficult.
Behind the number
Rudolf Flesch published his reading ease formula in 1948. In 1975, J. Peter Kincaid and his colleagues turned it into a school grade level for the US Navy. Both are still the most widely used readability tests, and both look at only two things: how long your sentences are, and how long your words are.
Long sentences make a reader hold more in their head at once. Long words, counted in syllables, take more effort to read and are more often unfamiliar. Push either one up and the score goes down.
Flesch reading ease
206.835 − 1.015 × (words ÷ sentences) − 84.6 × (syllables ÷ words)
Flesch-Kincaid grade level
0.39 × (words ÷ sentences) + 11.8 × (syllables ÷ words) − 15.59
Most low scores come from a handful of habits. Each of these takes a minute to fix, and readers notice the difference.
A sentence over 25 words is usually two sentences. Find the “and”, “which” or “because” in the middle and start again there.
Before: When we moved our accounts to a new firm last year, we found that the fees, which had looked low at first, kept rising every quarter.
After: Last year we moved our accounts to a new firm. The fees looked low at first. Then they rose every quarter.
Long words lower the score more than anything else. Keep the technical term when you need it, and swap the rest.
Before: We will commence the process in order to facilitate approximately forty applications.
After: We will start the process to handle about forty applications.
Put the person before the action. Sentences in the passive voice are longer and hide who is responsible.
Before: The form must be submitted by the applicant before the deadline.
After: Submit the form before the deadline.
Most people read on a phone, where a five-line paragraph fills the screen. Two to four sentences is plenty, with one idea each.
Jargon is fine when your reader knows it. When they might not, add a few plain words the first time it appears.
Before: Claim your input tax credit before filing.
After: Claim your input tax credit (the GST you paid on purchases, which you can set against the GST you owe) before filing.
If a sentence has three or more commas holding a list together, a bulleted list is easier to scan and easier to read.
Where you run out of breath, the sentence is too long. Where you stumble, a word is in the way. It is the oldest test there is, and still the best.
In the editor
Inside Publisha's editor the readability score sits beside your draft and updates as you type. Next to it are the SEO checklist and the AI score, so the checks that matter are in one place before you publish.
How it works
Copy at least 20 words into the checker above. A full article gives the most useful score.
Look at where you land on the 0 to 100 scale, and the grade your writing reads at.
The checker lists every sentence over 25 words. Split them, and watch the score move.
Replace long words with short ones wherever the meaning stays the same.
Paste the new version, or write in Publisha's editor where the score updates as you type.
Questions
A readability checker measures how easy a piece of writing is to read. This one uses the Flesch reading ease formula, which scores text from 0 to 100 based on the length of its sentences and words, and the Flesch-Kincaid formula, which turns the same numbers into a school grade level.
Keep exploring
Publisha's editor shows your readability score, SEO checklist and AI score while you write, then publishes the story to its own page. Starting is free.
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