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Reading Level Checker
Find the school grade and reading age your text needs.
The grade and reading age are averaged across six established formulas, which is more stable than relying on any single one.
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School grade
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Reading age
| Benchmark | Grade | Where you sit |
|---|
What to change first
- Paste some text.
Quick Tool Overview
The Reading Level Checker answers the practical question rather than the arithmetic one: what school grade and reading age does this text demand, which audiences will manage it, and what specifically is making it harder than it needs to be.
- What it does
- Reports the grade level and reading age of a text
- You give it
- A page, article, letter or leaflet
- You get back
- A grade, a reading age and what to change
- Best for
- Writing for a defined audience, especially public information
About the Reading Level Checker
A grade level number is only useful if you know what it means. Grade 8 sounds low until you learn that most popular newspapers write at grade 8 to 10, that the average adult reads comfortably around grade 8, and that the guidance for health information is grade 6.
This tool answers the practical question rather than the arithmetic one. It gives the school grade and the reading age your text requires, says which audiences will find it comfortable and which will struggle, and compares it against real benchmarks — a tabloid, a broadsheet, an academic journal, a children's book. It then names the specific things making it harder than it needs to be, which is the part that lets you actually change it.
Key features of the Reading Level Checker
Reading age, not just a grade
The figure that health and government guidance is actually written in terms of.
Real benchmarks
Compared against a tabloid, a broadsheet, an academic journal and a children's book.
Audience verdict
Which readers will find it comfortable and which will struggle, stated plainly.
Ranked fixes
The longest sentences and hardest words listed by how much each costs you.
Explains what low means
The page is clear that a low reading level is usually good writing, not simple-minded writing.
How to use the Reading Level Checker
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1
Paste your text
A page, an article, a letter or a leaflet.
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2
Read the grade and age
The school grade the text demands, and the equivalent reading age.
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3
Check it against your audience
Benchmarks for newspapers, health information, academic writing and children's books.
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4
See what to change
The longest sentences and hardest words are listed, ranked by how much they cost you.
Frequently asked questions
In the UK and US, around grade 8 to 9 — roughly the level of a popular newspaper. A substantial minority of adults read below grade 6, which is why public health guidance targets that level.
Health and government guidance generally recommends a reading age of 9 to 11 years, which is grade 4 to 6. That sounds very low, and it is deliberate: it means the information reaches almost everyone.
No — usually the opposite. Clear, short sentences with common words score low and read well. A high score generally means long sentences and unnecessary jargon, which is a fault rather than a sign of sophistication.
Split long sentences, which has the biggest effect. Replace long words with short ones where the meaning survives. Remove unnecessary qualifiers. The tool lists your longest sentences first because that is where the gain is.
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