Skip to main content

Clear writing checker

Paste an email, letter, policy or web page and see, as you type, where it could be easier to read: long sentences, possible passive voice, long words, capitals and long paragraphs, with two standard readability estimates. Useful for anyone writing for colleagues, customers or students.

Checked on your device as you type. Nothing is sent or saved. English text only.

Paste at least 20 words to see the checks.

You will get sentence length, possible passive voice, long words, capitals, paragraph length and two standard readability estimates.

How to use it

  1. Paste your draft. Checks update as you type; nothing leaves your device.
  2. Start with the sentences flagged as over 25 words. Splitting them usually helps more than anything else.
  3. Look at the possible passive sentences and decide whether saying who does what would be clearer.
  4. Swap long words for everyday ones where the meaning stays the same, and break up long paragraphs.

Where the thresholds come from

The checks follow published government writing guidance. The UK government's guidance for GOV.UK says to split sentences over 25 words and keep paragraphs to no more than 5 sentences, and to use short everyday words. The US government's plain-language guide on digital.gov recommends paragraphs of no more than 150 words and explains that passive sentences usually combine a form of "to be" with a past participle, which is the pattern this checker looks for. GOV.UK's style guide also notes that large amounts of text in block capitals are hard to read.

About the readability numbers

Reading ease and grade level use the Flesch Reading Ease formula and the Flesch-Kincaid grade-level formula, recalculated by Kincaid and colleagues in 1975 for the US Navy. They count only sentence length and syllables per word, so they cannot tell whether text is well organized, accurate or kind to readers. Treat them as a rough signal, and read your text aloud as a second check.

Related guides

Sources

  1. Use clear language (GOV.UK content and publishing guidance). Government Digital Service, UK Government. Government or law
  2. Clear and short (Plain language guide series). Digital.gov, US General Services Administration. Government or law
  3. Writing for understanding: use the active voice (Plain language guide series). Digital.gov, US General Services Administration. Government or law
  4. A to Z style guide: capitalisation. Government Digital Service, UK Government. Government or law
  5. Derivation of new readability formulas (Automated Readability Index, Fog Count and Flesch Reading Ease Formula) for Navy enlisted personnel. Kincaid JP, Fishburne RP, Rogers RL, Chissom BS; Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida (STARS repository), 1975. Peer-reviewed research

Which reading situations come up most for you?

Find out in 8 minutes. Free, no sign-up, skip any question. Your answers stay in your browser.

Start the free reading check

This educational questionnaire summarizes what you tell us about reading and writing. It does not screen for, diagnose, or rule out dyslexia or any other condition.