Boneyard Tools

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Calculator

Paste text to get its Flesch-Kincaid grade level, the US school grade needed to read it easily. You also see the word, sentence and syllable counts behind the result.

How to calculate Flesch-Kincaid grade level

  1. Paste or type your text into the box.
  2. Read the grade level the text is written at.
  3. Review the word, sentence and syllable counts, then edit and retest.

Examples

Grade a simple sentence

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Grade level about 2.3

Frequently asked questions

What does the Flesch-Kincaid grade level mean?

It estimates the US school grade needed to read the text. A grade of 8 means an average eighth grader should understand it on a first reading.

How is the grade calculated?

The formula is 0.39 times words per sentence plus 11.8 times syllables per word minus 15.59. Longer sentences and longer words raise the grade.

How are syllables counted?

Each word is lowercased, then groups of consecutive vowels (a, e, i, o, u, y) are counted. A silent trailing e is dropped, and every word is at least one syllable.

Is the grade always exact?

No. Syllables are estimated by a heuristic, so unusual words may be off by one. The grade is a close approximation, not a precise measure.

Is my text private?

Yes. The grade is computed in your browser and nothing is uploaded or stored.

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