Readability scores turn one judgment — 'is this easy to read?' — into a number. They work by measuring surface features of your text: sentence length, word length, and syllable counts. Longer sentences and longer words push the score down. That's crude, but it's remarkably predictive, because short sentences and common words are exactly what makes text easy for a broad audience to parse.
The two scores you'll see most
- Flesch Reading Ease — scored 0–100; higher is easier. 90–100 is children's-book simple, 60–70 is plain English for general readers, and below 30 is academic-legalese territory.
- Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level — converts the same measurements into a US school grade. A score of 8 means an 8th grader (age ~13–14) can read it comfortably.
For most online content — product pages, help articles, marketing copy — the sweet spot is a Reading Ease around 60–70 and a grade level of 8 or below. That's not dumbing down; it's matching the reading level of the general population and the reality that people skim on phones.
What moves the needle
- Sentence length is the biggest lever — split long sentences at the second independent clause.
- Replace multi-syllable words with plain alternatives where the meaning doesn't suffer ('utilize' → 'use', 'commence' → 'start').
- Cut filler — every 'in order to', 'it should be noted that', and 'as a matter of fact' lengthens text without adding meaning.
- Keep domain terms. A medical or legal article needs its technical vocabulary; readability scores punish it, but your audience needs the terms. This is the main reason to treat the score as a guide, not a target.
Scores don't measure clarity
You can write gibberish with short words and score a perfect 90. Readability measures ease, not sense. Always read the text for meaning and flow — the score is a check, not the editor.
Score your own writing
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