Readability Checker: Flesch score, long sentences and passive voice

Higher scores mean easier text. In the commonly used bands, 60–69 is standard, 70–79 fairly easy, 50–59 fairly difficult and 0–29 very difficult. Microsoft suggests about 60 to 70 for most standard documents, with a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of about 7 to 8. A score is a guide: it cannot tell you whether the text answers your reader's question.

Google does not publish a readability score or reading-level target, and its guidance on helpful content does not mention one. It asks for people-first content, "created primarily for people, and not to manipulate search engine rankings", and whether content has "spelling or stylistic issues". Its SEO Starter Guide says "The text is easy-to-read and well organized." So write clearly for your readers rather than for a number.

GOV.UK's writing guidance says "Try to split up sentences that are over 25 words long", and its style guide asks you to check sentences with more than 25 words to see if you can split them to make them clearer. This tool lists every sentence over 25 words, longest first. Average sentence length is also part of both Flesch formulas, so shorter sentences raise the Reading Ease score.

GOV.UK says "Use the active voice rather than the passive voice", because it is more direct and puts the focus on the user and the action they need to take. The US Federal Plain Language Guidelines also say "Use active voice", and the Office of the Federal Register says it "eliminates confusion by forcing you to name the actor". This tool flags a form of "be" followed by a past participle, so check each flag.

Not for the scores. The Flesch formulas were made for English, and our syllable rules only work on English spelling. If most of your text is in Devanagari or another Indian script, the tool says so and does not score it. For Hinglish written in English letters it shows a warning, and the scores are a rough guide at best. The lists of long sentences and paragraphs can still help.