Why too short to score?

Under about 30 words or two real sentences the formulas swing wildly. Add more prose.

Does Google use Flesch?

Not as these named tests. The scores are for human readers.

Can I score another language?

The syllable and sentence rules assume English. Other languages will be misleading.

What text is taken from a URL?

Visible text after stripping script, style, noscript, nav, footer, header, and svg. It is not a dedicated article extractor.

Why do the grade scores disagree?

Each formula weights sentence length and syllables differently. Use the Flesch band as the plain summary.

Why is example.com Too short to score?

Visible text after chrome strip is under about 30 words or two sentences. The band object can still show Difficult. Trust the Too short verdict and the Sample too short notice. Paste a longer body if you want a band.

What does Score readability do on Paste text?

It scores the field as given, up to 100,000 characters, with no fetch. Page URL strips script, style, noscript, nav, footer, header, and svg first. Toggle the source before you click the button.

Why did SMOG match Flesch-Kincaid?

SMOG needs at least three sentences. Below that, the SMOG slot shows Flesch-Kincaid instead of inventing a grade. Add another sentence if you want a true SMOG number.

Readability Checker

Loading tool…

About Readability Checker

Choose Page URL or Paste text, then click Score readability. Paste is capped at 100,000 characters. A URL uses visible text (script, style, noscript, nav, footer, header, and svg stripped). You need about 30 words and two sentences or the result is Too short to score.

The headline band comes from Flesch Reading Ease (Very easy through Very difficult). Grade-level formulas sit beside it. They were built for English prose. They are guides for humans, not ranking factors by themselves. Code samples inflate difficulty; paste the prose only.

When to use it

Use it when a help article or legal block comes back from review as too dense, and you need a Flesch band before you rewrite sentences. Paste the prose, not the whole template.

Use Page URL after publish to see what the first HTML actually contains. example.com is Too short to score (thin visible text). It is not a ranking API.

How to use Readability Checker

1Choose Page URL or Paste text. Paste if you want a draft that is not live yet.
2Click Score readability. Short samples show Unreliable instead of a band.
3Read the Flesch band. Then compare grade-level scores. They will not all match.
4Edit long sentences and re-run. Paste the revised prose, not the whole page chrome.

Scores on this page

Flesch Reading Ease is clamped 0 to 100. Bands: 90+ Very easy, 80 Easy, 70 Fairly easy, 60 Standard, 50 Fairly difficult, 30 Difficult, below that Very difficult. Grade scores (Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog, SMOG, Coleman-Liau) cap at 19. SMOG needs at least three sentences; otherwise Flesch-Kincaid is shown in that slot.

Sentences split on . ! ?. A fragment needs more than two words to count. Words are Latin letters and apostrophes. Complex words are three or more syllables. Non-English text will look harder or easier for the wrong reasons.

How to read the results

The headline is the Flesch band and hint, or Too short to score when the sample is under about 30 words or two sentences. reliable false also adds Sample too short for a reliable grade. A two-word paste still showed a band object of Very easy; the verdict to trust is Too short.

Four short English sentences scored Flesch 96, Very easy (5th grade). Grade tiles sit beside the band and will not match each other. Average sentence length is listed. Code and tables push the band toward Difficult even when the surrounding prose is simple.

Why this matters

Long sentences and long words raise grade level because these formulas count syllables and clause length, not topic authority. A college band means the prose is hard to finish, which is how a help page loses the reader before the answer.

A URL that is mostly chrome after nav and footer strip can look Difficult and still be Too short. That number is the leftover words, not the painted article. Paste the body when the live HTML is a shell.

Limits and privacy

Page URL fetches one public document. Loopback and reserved IPs are rejected. Paste is capped at 100,000 characters and is not kept after the run. About 20 scores per minute on your network. English syllable rules only. No login.

Common mistakes

Scoring a loading shell or a two-word paste and quoting the band. Wait for Too short to score.

Pasting JSX or a stack trace. Syllable rules treat identifiers as hard words.

Calling a Standard band a Google ranking. These tests were built for classroom English, not Search Console.

FAQs

Why too short to score?: Under about 30 words or two real sentences the formulas swing wildly. Add more prose.
Does Google use Flesch?: Not as these named tests. The scores are for human readers.
Can I score another language?: The syllable and sentence rules assume English. Other languages will be misleading.
What text is taken from a URL?: Visible text after stripping script, style, noscript, nav, footer, header, and svg. It is not a dedicated article extractor.
Why do the grade scores disagree?: Each formula weights sentence length and syllables differently. Use the Flesch band as the plain summary.
Why is example.com Too short to score?: Visible text after chrome strip is under about 30 words or two sentences. The band object can still show Difficult. Trust the Too short verdict and the Sample too short notice. Paste a longer body if you want a band.
What does Score readability do on Paste text?: It scores the field as given, up to 100,000 characters, with no fetch. Page URL strips script, style, noscript, nav, footer, header, and svg first. Toggle the source before you click the button.
Why did SMOG match Flesch-Kincaid?: SMOG needs at least three sentences. Below that, the SMOG slot shows Flesch-Kincaid instead of inventing a grade. Add another sentence if you want a true SMOG number.