Flesch Reading Score: Make Your Writing More Readable
Published: 2026-05-16 · 7 min read
If you have ever wondered why some writing feels effortless to read while other writing feels like a chore, the answer may be measurable. The Flesch Reading Ease score is a simple numerical formula that predicts how difficult a text is to understand. Developed in the 1940s, it remains one of the most widely used readability metrics in education, publishing, and technical communication.
What Is the Flesch Reading Ease Score?
The Flesch Reading Ease score was created by Rudolf Flesch, an Austrian-born author and readability researcher, in 1948. Flesch believed that clear writing was a civic necessity — that dense, unnecessarily complex prose excluded readers from information they had a right to understand. His formula measures two things: sentence length and word complexity (measured by syllable count). The result is a number between 0 and 100. Higher scores mean easier reading.
The Formula
The Flesch Reading Ease score is calculated using this formula:
206.835 - 1.015 × (total words ÷ total sentences) - 84.6 × (total syllables ÷ total words)
In plain English:
- Count the total number of words, sentences, and syllables in your text.
- Calculate the average sentence length (words per sentence).
- Calculate the average number of syllables per word.
- Plug both numbers into the formula.
Most modern word processors and grammar checkers calculate this automatically. Hemingway Editor, Microsoft Word, and Google Docs all include some form of readability statistics.
Flesch Score Ranges and What They Mean
| Score Range | Difficulty Level | Typical Content |
|---|---|---|
| 90-100 | Very Easy | Children's books, basic instructions |
| 80-89 | Easy | Light fiction, consumer packaging |
| 70-79 | Fairly Easy | Popular magazines, most blog posts |
| 60-69 | Standard | Newspapers, general non-fiction |
| 50-59 | Fairly Difficult | Business writing, quality journalism |
| 30-49 | Difficult | Academic papers, technical manuals |
| 0-29 | Very Confusing | Legal documents, advanced research |
Target Scores by Audience
The ideal Flesch score depends entirely on who you are writing for.
Consumer content (blogs, product pages, newsletters): aim for 70-80. Most consumer content should be accessible to a general audience. Hemingway famously wrote at a fifth-grade level — not because his readers were uneducated, but because clarity makes ideas more powerful.
Business communication (reports, memos, proposals): aim for 50-65. Business readers expect some technical vocabulary, but they also value efficiency. Shorter sentences and simpler words make proposals easier to approve and instructions easier to follow.
Academic and technical writing (research papers, documentation): 30-50 is typical. Specialized vocabulary and complex ideas naturally lower the score. However, even within this range, you can improve readability by shortening sentences and avoiding unnecessary jargon.
Legal, regulatory, and scientific publishing: 0-30 is common but not inevitable. Some of the most important documents in society are also the least readable. If you work in these fields, consider whether every complex sentence truly needs to be complex.
5 Practical Tips to Improve Your Flesch Score
1. Shorten Your Sentences
Sentence length is the single largest factor in readability. Aim for an average of 15-20 words per sentence. If a sentence runs longer than 30 words, look for a natural breaking point and split it into two. A 30-word sentence is not wrong, but a steady diet of them will exhaust your reader.
Before: The company's quarterly earnings report, which was released on Tuesday and included data from all three divisions, showed a significant increase in revenue that exceeded analyst expectations by a wide margin. (32 words)
After: The company released its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday. Revenue increased significantly across all three divisions. The results exceeded analyst expectations by a wide margin. (28 words across three sentences — much easier to digest.)
2. Replace Multi-Syllable Words When a Shorter Word Works
This is not about dumbing down your vocabulary. It is about choosing the simplest word that carries the exact meaning you need. Use instead of utilize. Help instead of facilitate. Show instead of demonstrate. Every syllable you save increases your Flesch score and reduces your reader's cognitive load.
3. Reduce Prepositional Phrases
Long chains of prepositional phrases bury the main subject and verb of a sentence. A sentence like The results of the analysis of the data from the survey of participants in the study... can almost always be rewritten more directly: The survey data analysis showed that...
4. Use Active Voice
Active voice sentences are typically shorter and clearer than passive voice. The researcher conducted the experiment (5 words, active) versus The experiment was conducted by the researcher (7 words, passive). Active voice also removes ambiguity about who is performing the action.
5. Cut Unnecessary Words
Look for empty phrases and cut them. In order to → to. Due to the fact that → because. At this point in time → now. These filler phrases add syllables without adding meaning. Every word should earn its place.
Limitations of the Flesch Score
No readability formula is perfect. The Flesch score measures surface-level difficulty — sentence length and word length — but does not account for:
- Coherence: A text can have short sentences and simple words but still be confusing if ideas are poorly organized.
- Reader background: A text full of medical terminology scores poorly on Flesch, but a doctor reading it may find it perfectly clear.
- Formatting: Headings, bullet points, and white space improve readability but do not affect the Flesch score.
Use the Flesch score as one signal among many, not as an absolute judge of quality. A score of 40 is fine for a legal brief. A score of 80 is fine for a travel blog. What matters is alignment between the score and your audience.
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