🏃 Reading Speed (WPM) Calculator

Read any passage, time yourself, then enter the word count and time taken below to calculate your reading speed in words per minute (WPM).

Word Count of Passage

Time Taken (seconds)

How the speed and the label are worked out

wpm = words / (seconds / 60)

700+ very fast (speed-reading range)   400+ fast
250+ average adult                     150+ below average
under 150 slow / beginning reader

500 words in 120 seconds is 250 wpm, which lands exactly on the bottom edge of the average band. The same passage in 90 seconds is 333 wpm; in 150 seconds, 200 wpm. Time is in seconds, so typing 2 for two minutes returns 15,000 wpm – if the answer looks absurd, that is why.

What your number means

The 250 threshold is generous. Silent-reading meta-analyses put average adult reading of English prose nearer 238 words a minute, a little higher for fiction and lower for non-fiction, with most readers falling between roughly 175 and 300.
Test on ordinary prose. Timing yourself on a familiar novel flatters the result; a contract or a technical chapter can halve it. Read the passage as you normally would rather than racing.
Check comprehension. A speed measured without being able to summarise the passage afterwards is a skimming rate, not a reading rate.

Above about 500–600 wpm, eye-movement research finds people are sampling the page rather than reading every word. Claims of 1,000 wpm and up with full comprehension have not held up under testing.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good reading speed for an adult?

Anything from about 200 to 300 words a minute on ordinary prose is normal, with 238 a commonly cited average. Faster is only better if you still remember what the page said.

How do I measure my reading speed accurately?

Use a passage of 500 words or more – short extracts exaggerate small timing errors – start the timer as your eyes hit the first word, and read three different passages on different days before believing the average.

Can I train myself to read 1,000 words a minute?

Not with real comprehension. Fixation and eye-movement limits cap ordinary reading well below that, and studies of speed-reading courses find the gains come mostly from skipping text. Cutting subvocalisation and re-reading yields a modest, genuine improvement.