⌨️ Typing Speed Test

Click "Start", then type the passage below exactly as shown. The timer starts on your first keystroke and stops automatically when you finish.

Type here

How the two numbers are measured

The clock starts on your first keystroke and stops the moment what you have typed is as long as the passage. Speed then counts the passage's real words, not the five-character words most typing tests use:

WPM      = words in the passage / minutes elapsed
accuracy = characters matching position for position / passage length

passage 1: 18 words, 95 characters
typed in 30 seconds -> 18 / 0.5 = 36 WPM

Start picks one of three passages at random. They are close in length - 95, 96 and 99 characters - but hold 18, 16 and 16 words, so the first scores about 12% higher than the other two for identical finger speed. Compare your runs on the same passage.

What the accuracy figure is doing

Each character is compared with the one at the same position, so one wrong letter in a 95 character passage costs about 1.1 points.
A missing or extra character is far more expensive: it shifts everything after it out of alignment, and accuracy can collapse from a single dropped space.
Backspace is allowed and costs you only time. Correcting a slip before you move on is always worth it.

The test ends on length alone, so typing 95 characters of anything stops the clock and posts a WPM. The accuracy line is what shows whether the speed meant anything - the badge stays amber below 95%.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good typing speed?

Around 40 WPM is the usual average for an adult using a keyboard daily. Touch typists sit at 60 to 80, and 100 or more is professional transcription territory. Below 30 usually means you are still looking at the keys.

Why is my score lower here than on other typing tests?

Most tests define a word as five characters, so a 95 character passage counts as 19 words. This one counts the 18 actual words in that passage, which lands a few percent below the figure you are used to.

Does one typo really cost that much accuracy?

Substituting a letter costs about one point. Losing or adding one shifts every later character against the wrong position and can take accuracy down to single figures, even though the words look right.