Typing Test
Sixty seconds (or 15, or 30) of common words: live WPM while you type, then WPM, accuracy, and raw WPM — computed the standard way.
Free in your browser — no download, no sign up. Scores stay on your device.
How it works
- Pick a duration: 15, 30, or 60 seconds. Sixty is the default — long enough for a score worth quoting.
- A stream of common English words appears. Type each word and press space to submit it — words are marked correct or incorrect the moment you move on.
- A live WPM readout runs during the test, so you can watch a heroic opening pace settle into the truth.
- When time is up you get three numbers: WPM — correct characters divided by five, per minute, the standard definition — plus accuracy, and raw WPM, which counts everything you typed including the mistakes.
- Your results stay in your browser's local storage. No account, no leaderboard, nothing sent to a server.
How WPM is calculated
One word equals five characters, spaces included. That is the standard definition typing tests have long settled on, and it exists because 'a' and 'appropriately' are not the same amount of work. Your WPM is the characters of the words you typed correctly, divided by five, scaled to a minute.
Raw WPM is the same calculation run over everything you typed, mistakes included, and accuracy is the percentage of words you got right. The gap between raw WPM and WPM is what your errors cost you, stated in the same units — which makes it the most useful number on the results screen for deciding what to practice.
What is a good typing speed?
The figure most commonly cited for average typists is around 40 WPM, and figures for professional typists — people whose job is substantially typing — usually land at 65 to 75 or higher. Past 80 you are fast by nearly anyone's standard; past 100 you are the person other people watch type. These numbers come from typing-industry sources rather than one definitive study, so treat them as landmarks, not lines.
What we will not do is tell you your percentile. We have not run a norming study on the general population, and we are not going to invent one. You get your three numbers, the commonly cited landmarks above, and a retry button.
Why 60 seconds is the default
Shorter tests read faster. Fifteen seconds is a sprint — almost anyone can hold an inflated pace that long — while sixty seconds is long enough for your actual cruising speed to surface, mistakes and all. So 60 is the default, and it is the mode to use when you want a number worth quoting. The 15 and 30 second modes are there for warmups and for the impatient.
Sixty seconds is also about where focus starts to matter. If holding attention is the part you doubt, that is a different measurement — the Attention Span Test handles it — and if you want your hands measured in other units, there is a reaction time test and a CPS test.
FAQ
What is a good typing speed?
Commonly cited figures put average typists around 40 WPM and professional typists at 65 to 75 or higher; past 80 is fast by nearly anyone's standard. Those numbers come from typing-industry sources, not from us — we have not normed this test against a population and are not going to pretend we have. As a rough practical ladder: 40 is enough for everyday writing, 60 to 70 keeps up with most work, and 100 or more is showing off.
How does this typing test calculate WPM?
The standard way: correct characters divided by five, scaled to a minute. Five characters, spaces included, is the traditional definition of one word, so long words count for more than short ones and a lucky run of 'the' does not inflate your score. Only words you typed correctly count toward WPM; everything you typed, right or wrong, counts toward raw WPM.
What is the difference between WPM and raw WPM?
WPM counts only the characters of words you got right; raw WPM counts every character you typed, errors included. If the two are close, you are accurate. If raw WPM towers over WPM, you are typing fast and wrong — which is the slower kind of fast, because fixing errors costs more time than not making them.
How long is the typing test?
Your choice of 15, 30, or 60 seconds, with 60 as the default. Shorter modes tend to read a little higher, because almost anyone can sprint briefly. If you want a number to quote, run the 60 — and compare 60-second results only against other 60-second results.
How can I improve my typing speed?
Accuracy first: slow down until the errors mostly stop, then let speed come back on its own — errors cost more time than deliberate typing does. Beyond that, the boring canon works: touch typing with all ten fingers, eyes on the screen instead of the keyboard, and short regular practice. Retaking this test charts the progress; the actual improvement happens between attempts.
Why does the test use random common words instead of sentences?
Because it measures your fingers, not your vocabulary or reading comprehension. A stream of common English words keeps every run comparable and keeps the bottleneck where it belongs: how fast you can physically produce text you already know how to read. It also means your score here may run slightly higher than typing real prose with punctuation — which is true of word-stream tests generally, including the famous ones.
Is this typing test free?
Yes. Free in your browser, no download, no sign up, no account. Your results stay in your browser's local storage and are not sent anywhere. It is a burger website.
The Reflex Lab
The Reflex Lab — nine instruments that measure you. Scores stay in your browser.
- Reaction Time Test — median of 5, in ms
- CPS Test — clicks per second
- Spacebar Counter — presses, counted
- Aim Trainer — 30 targets, timed
- Typing Test — words per minute (this page)
- Number Memory Test — digits before you break
- Visual Memory Test — tiles, from memory
- Sequence Memory Test — one step longer each time
- Chimp Test — you, versus Ayumu
For the longer version of being measured, take the two-minute attention span test — scored out of 100.