Type a limerick to its last line, then see your words per minute and accuracy.
WPMType each word and press space after it. No timer. The run ends with the text.TherewasanOldManwithabeard,Whosaid,"ItisjustasIfeared!--TwoOwlsandaHen,fourLarksandaWren,Haveallbuilttheirnestsinmybeard."
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No timer: the run ends with the text, or when you press Finish. Words per minute is correct characters divided by five; accuracy is correct keystrokes out of all keystrokes.
This funny typing test gives you 36 short jokes to type, 28 to 100 words each: twelve limericks from A Book of Nonsense, twelve sets of definitions from The Devil's Dictionary and twelve absurd notices written for this page.
Read the full guide
Typing a limerick
A limerick is typed as one run, but its line starts keep their capitals: Who, Two, Have. Half the limericks here hold a speech, and its exclamation or question mark goes inside the speech marks. The page opens on No timer because a joke cut off before its last line is no joke: the run ends when the passage does.
One-liners are thick with punctuation
A comic definition packs marks into few words: the headword in capitals, a comma, n. or adj. with its full stop, then the joke. Nine Short Definitions has nineteen full stops and eleven commas in 96 words, and a long dash is typed as two hyphens.
Questions and answers
What is a limerick?
A comic verse of five lines rhyming AABBA: lines one, two and five rhyme, and the shorter third and fourth share another rhyme. Edward Lear made the form popular in the 19th century, though he did not use the word.
Where do the funny passages come from?
The limericks are Edward Lear's, from A Book of Nonsense, first published in 1846. The definitions are from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, 1911. Both books are in the public domain in the United States. The absurd notices were written for this page.
Are the jokes clean?
Yes. Every passage was read before it went in. Nothing rude was kept, and nothing that mocks a people, a faith or a disability.
All 36 passages
Limericks from A Book of Nonsense (1846) 12
The Bell Nobody AnswersThe 1894 edition prints the first nobody in italics; it is plain here. Two exclamation marks and a question mark inside one speech.
The Bird in the BushThree speeches, six speech marks, and a semicolon after Not at all. Hush and bush each carry an exclamation mark.
The Old Man and His NoseNo speech marks. The first line runs into the second with no comma: on whose nose Most birds, capital M and all.
The Old Man and the CowEverything after said is one speech. How ends its line with no comma, and Cow takes a capital twice.
The Old Man in a TreeBee takes a capital both times. Two speeches, with a question mark and an exclamation mark inside the speech marks, and the apostrophe of It's.
The Old Man of the CoastThe plainest to type: no speech and no apostrophe, two commas and a semicolon. Relinquished is the long word.
The Old Man of the HagueThe shortest limerick here. Hague and vague, balloon and moon: the rhymes are the awkward spellings.
Show all 36 passages (29 more)
Limericks from A Book of Nonsense (1846), continued
The Old Man on a HillSeldom, if ever, sets two commas close together, and Grandmother's has a capital and an apostrophe.
The Old Man Who SupposedRats and Old Gentleman take capitals in this edition. No speech, one semicolon, and partially is the word to watch.
The Old Man With a BeardThe introduction to the 1894 edition calls it a favourite verse that is often misquoted. The dash after feared is two hyphens, and Owls, Hen, Larks and Wren take capitals.
The Young Lady Whose BonnetSate is the book's spelling. One apostrophe, in don't, and the speech carries on with a small a after its exclamation mark.
The Young Lady Whose ChinNo speech, so no speech marks: one semicolon and two commas. Sharp and harp rhyme inside one line.
Definitions from The Devil's Dictionary (1911) 12
AcquaintanceOne entry, two sentences. Borrow from and lend to each end a clause, and poor or obscure is set against rich or famous.
Barometer and WeatherTwo entries. In the book the Weather entry goes on to a verse; the prose stops here, on the rude forefathers of the jungle.
Circus, Envelope, Noise and OceanFour entries. Three semicolons hold the Envelope entry together, bed-gown, love-letter and two-thirds take hyphens, and the dash before who has no gills is two hyphens.
Clarionet and PianoTwo entries. A headword is typed in capitals, then a comma and n. for noun. The dash before two clarionets is two hyphens, and parlor is the American spelling.
Dictionary, Proof-reader and TypeThree entries on the printed word. Proof-reader keeps its hyphen, and the long words pile up: malevolent, unintelligible, incomparable.
EdibleOne entry, one sentence. The chain runs worm, toad, snake, pig, man and back to worm, and adj. follows the headword.
LogicThe whole entry. Major Premise, Minor Premise and Conclusion are italic in the book and plain here, each with a colon after it. Two dashes are typed as two hyphens. Type basic of logic as it stands.
MindThe first two sentences of the entry; the rest turns on a Latin motto. Endeavor is the American spelling, and the passage ends on the word with.
Nine Short DefinitionsNine entries in the book's alphabetical order, from Bore to Year, the shortest of them one word long: ONCE, adv. Enough. Four kinds of word are marked: n., adv., v.t. and adj.
Railroad and RoadTwo entries, both about getting from where we are to somewhere no better. Favor is the American spelling. In the book the Road entry goes on to a couplet, left off here.
SauceOne entry. Nine hundred and ninety-nine has one hyphen, and a semicolon parts the people with no sauces from the people with one.
Telephone and TelescopeTwo entries that stand next to each other in the book; the second points back at the first. Abrogates and unprovided are the words to watch.
Absurd notices written for this page 12
A Letter to the MoonSet out as a letter: Dear moon, then a comma. You were is typed three times in one sentence.
A Notice About the Office FridgeFour sentences, the last one a request. Yesterday and telephone are the long reaches.
A Speech by the Last BiscuitIt ends on two sentences of three words each: Somebody be brave. I am ready.
The Cat Calls a MeetingThree plain sentences with nothing harder than a comma: a warm-up before the limericks' speech marks.
The Goldfish ResignsResignation is the longest word, and the list in the second sentence has one comma and one and.
Instructions for a ChairThe last sentence runs through three commas before it lets you go.
Lost: One UmbrellaThe only passage of the twelve with a colon: it comes after the fifth word.
The Pigeon and the HomeworkSlowly and twice each sit between commas in the second sentence.
Recipe for ToastToast, toaster, smells and smells again: repeated words are where fingers run ahead.
The Snail RacePhotographer is the longest word, and the third sentence strings three clauses on two commas.
The Sock ReportThe second sentence is five words long: I have done the sums.
The Weather ForecastA list of four things closes it, with a comma after the first two and the word and before the last.
How this list was compiled: Thirty-six short passages in three groups. Limericks: twelve from A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear, first published in 1846 and revised and expanded in 1855 and 1861 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Lear). The text followed is the collected edition Nonsense Books, dated 1894 on its title page, which reprints the book with each limerick set in four lines; its introduction calls the Old Man with a beard a favourite verse that is often misquoted, and in it the author writes that the rhymes were first published in 1846 by Thomas McLean. Each limerick was compared with a second public copy, which sets five lines: the words are the same in all twelve, and the commas, capitals and line ends typed here are those of the 1894 edition. That a limerick has five lines rhyming AABBA, and that Lear made the form popular in the 19th century without using the word, is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_(poetry). Definitions: twelve passages made of twenty-nine entries from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, published in 1911 as volume 7 of The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce by the Neale Publishing Company, New York and Washington, after a shorter book of 1906, The Cynic's Word Book (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil%27s_Dictionary; the publisher's cities are from the catalogue record at https://archive.org/details/collectedworksa05biergoog). Each entry is typed from its headword to the end of its prose, word for word; the verse that follows the prose of Weather, Road and Egotist is left off, and the Mind passage is its first two sentences. Every entry was compared with a second public copy (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Devil%27s_Dictionary): the words agree but for one, in Piano, where that copy has pressing the keys and the page keeps depressing. The third group of twelve was written for this page, and every word of it was checked against the ENABLE word list (https://norvig.com/ngrams/enable1.txt). All were checked 2026-10-08. Changes to the borrowed texts: lines were joined with one space; a long dash is two hyphens; words printed in italics are set plain (nobody in the bell limerick, the three labels in Logic). Spellings are the editions' own: sate, parlor, favor, endeavor, civilization. Every passage was read before it went in, and none was used that is rude or that mocks a people, a faith or a disability. The passage names, the notes, the grouping and the counts are own work. Characters and words were counted, and characters divided by five give standard words (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute). Licence: Public domain in the United States: verses first published in 1846 and printed here from an edition of 1894, and a dictionary published in 1911, all before 1931 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_in_the_United_States). The third group, the passage names, the notes, the grouping and the counts are own work.