Huckleberry Finn Typing Test

Type the book's first paragraph as Huck spells it.

Type each word and press space after it. The clock starts on your first key. You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly--Tom's Aunt Polly, she is--and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before.
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1 minute of typing. Words per minute is correct characters divided by five; accuracy is correct keystrokes out of all keystrokes.

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How it works

This typing test, Huckleberry Finn in 20 passages, is grouped by the stages of the river journey and runs from chapter 1 to the last paragraph of the book.

Read the full guide

The dialect is the test

No word list spells like this. Huck writes sivilize with an s, warn't for wasn't, clumb for climbed and by-and-by with two hyphens, and letters drop behind apostrophes in t'other and 'lowed. Verbs go their own way too: catched, knowed, I never seen.

What was left out

The novel uses a racial slur throughout. None of the twenty passages contains it: all are Huck's own narration, of the widow's house, Jackson's Island, nights on the raft and the towns along the shore.

  • Each long dash is typed as two hyphens with no space: Aunt Polly--Tom's Aunt Polly, she is--and Mary.
  • Watching the Daylight Come is 412 words: the one to pick for five minutes.

Questions and answers

Is this the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn typing test I was set?

It is this page's own choice of passages, not the test from any course or other site, so the passage you were set may not be here. Every word is the novel's own.

Why are sivilize and warn't spelt that way?

Because the book prints them so. Huck tells the story himself, and the novel is written in his speech from first page to last. Type each word as shown: correcting sivilize to civilize counts as an error.

Is Huckleberry Finn in the public domain?

In the United States, yes. Mark Twain's novel came out in December 1884 in the United Kingdom and in February 1885 in the United States, and a work published before 1931 is in the public domain there.

All 20 passages

In St. Petersburg, before the river 4

  • You Don't Know About Me The first paragraph of chapter 1. Huck's grammar starts in the first line: without you have read, ain't no matter, I never seen. Two dashes fence off Tom's Aunt Polly, and stretchers is his word for stretched truths.
  • She Would Sivilize Me The second paragraph of chapter 1, with the book's first sivilize, spelt with an s. Six thousand dollars apiece is written out in words, and sugar-hogshead takes a hyphen.
  • Supper at the Widow's The widow's house rules, from chapter 1. Warn't stands for wasn't, victuals is the old word for food, and after matter with them a comma is followed straight by a dash.
  • Lights in the Village From chapter 2: Tom and Huck look down on the village at night on their way to meet the gang. The first sentence hangs on two semicolons, and the boys pull down the river two mile and a half, with no s on mile.
Show all 20 passages (16 more)

The escape to Jackson's Island 5

  • Voices at the Ferry Landing Chapter 7: Huck lies in the canoe on his way to Jackson's Island and hears talk carry over the water. T'other and 'lowed each need an apostrophe, and knowed and waked are his past tenses.
  • Stern Oars, There! Chapter 7, from a log at the head of Jackson's Island. A raftsman's shout sits inside speech marks with two exclamation marks, stabboard is the book's spelling of starboard, and three mile away takes no s.
  • Morning on Jackson's Island The opening of chapter 8. Ruther for rather, waked for woke, and a couple of squirrels that jabbered at me very friendly. Eight o'clock needs its apostrophe.
  • The Cavern in the Rock Chapter 9: Huck and Jim find the cavern that will keep them dry. Clumb is his past tense of climb, forty foot has no plural, and by-and-by takes two hyphens.
  • A Regular Summer Storm Chapter 9, the storm watched from the cavern. One long sentence runs on semicolons, with fst! for the lightning and rumbling, grumbling, tumbling for the thunder. Blue-black, spider-webby and tree-tops take hyphens.

On the raft 6

  • A Snug Wigwam on the Raft Chapter 12: Jim builds a shelter on the raft and the pair rig a lantern. Steering-oar, down-stream, up-stream and up-bound are all hyphenated, and crossing sits in speech marks as a river word.
  • Drifting Under the Stars Chapter 12, the second night on the raft. Catched for caught, four mile an hour with no s, and laying on our backs. The last sentence breaks on a dash: that night, nor the next, nor the next.
  • Whooping in the Fog Chapter 15: Huck, alone in the canoe, chases a whoop through the fog. Tow-head and t'other, somewheres with an s, and I hears beside I see as the tense slips about.
  • A Monstrous Long Raft The opening of chapter 16 and the shortest passage on the page. The raft is she throughout, flag-pole has a hyphen, and there was a power of style about her.
  • Watching the Daylight Come The whole opening paragraph of chapter 19 and the longest passage on the page. Most of it is one sentence that follows the dawn from a dull line to the full day, with semicolons for full stops. Type t'other, screaking and a-cluttering as spelt.
  • It's Lovely to Live on a Raft Chapter 19: Huck and Jim argue about where the stars came from. Could a laid and would have took are his verbs, and the semicolon after happened splits the argument in two.

Ashore down the river 5

  • A Mighty Nice House Chapter 17, the Grangerford parlour. There warn't no bed and I hadn't seen no house are double negatives to type as printed. Spanish-brown, dog-irons and saw-log take hyphens, and the clock is she.
  • The Chalk Parrots Chapter 17, the ornaments round the Grangerford clock. Wild-turkey-wing is one word with two hyphens, and redder and yellower and prettier runs on without a comma.
  • Loafing Around the Town Chapter 21, a little one-horse town in Arkansaw, seen on foot. Generly loses a syllable twice, jimpson weeds and Clumbus's time are spelt by ear, and dried-up, curled-up, played-out and which-way are hyphenated.
  • A Real Bully Circus Chapter 22: Huck slips in under a circus tent. Bully is praise here. The second sentence carries two dashes around there must a been twenty of them, and the most loveliest parasol doubles its superlative.
  • Light Out for the Territory The last paragraph of the book. If I'd a knowed, wouldn't a tackled and ain't a-going pile up in one sentence, and sivilize comes back from chapter 1.

How this list was compiled: Twenty passages from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, first published in the United Kingdom by Chatto & Windus in December 1884 and in the United States by Charles L. Webster and Company in February 1885 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn, checked 2026-10-07). Each passage is one unbroken run of the novel's text, a whole paragraph in every case but one: Voices at the Ferry Landing starts at the second sentence of its paragraph. These changes only were made to the text: lines were joined, the marks for italics were removed, curly quotation marks were set straight, and each long dash was set as two hyphens. The dialect spellings (sivilize, warn't, clumb, generly) and the American spellings (parlor, gray) are the book's own. The passages were chosen so that none holds the book's racial slur. Each passage's chapter is given in its note; the groups follow the journey from the village of St. Petersburg to Jackson's Island, on to the raft and ashore. A book first published in 1884 and 1885 is in the public domain in the United States (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_in_the_United_States). Characters divided by five give standard words (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute). Passage names and notes are own work. Licence: Public domain in the United States: a novel first published in 1884 (United Kingdom: Chatto & Windus) and 1885 (United States: Charles L. Webster and Company), before 1931 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_in_the_United_States). Passage names, notes and grouping are own work.

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