How it works
This typing speed test gives you common lower-case words to type for 15, 30 or 60 seconds. Click the box and type. The clock starts on your first keystroke, and the space bar ends each word. Each word is marked right or wrong as you go. At the end you get words per minute and accuracy. It works with a phone keyboard too.
Read the full guide
How the test runs
Pick a Test length, then click or tap the box and type. Your first key starts the clock. Type each word and press space to move on. Backspace works inside a word, but after the space that word is locked in and marked right or wrong. Pasting is blocked. The default is a timed typing test 1 minute long. When time is up you see WPM and accuracy. That makes it a typing test and practice in one: the words that turn wrong as you type are what to drill next.
What counts as a word
Any word per minute typing test has to decide what a word is, because "a" and "understand" are not the same amount of typing. The usual standard, used here, is that five keystrokes make one word, spaces included. By that rule "I run" is one word and "rhinoceros" is two. Your score is correct characters, divided by five, per minute. A word typed right earns its letters and its space. A word typed wrong earns only the letters in the right place. Accuracy is correct keystrokes out of all keystrokes, so a mistake you fixed still shows.
The words you get
This is a word typing speed test: separate words in random order, so you cannot guess ahead from the meaning. It is a lowercase typing test with no capitals, punctuation or digits. Every run mixes three lengths from one list: Easy words of two to four letters, Standard of five or six, Long of seven or more. No setting picks one length. Some words make the hands alternate on a QWERTY keyboard, as in with and problem. Others leave it all to one hand, as in were and minimum. All 1,134 typing test common words are listed under the tool.
- Treat the 60 second score as your real one. In a 15 second run each correct word is worth about 5 WPM, so one slip swings the result. Over 60 seconds it is worth about 1.
- Keep your WPM test free of distractions: close chat windows, and take one warm-up run before the run you mean to keep.
- Read one word ahead while your fingers finish the current one. The pause at each space shrinks.
- If accuracy drops, slow down. A wrong word earns only part of its letters, so calm, clean typing usually scores higher.
- As a new keyboard typing test, run 60 seconds three times on each board and compare the middle scores.
Questions and answers
How many words per minute do you type?
The only fair way to say how fast you type words per minute is to measure the same way each time: same length, same keyboard. Take the 60 second test three times and keep the middle score. This page will not rank you, because it collects nobody's scores and has no honest average to show.
Why does my score differ from another typing words per minute test?
Tests differ in what they count as a word, how they treat mistakes and what text they give you. Here only correct characters count, five to a word, so errors lower the score. Some tests show a raw speed that ignores errors, and sentences with capitals and commas are slower than plain common words.
Is there an easy typing test?
Not as a separate setting. Every run mixes short and long words from one list, and about a third are Easy words of two to four letters, such as the, make and time. The 15 second length is the gentlest way in, and it suits beginners and warm-ups.
Why is the typing test all lowercase?
So the number measures one thing. Capitals need the Shift key, and the amount of punctuation and digits changes from text to text, so scores swing with the passage. For full sentences use our typing practice paragraphs, and for digits the ten key test.
Is there a typing test for mobile?
This one. Tap the text box and your phone's keyboard opens. The page asks the keyboard not to autocorrect or capitalise, but some keyboards ignore that, so switch autocorrect off if it fights you. Do not compare a thumb score with a keyboard score.
Is this typing test online free?
Yes. Every length is free, with no account, no download and no certificate to buy. What you type is checked in your browser and then thrown away, and scores stay in this browser.