Typing Test UK

Type British English as printed: colour, centre and the pound sign all count.

Type each word and press space after it. The clock starts on your first key. The forecast promised sunshine, so of course it rained from breakfast until tea. We queued for the car park, queued again for chips, and ate them in the car with the windows steamed up. Nobody complained much. The dog slept on the back seat, the flask went round twice, and by four o'clock the sky had cleared just enough for a walk along the front before the drive home.
More options

–This run

–Your best

–Last run

1 minute of typing. Words per minute is correct characters divided by five; accuracy is correct keystrokes out of all keystrokes.

No runs yet. Your last ten will show up here.

Saved in this browser

Next step Office emails, letters and memosThe standard minute of common words

How it works

This UK typing test is twelve passages in British spelling, with pound signs and day-first dates as they turn up at work. Run 1, 3 or 5 minutes for your WPM and accuracy.

Read the full guide

Spelt the British way

Four passages are thick with the spellings that differ from American ones: Colour and Flavour for -our, Centre Stage for -re, Sorry, We Have Cancelled for the doubled L and the S of organise, and A Licence to Practise for the noun and verb pairs.

Keys that move on a UK keyboard

The last four passages use the keys that sit elsewhere on a UK keyboard: the pound sign, the double quote and the at sign, the hash and the tilde on one key, and the backslash, left of Z.

Questions and answers

Is this typing test UK English or American?

British. Every passage is in British spelling and the test marks what is printed, so colour, centre and organise are right and their American forms are errors. Speed is correct characters divided by five, per minute, with accuracy beside it.

Where is the pound sign on a UK keyboard?

On the 3 key: hold Shift and press 3. An American layout gives the hash from the same keys; on a UK keyboard the hash has its own key next to Enter.

Why do I get an at sign when I want a double quote?

The two are swapped between the layouts. A UK layout has the double quote on Shift and 2 and the at sign on Shift and apostrophe. If the other one appears, the computer is set to the American layout.

All 12 passages

Plain prose 4

  • A Wet Bank Holiday Plain prose, British in its words more than its spellings: bank holiday, queued, car park, chips, the front.
  • The Allotment in March Two British spellings, favourite and neighbours, in an otherwise plain passage.
  • Last Train from the Coast No spelling here differs from American. The commas do the work: keep the rhythm through the long last sentence.
  • Tea at Half Past Three Short instructions and one long argument about milk. Nothing but letters, commas and full stops.

British spellings 4

  • A Licence to Practise Noun and verb pairs: licence and practice are the nouns, license and practise the verbs. Then catalogue, tyre, kerb, jewellery, cheque, enquiry and pyjamas.
  • Centre Stage Eight words in -re, where American spelling has -er (theatre, centre, metre, litre, meagre, sombre, calibre, fibre), and programme with its extra M and E.
  • Colour and Flavour Nine words in -our, where American spelling has -or (neighbour, harbour, colour, honour, favourite, rumour, labour, humour, flavour), and grey with an E.
  • Sorry, We Have Cancelled The doubled L (travelling, cancelled, signalling, labelled, travellers), the S of recognise, realise, organise and analyse, and cheque with Q-U-E.
Show all 12 passages (4 more)

Pound signs, dates and UK keys 4

  • Dates, Day First Three full dates with slashes, day first, and one of day and month alone; a pound sign and a time written with full stops, 9.30 p.m.
  • The Hash Key and Friends The hash and the tilde, which share a key beside Enter on a UK keyboard, the backslash from the key left of Z, and six pound signs. The sum is right: 7 + 12 + 1.50 = 20.50.
  • The Market Stall Seven prices, each with a pound sign: Shift and 3 on a UK keyboard, where an American one has the hash.
  • Quotes and At Signs Four double quotes and one at sign. On a UK keyboard the double quote is Shift and 2 and the at sign is Shift and apostrophe: the reverse of an American layout.

How this list was compiled: All 12 passages were written for this site on 2026-10-07; none is quoted from anywhere, and the one person named is invented. Every British spelling listed for a passage (colour, centre, programme, travelling, organise, licence and practise, cheque, tyre, kerb, jewellery and the rest) was checked against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences; a spelling the article does not give was not used. The key positions (the pound sign on Shift and 3, the double quote on Shift and 2, the at sign on Shift and apostrophe, the hash and tilde on their own key beside Enter, the backslash left of Z) are from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_American_keyboards. Day-first dates and times written with a full stop are as described at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_in_the_United_Kingdom. The prices are made up and their sum was checked (2 x 3.50 + 12 + 6 x 0.25 = 20.50); example.org is a reserved example address. The words and characters were counted, and no word is over 30 characters. Characters divided by five give standard words (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute). All checked 2026-10-07. Licence: Passages, titles and notes are original to this site.

More tests

Show 8 more

Browse Keyboard and Typing