How hard is this English text for you?

Paste an article, an email or a chapter. See its estimated CEFR level, how many of its words you should already know, and which ones are worth learning.

Your text stays in your browser. It is never uploaded or saved.

How it works

  1. Each word is reduced to its base form and looked up in a list of the 20,000 most common English words.
  2. Its place in that list gives it a level: the first 1,000 words are A1, then A2 up to 2,000, B1 up to 4,000, B2 up to 8,000, C1 up to 16,000, and C2 after that.
  3. The text level is the lowest one at which a reader knows at least 95% of the listed words. Names and numbers are left out.

Questions

Is this an official CEFR level?

No. CEFR describes what learners can do, and no official list assigns every English word a level. This tool estimates a level from how common each word is, which is a good guide to difficulty but not a certificate.

Why does the text level use 95%?

Research on reading, such as Hu and Nation (2000), found that learners need to know about 95% to 98% of the words in a text to understand it well without help. Below that, reading gets slow and tiring.

Does it look at grammar or meaning?

No, only at vocabulary. A text with simple words and complex ideas can still be hard, and a word with several meanings gets one level.

Is my text stored anywhere?

No. The analysis runs on your device. The text is not sent to Lexigo or to anyone else, so you can paste private documents.

Can teachers use it?

Yes, for free and without an account. Paste a reading to check whether it suits a class, and use the word list to prepare vocabulary before the lesson.