Reading speed

All three averages come from one review that pooled earlier studies^[1]. They describe adults reading in their first language, for meaning, without being in a hurry.

The psychologist Marc Brysbaert collected 190 studies of silent reading with 18,573 readers in all, and 77 studies of reading aloud with 5,965. His averages are lower than the figures often quoted in books and articles, which he found had been overestimated^[1].

Fiction reads faster than non-fiction mainly because its words are shorter. The review found that the difference can be predicted from the length of the words, which is why a reading speed is only meaningful together with the kind of text it was measured on^[1].

Reading aloud is slower, about 183 words per minute, because every word has to be spoken. The review also notes that silent reading rates are in line with the fastest speed at which people can follow speech: reading is not a separate, faster kind of understanding^[1].

Reading feels like a smooth glide along the line, but the eyes do not glide. They jump from one spot to the next and stop briefly on most words, and only a small area around each stop is seen sharply. Each stop is when a word is taken in; the jumps in between are too quick to read during. Now and then the eyes jump back to check something they missed.

That is why reading speed has a ceiling. Each stop needs time to recognise the word and fit it into the sentence, and skipping stops means skipping words. The review of speed reading by five reading researchers sets out what is known about how we read, and what it means for anyone hoping to read much faster^[2].

Reading silently is roughly four to five times as fast as typing on a keyboard^[3], and reading aloud sits between the two. The reading review adds a telling point: silent reading rates are in line with the fastest speed at which people can follow speech. Reading, in other words, runs at about the speed of understanding language, not at the speed of the eye^[1].

1. Choose a text of a kind you read often, long enough to take a few minutes.
2. Read it at your normal pace, the way you would read for yourself, and time it.
3. Count the words and divide by the minutes you took.
4. Check that you understood it: summarise it, or answer a few questions about it. A speed without understanding does not count.

Measure several times on similar texts before you trust the number, and note what kind of text it was. A novel and a manual will give two different speeds for the same reader.

The review found lower rates for children, for older adults and for people reading English as a second language^[1]. None of that is surprising: reading speed rests on how quickly you recognise words, and that comes with years of reading in a language.

Other languages have their own rates. Languages that need more words to say the same thing are read at more words per minute, and the review found that the number of words a language needs for the same message predicts its reading rate quite well^[1]. A reading speed is therefore best compared within one language.

Within any group, people differ, and the review says these differences are reliable but not yet fully understood. A large review of reading research names language skill, such as vocabulary, as central to reading speed^[2].

Speed-reading courses have been sold at least since Evelyn Wood's Reading Dynamics programme of 1,959, and apps now promise the same. In 2016, five reading researchers reviewed what is known about how we read and asked whether such training helps^[2].

Their answer was that speed and understanding trade off. Readers are unlikely to double or triple their speed, from around 250 to 500 or 750 words per minute, and still understand the text as well as at their normal speed. Skimming gets you through a text faster with moderate understanding, which can be the right choice when you only need the gist^[2].

The way to read faster and still understand, the authors concluded, is to read more and become a more skilled language user, for example by growing your vocabulary, because language skill is at the heart of reading speed^[2].

• Between about 175 and 300 words per minute is a typical silent reading speed for non-fiction in English.
• A speed only counts if you understood the text: a fast result with poor answers to the questions is skimming.
• Fiction, familiar topics and short words read faster; technical text reads slower.
• Compare your speed in one language with your own earlier results in that language.
• If English is not your first language, expect to read it more slowly than your own language; the review found the same for second-language readers.
• Reading aloud, at about 183 words per minute on average, is slower by nature, so do not judge your silent speed by it.

Our reading speed test gives you a passage to read at your normal pace, then a few questions about it. A result counts only when enough answers are right, so that it measures reading and not skimming. It is for curiosity and self-reflection, not an assessment of reading.

For the other side of words per minute, see typing speed by age and the fastest typists.