Microsoft Word lets you create everything from captivating short stories to in-depth annual reports. Tailoring readability to your audience is key—you don't want college-level prose in a children's book.
Readability measures how easily readers comprehend your text, excluding visual elements like font size or color. For tips on screen text clarity, see How to Make Text Easier to Read in Windows.
Online tools also work well—try our roundup of 8 Web Readability Tools to Test Your Writing Quality.
To get stats directly in Word, go to File > Options and select the Proofing tab. Under When correcting spelling and grammar in Word, check Show readability statistics.
Run Spelling & Grammar from the Review tab, and you'll see scores plus any issues.
Results feature two proven metrics: Flesch Reading Ease (0-100; higher is easier—aim for 60-70) and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (U.S. grade level, e.g., 9.0 for ninth graders—target 7.0-8.0). Details are on Microsoft's support page.
This article scores 62.5 on Reading Ease and 8.8 on Grade Level, for reference.
Do these scores accurately reflect readability? What do yours show? Share in the comments!
