Typing Speed Test

Measure words per minute and accuracy on short timed runs to track practice progress on your own keyboard.

Who this is for

Anyone practising typing and wanting evidence they are improving: someone learning touch typing and checking whether the new finger placement has stopped costing them speed, a student or applicant facing a words-per-minute requirement, or someone who has just changed keyboards and wants to know how long the adjustment is taking. Runs are short by design so you can do one between other tasks rather than setting aside a session.

How to use Typing Speed Test

1. Choose a duration if the UI offers options (for example 15, 30 or 60 seconds).
2. Start the test and type the sample text carefully.
3. Finish the run and read WPM plus accuracy.
4. Retry after a short break to compare consistency.

Worked examples

Example 1. Complete a 30 second run and record WPM.

Example 2. Compare accuracy when you prioritise speed versus care.

Example 3. Try the same duration on two days to see practice effects.

Improving scores

Accuracy first usually raises long-term speed. Sit comfortably, keep wrists neutral, and avoid looking at the keyboard if you are learning touch typing. This is a practice tool, not a job certification exam.

How words per minute is counted

Typing speed is not counted in actual words, because words vary in length and "a" and "internationalisation" would otherwise score the same. The long-standing convention, used here, treats five characters as one word — so 300 characters typed in a minute is 60 wpm regardless of how those characters divide into real words. That convention is why scores across different tests are roughly comparable even when the passages differ.

Accuracy is reported separately rather than folded into the speed figure, which keeps both numbers honest: you can see at a glance whether a fast run was clean or whether it was fast because you did not stop to fix anything. For most practical purposes the pair matters more than either alone — steady typing at high accuracy beats bursts that need correcting.

Common mistakes

Chasing speed at the cost of accuracy. A run at 90 wpm with a dozen errors is slower in practice than 70 wpm clean, because in real work every mistake costs you the time to notice it and go back. Testing only when you feel sharp is the second — an average across good and bad days is the honest figure. The third is comparing your score against someone using a different test: passage difficulty, whether errors are corrected, and how words are counted all vary between sites.

Tips

Start with the 15-second run to warm up, then take the 60-second one as your real score — the short runs flatter you because a fast opening carries the whole result. Keep your eyes off the keyboard even when it costs you a few words per minute; that habit is the thing that raises the ceiling. Sit at the same keyboard for comparisons, since switching between a laptop and a mechanical board moves the number more than a week of practice does. Use Restart rather than reloading so you keep the same conditions.

Accessibility notes

The test is a standard text input, so it works with the keyboard alone and does not depend on a mouse. The passage, the running counters and the result are all plain text a screen reader can announce, though a timed typing test read aloud will inevitably be slower than one read visually. There is no time limit on starting — the clock begins on your first keystroke, not when the page loads.

Limitations (honest)

• Keyboard, language and device strongly affect scores.
• Sample texts differ between sites — do not compare raw WPM across tools blindly.
• Not an official employment test.
• Requires JavaScript in a modern browser.

Privacy

The passage, your keystrokes and your result stay in this page and are gone when you close it. Nothing you type is transmitted, logged or kept, which also means there is no history to look back on — note a score down yourself if you want to track progress. Advertising cookies and the choices available to you are covered in the Privacy Policy and in the consent notice shown on your first visit.

Related tools on ToolsAre.Us

If it is your writing rather than your typing you are measuring, the Word Counter gives word, character and reading-time counts for a finished piece, and the Notepad is a better place to draft in. For other short timed tests, see the Click Speed Test and the Reaction Time Test. The full tool list is on the home page.

FAQ

More help: Typing Speed Test FAQ · All tools · Contact · About