Plots your sample on the classic Fry readability graph and returns the grade level region your text falls into.
Built and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software · Last verified · Sources · Changes and corrections
Use the Fry graph when teaching readability or evaluating K-12 reading material. The visual graph is excellent for showing students why both sentence length and syllable density matter, and it is still used in many US classrooms and reading-specialist certifications.
Fry is a graphical version of the same inputs Flesch and Flesch–Kincaid use. Compared to Raygor, Fry uses syllables (more nuanced) where Raygor uses long words (faster). Use Fry for teaching; use FK for production scoring.
Edward Fry's readability graph (1968) was designed for teachers to estimate the grade level of texts without complex math.
You count the average number of sentences and syllables per 100 words, then locate the point on his graph to read off a grade level.
This tool averages three 100-word samples (beginning, middle, end) when there are 300 words or more, plots the point on the 1977 graph, and reads the grade from the band it falls in, flagging the two invalid areas.
Edward Fry observed that no single formula worked across grade levels. The graph captures the curved relationship between syllable density and sentence length.
Yes, especially in K-12 education. Fry remains popular for evaluating reading material in primary and secondary classrooms.
It plots the average number of sentences per 100 words against the average number of syllables per 100 words, taken from several samples. Where those two values intersect on the graph indicates the approximate grade level.
The standard method uses three 100-word passages from the beginning, middle, and end of the text, then averages them. Using a single short sample makes the grade estimate less reliable.
Input
~100-word passage of news prose.
Output
Fry plot: ~6.5 sentences / 100 words, ~140 syllables / 100 words → Grade 7.
The Fry graph plots sentences-per-100-words against syllables-per-100-words. That point sits just inside the grade 7 band, next to Fry's own worked example (141 syllables, 6.3 sentences, grade 7). Most newspaper writing lands in the grade 7–9 zone in the middle of the chart.
The Fry Readability Graph is a plotting method, not an equation. Edward Fry's 1968 procedure asks you to take three 100-word passages, count sentences and syllables in each, average them, and find where that point falls on a printed graph divided into grade-level regions.
This tool takes the samples for you: three 100-word passages from the beginning, middle and end when the text has 300 words or more, otherwise the first 100 words. It counts sentences (with the last, partial sentence as a fraction) and syllables in each, averages them, and looks the point up on the graph itself. Numerals and initialisms count one syllable per symbol, as Fry's 1977 directions specify ("1945" is four, "IRS" three).
The lookup uses the actual grade lines of Fry's 1977 graph, which extends it to grade 17, as digitised in the open-source Readability Studio, on the graph's own uneven sentence scale. The result is a whole grade band, the same answer a careful hand plot gives. Fry's own example, 141 syllables and 6.3 sentences per 100 words, reads grade 7 here as it does on the printed graph. Until October 2026 this tool used a straight-line approximation instead, which could read two or three grades high in the middle of the chart.
The graph has two grey "invalid" areas: very long sentences with short words (lower left) and long words in short sentences (upper right). A point there means the text does not resemble the prose the graph was fitted to, which is common with lists, dialogue and poetry. The tool flags those results as outside the valid area and shows the nearest band only for reference.
The method behind this tool, so you can check it rather than take it on trust.
Fry, E. (1968). “A Readability Formula That Saves Time.” Journal of Reading, 11(7), 513–516, 575–578.
The graph-based estimate and its sampling procedure.
Fry, E. (1977). “Fry's Readability Graph: Clarifications, Validity, and Extension to Level 17.” Journal of Reading, 21(3), 242–252.
The extended graph to grade 17 and the counting rules for numerals and initialisms.
The digitised grade lines, invalid areas and axis scale this tool looks the point up in.
Classic 0–100 readability score.
Readability scoresU.S. grade level for your text.
Readability scoresPenalises complex (3+ syllable) words.
Readability scoresHealth & medical text grade level.