WPM Test
A sixty-second words-per-minute test that shows the division as well as the answer. Type the passage, and when the clock stops you get net WPM first, gross beside it, and under them the working: characters typed, divided by five to make words, divided by the minute, less one word for every mistake still standing. The table further down does the same sum for every ten words a minute from 20 to 120, so you can see where your own character count lands.
Three hundred of the most common English words, in random order.
A clock counts down from the duration you pick and the score appears when it reaches zero.
Characters typed in one minute, and the words per minute they come to
Every row was produced by running the tool's own scoring over a one minute attempt of that length: a clean run for the gross column, and the same run with three mistakes left standing for the last column. A word is five characters including the space after it, and at one minute the words and the gross wpm are the same number, so the gross column is simply the characters divided by five.
| Characters in 60 s | Gross wpm (chars / 5) | Net wpm, 3 errors |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 20 | 17 |
| 150 | 30 | 27 |
| 200 | 40 | 37 |
| 250 | 50 | 47 |
| 300 | 60 | 57 |
| 350 | 70 | 67 |
| 400 | 80 | 77 |
| 450 | 90 | 87 |
| 500 | 100 | 97 |
| 550 | 110 | 107 |
| 600 | 120 | 117 |
Common questions
- How is WPM calculated?
- A word is five characters, by convention, whatever the actual words were. So the sum is characters typed, divided by 5, divided by the minutes elapsed. 300 characters in one minute is 60 words, which is 60 gross WPM. Net WPM then subtracts one word for every error still standing when the clock stops, so the same run with two mistakes left in is 58 net. This page shows all three steps under your score.
- Why is a word counted as five characters?
- Because counting real words would reward you for typing short ones. The five-character word is a standard from typewriter-era testing that makes runs comparable: a passage of long words and a passage of short ones score the same person the same way. It includes the spaces between words, which is why the number is characters typed rather than letters typed.
- Which number do employers use, net or gross?
- Net. An employment typing test quotes the figure with the error penalty already taken off, which is why net is the headline here and gross sits beside it. The gap between them is usually five to ten words a minute, and knowing which one you were given matters when somebody else re-tests you and gets a lower number than the one you quoted.
- What is a good words per minute score?
- Around 40 words a minute is the figure usually quoted for an adult on a full keyboard, and 65 or more for someone who types for a living. Accuracy matters as much as speed: 90 wpm at 92 percent accuracy leaves more to fix afterwards than 70 at 99 percent, which is why this test reports accuracy and splits corrected mistakes from uncorrected ones instead of giving a speed on its own.
- Does the timer start when the page loads?
- No. It starts on your first keystroke and runs for exactly sixty seconds from there, so reading the passage and finding the home row cost you nothing. Backspace corrects and is not counted as a keystroke: fixing a mistake costs you the time it took and nothing more.
- How do I know if I would pass a 30 wpm typing test?
- Look at the net figure, because that is the one a job requirement usually means. Thirty net words a minute is 150 characters in the minute with every mistake you leave standing taking one word off, so 155 characters with one error left in is 30 net. If your net is at or above the requirement across two or three runs, you are typing at that level on this page. The employer's own test may use a different passage, length or error rule, so leave yourself a margin.
- Is gross wpm the same as GWAM?
- Yes. GWAM, gross words a minute, is the name schools and keyboarding classes use for the gross figure: characters typed divided by five, divided by the minutes, with no error penalty. It is shown here beside net, and with Show the wpm arithmetic switched on the division is written out under your score, so you can check a GWAM worked by hand.
- Can I run a shorter or longer test?
- Yes. The Duration control under the test offers 30 seconds, 60, two minutes and five, and the Run control switches to untimed practice or to a ten sentence run instead of a clock. The arithmetic panel follows whichever you pick, using the time the run actually took as the denominator.
Net WPM subtracts one word for every uncorrected error, the convention used by employer tests; gross WPM counts everything typed at five characters a word. Keystrokes per hour counts every character, and the space or Enter between entries, scaled from the scored time to an hour. Timing uses the browser clock and starts on your first keystroke, so the first second is never lost.