Typing Speed Test
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Test your typing speed in words per minute, with gross WPM, net WPM and accuracy shown separately. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Quick answer: A typing speed test counts how many words you type a minute (WPM), where one word is any five characters. Gross WPM is characters typed ÷ 5 ÷ minutes, net WPM takes off your uncorrected errors per minute, and accuracy is correct characters ÷ characters typed. In the Dhakal et al. 2018 study (CHI) of 168,960 online volunteers the average was 51.56 WPM, with 1.167% of characters left uncorrected. This test runs 15 seconds to 5 minutes and shows all three scores.
Finish a test to see your net WPM. Your result appears here.
Your net typing speed
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net words per minute (WPM)
What you type never leaves your device. Saved bests live in this browser only, and are never sent to us or anyone else.
📐 Formula
Gross WPM = (characters typed ÷ 5) ÷ minutes. Net WPM = gross WPM − (uncorrected errors ÷ minutes), never below zero. Accuracy = (characters typed − uncorrected errors) ÷ characters typed. Characters per minute = characters typed ÷ minutes.
How to Use the Typing Speed Test
Choose a length and a text
Pick 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes or 5 minutes, then Common words or Sentences. Each combination keeps its own saved best.
Click the box and start typing
Click the typing box or the text above it. The timer starts on your first key, so take a moment to settle before you type.
Keep typing until the time runs out
Type the text as shown, spaces included. Fix a mistake with Backspace if you notice it. The text keeps going, so you will not run out.
Read your results
You get net WPM, gross WPM, accuracy, characters per minute, a speed-over-time graph and the characters you missed most. Press Clear and Start Over to test again.
How does this typing speed test work?
Pick a length and a text, click the typing box and start typing. The clock starts on your first key and stops when the time is up, so there is nothing to press at the start or the end. The text above the box turns green where you typed it correctly and red where you did not. If you make a mistake, Backspace fixes it. The text keeps coming, so you cannot run out.
At the end you get your net WPM, gross WPM, accuracy, characters per minute and the number of mistakes you made, including the ones you fixed. A graph shows your running speed second by second, and the characters you missed most are listed so you know what to practice. Everything is worked out on your device. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
How is typing speed calculated?
Typing tests count a word as any five characters, spaces and punctuation included. That makes the measure fair across long and short words. From there it takes three numbers.
Gross WPM is the characters you typed, divided by five, divided by the minutes you had. Net WPM takes your uncorrected errors, which are the wrong characters still in the text when time runs out, divides them by the minutes, and subtracts that from gross WPM. Accuracy is the share of the characters you typed that were correct. A mistake you fix with Backspace is not an uncorrected error. It costs you the seconds you spent fixing it, and nothing more.
We compare what you typed with the text character by character, position by position. A skipped letter shifts every character after it, so one omission can show up as several errors until you correct it. That is stricter than a measure that tolerates a missing letter, and it is why Backspace matters. The three worked examples below use the same formulas.
| Characters typed | Uncorrected errors | Time | Gross WPM | Net WPM | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 300 | 6 | 1 minute | 60 | 54 | 98.0% |
| 450 | 9 | 2 minutes | 45 | 40.5 | 98.0% |
| 150 | 0 | 30 seconds | 60 | 60 | 100% |
Take the first row. You typed 300 characters in one minute, which is 60 words, so your gross speed is 60 WPM. Six of those characters were wrong. Six errors in one minute take 6 off, so your net speed is 54 WPM. The correct characters were 294 out of 300, which is 98.0% accuracy.
What is a good typing speed?
The most careful figure we can point to is from Dhakal, Feit, Kristensson and Oulasvirta, who published it at the CHI 2018 conference. They collected 136,857,600 keystrokes from 168,960 volunteers who copied sentences in an online typing test. The average was 51.56 WPM, with a standard deviation of 20.2. The table gives the study's main numbers.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Participants | 168,960 |
| Keystrokes recorded | 136,857,600 |
| Average speed | 51.56 WPM (standard deviation 20.2) |
| Fastest typists | 120 WPM or more |
| Average uncorrected error rate | 1.167% (standard deviation 1.43%) |
Two cautions. These were volunteers who chose to take an online typing test, which the authors note, so they are not a random sample of everyone. And their WPM was measured on each copied sentence, from the first to the last keypress, which is a gross figure. When you finish a test here, your gross WPM is compared with that average. In the same data, typists who had been trained averaged about 5 WPM faster than untrained typists. We do not turn any of this into labels such as "average" or "fast", because no source we have read draws those lines.
Typing speed test for a job application
Employers who test typing usually care about two numbers, net speed and accuracy, and the required level depends on the role. We do not publish a standard figure because we have not found one we can source. Read the advert. If it names a minimum WPM or accuracy, use this page to see where you are, then practice the weaker of the two. Accuracy usually moves faster than speed if you slow down a little.
The employer's own test may count errors a different way from ours, may use its own text and may allow or forbid Backspace. Treat a score here as a practice number, not a prediction of their result.
What is a 1 minute typing test, and how long should a test be?
One minute is the usual length, and it is the default here. It is long enough to show a steady pace and short enough to repeat a few times. Fifteen and 30 seconds are quick warm-ups, but one early stumble weighs more in a short test. Two and five minutes show how well you keep your speed and accuracy as you tire, and they are closer to real work. Each length keeps its own saved best, so you do not compare a 15 second burst with a 5 minute run.
What is the difference between common words and sentences?
Common words is a typing speed test with no punctuation: lowercase words from a list we wrote, in random order. It is the easiest to type fast, because you never reach for the Shift key or the punctuation keys. Sentences are our own short pieces of plain English with capitals, commas, periods and apostrophes, so they feel more like real writing and score lower than the same person's word scores. The two are saved separately. Pick the one that matches what you want to practice.
Can I take a typing speed test on my phone?
Yes, tap the typing box and use the phone keyboard. Autocorrect, predictive text and swipe typing can change a word after you typed it, which can show up as errors, so switch them off if you can. Thumbs are slower than ten fingers on a keyboard, so keep phone scores apart from computer scores and compare like with like.
How many keystrokes per hour is a typing speed?
Some jobs and forms quote speed in keystrokes per hour instead of words per minute. Multiply WPM by 300 to convert, or multiply characters per minute by 60. Our test shows characters per minute for you. These figures count typed characters, not every key pressed, so Backspace and Shift are not in them.
| Speed | Characters per minute | Keystrokes per hour |
|---|---|---|
| 30 WPM | 150 | 9,000 |
| 40 WPM | 200 | 12,000 |
| 50 WPM | 250 | 15,000 |
| 60 WPM | 300 | 18,000 |
| 80 WPM | 400 | 24,000 |
How can I practice and improve my typing speed?
Accuracy first, then speed. Slow down until your errors are rare, because a fast, messy run gives a low net score and trains the mistakes in. Keep your eyes on the text, not the keys. Keep your wrists relaxed and your shoulders down. Do a few one minute tests in one sitting, then stop before you tire, and look at the characters you missed most. Those are the ones to practice in isolation. Scores wobble from one run to the next, so judge progress by your average over several days on the same keyboard, not by one good run.
Is this a typing speed test or a typing game?
It is a test. It does not have levels, racing or an account, so it has no leaderboard. What it gives you is a clear score and a graph, with the working shown. If you want a different kind of speed check, the click speed test counts clicks per second and the reaction time test measures a single response in milliseconds. The online tests hub lists them all. To count the words in something you have already written, use the word counter.
Is this typing speed test free?
Yes. It is free, needs no sign-up, and your typing stays in your browser.
Frequently Asked Questions
There is no official cutoff. In a 2018 study of 168,960 volunteers who copied sentences online, the average was 51.56 WPM with a standard deviation of 20.2, so most people in that sample typed somewhere between about 31 and 72 WPM. Those volunteers chose to take a typing test, so they may not match everyone. Judge yourself against your own earlier scores on the same device.
Gross WPM counts everything you typed, right or wrong: characters typed divided by 5, divided by minutes. Net WPM subtracts your uncorrected errors per minute from that, so mistakes you left in lower it. Fixing a mistake with Backspace costs you time, and so lowers both, but it is not an uncorrected error.
Yes. Choose Common words as the text. It is all lowercase, with no capitals, commas or periods, which is the quickest style to type. Choose Sentences when you want capitals and punctuation, closer to real writing.
Yes. Tap the typing box and use your keyboard as usual. Thumb typing is slower than typing on a physical keyboard, so keep phone and keyboard scores apart. Turn off autocorrect and predictive text if your phone lets you, because a suggestion that changes a word can count as an error.
It depends on the employer, and we do not give a standard number. Job postings for data entry, admin and similar roles sometimes name a minimum WPM or accuracy, so read the posting and any test the employer sends. Use this page to practice and to see your gross WPM, net WPM and accuracy before you take theirs.
Multiply WPM by 300. One word is five characters, so 1 WPM is 5 characters a minute and 300 an hour. A speed of 40 WPM is 200 characters per minute, or 12,000 keystrokes per hour. This counts typed characters, not every key you press, so Backspace, Shift and other keys are not included.
Not directly. Net WPM only penalizes errors still in the text when time runs out. A mistake you fix adds to the "Mistakes made" count in your results and costs you the seconds you spent fixing it, but it is not an uncorrected error.
No. The test runs in your browser, and what you type is not uploaded, saved or shared. Only your best net WPM for each length and text style is saved, in your browser's local storage, and you can clear it with one button.
Sources & Methodology
The benchmark figures are from Dhakal V, Feit AM, Kristensson PO, Oulasvirta A. "Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes." Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, doi 10.1145/3173574.3174220, read in its published PDF on November 12, 2026. We use its participant count (168,960), keystroke count (136,857,600), average speed (51.56 WPM, standard deviation 20.2), average uncorrected error rate (1.167%, standard deviation 1.43%), its statement that the fastest typists reached 120 WPM or more, its definition of a word as any five characters, and its finding that trained typists were about 5 WPM faster than untrained typists. Its WPM is measured per copied sentence from the first to the last keypress.
Our scoring, in the Formula box above, uses the same five-characters-per-word convention. The conversions and worked examples are our arithmetic. The common words and the sentences are our own and are not taken from any other typing test or book.