📖 Words Per Minute Reading Calculator
Calculate your reading speed (WPM) and estimate how long any book or article will take to finish
| Book / Text Type | Typical Word Count | Avg Pages | Time @ 238 WPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Fiction | 100 – 1,000 | 1 – 4 | ~1 – 4 min |
| Short Story | 1,000 – 7,500 | 4 – 30 | ~4 – 31 min |
| News Article | 500 – 1,500 | 2 – 6 | ~2 – 6 min |
| Blog Post | 800 – 2,500 | 3 – 10 | ~3 – 10 min |
| Novella | 17,500 – 40,000 | 70 – 160 | ~1.2 – 2.8 hrs |
| Novel (Standard) | 70,000 – 100,000 | 280 – 400 | ~4.9 – 7 hrs |
| Epic Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 100,000 – 300,000 | 400 – 1,200 | ~7 – 21 hrs |
| Self-Help Book | 45,000 – 70,000 | 180 – 280 | ~3.2 – 4.9 hrs |
| Academic Paper | 4,000 – 10,000 | 16 – 40 | ~17 – 42 min |
| Textbook Chapter | 5,000 – 12,000 | 20 – 48 | ~21 – 50 min |
| Children’s Picture Book | 500 – 1,000 | 24 – 32 | ~2 – 4 min |
| Reading Speed (WPM) | Hours to Finish | Days (1 hr/day) | Reader Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 WPM | 12.5 hrs | 12.5 days | Struggling / Early reader |
| 150 WPM | 8.3 hrs | 8.3 days | Below average |
| 200 WPM | 6.25 hrs | 6.25 days | Average |
| 238 WPM | 5.3 hrs | 5.3 days | Average adult (US avg) |
| 300 WPM | 4.2 hrs | 4.2 days | Above average |
| 400 WPM | 3.1 hrs | 3.1 days | Fast reader |
| 600 WPM | 2.1 hrs | 2.1 days | Very fast / trained |
| 1,000 WPM | 1.25 hrs | 1.25 days | Speed reader |
| Book Format | Approx Words/Page | Typical Size | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mass Market Paperback | 280 – 320 | 4.2" x 6.75" | Compact, dense layout |
| Trade Paperback | 250 – 280 | 6" x 9" | Standard modern novel |
| Hardcover (standard) | 240 – 270 | 6" x 9" | Similar to trade paperback |
| Large Print | 150 – 200 | 6" x 9"+ | Larger font, fewer words |
| Children’s Chapter Book | 150 – 200 | 5" x 7.5" | Short chapters, simple text |
| Textbook / Academic | 300 – 400 | 8.5" x 11" | Dense, formatted text |
| Graphic Novel | 50 – 100 | 6.6" x 10.2" | Mostly visual content |
| E-Reader (6" screen) | 200 – 250 | 6" screen | Varies by font size setting |
Reading speed is measured in words per minute, or WPM. Free tests exist online to check your WPM and comprehension that give instant results and help track your progress over time There are tools that can also estimate how long it takes to read a book based on reading speed.
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For adults reading English silently, the average pace is 238 wpm for non-fiction texts and 260 wpm for fiction. Those data come from analysis of 190 studies with more than 18 thousand participants. Some commonly cited figures point around 300 wpm, which depends on the task, the people and the test method.
How Fast People Read
Normally, the reading speed is between 200 and 300 wpm.
The pace of reading adjusts a lot according to the school level. Students in the third grade read around 150 wpm, while those in the eighth grade reach about 250 wpm. Students in college usually read at 450 wpm.
Some folks reach 400-500 wpm without special traing, simply because they read a lot and learned tricks over time.
Also exist various types of readers. Those that use subvocalization (mentally say the words), read more slowly. Visual readers however can reach even 700 words each minute.
Good readers usually handle 280 to 350 wpm without losing the insight. Speed of 300-400 wpm is considered good, although you can still subvocalize in that range.
Insight is just as important as pace. If you try to read everything above 500 wpm, the insight suffers. A better way is to quickly look at titles and main ideas, and slow down when the content becomes dense.
Only 1% of readers reach above 1000 wpm with insight of around 85%. Champions of fast reading reach between 1000 and 4000 wpm, but at such figures it feels more like skimming than real reading.
To count your WPM manually, divide the number of words on a page by the seconds that you used to read, and then multiply by 60. For instance, if you read 925 words during 270 seconds, that gives about 205.5 wpm. To know your speed each second, simply divide the WPM by 60.
Someone reading at 500 wpm reads around 8 words each second.
In one study, the best pace for reading and listening at once was 270 wpm. That is 1.8 times faster than the recommended speed of 150 wpm. To increase your speed, you can use a finger on the page to lead the eyes to words, lines and later whole paragraphs.
We read word after word because our eyes are not trained to focus more than one word at once. Reading at 350 wpm, you could finish a mediumsized book in around 4 hours and 15 minutes.
