Estimate the years of formal education required to read your text.
Our Gunning Fog Index tool highlights complex words (words with 3+ syllables) and variable sentence lengths to give you a clear education-level estimate.
Focuses heavily on complex polysyllabic words.
Score roughly equates to grade level.
Most popular level. Time, Newsweek, and WSJ write here.
Acceptable for business but becoming difficult.
Too hard for general readers. Risk of misunderstanding.
Forces writers to choose simple words.
Ensures executives can scan documents quickly.
High scores often indicate too much industry jargon.
Clear writing prevents costly errors.
Change 'utilize' to 'use', 'facilitate' to 'help'.
Aim for 20 words or fewer.
Explain terms if you must use big words.