Question 1

Dale-Chall Words List

Accepted Answer

The Dale-Chall readability formula developed by Edgar Dale and Jeanne Chall is calculated by counting difficult words in a piece of text, where those words are simply those not found on a list of common words - much like the Spache Readability Formula.

Those common words are a list of words with which 80% or more of fourth-grade students are familiar.

That word list has been modified over time, and the current version of the formula - the New Dale-Chall Readability Formula - uses about 3,000 words in its list. For your reference, here they are! Texts written using just these words are likely to be easy to read for fourth-grade students and higher.

a
able
aboard
about
above
absent
accept
accident
account
ache
aching
acorn
acre
across
act
acts
add
address
admire
adventure
afar
afraid
after
afternoon
afterward
afterwards
again
against
age
aged
ago
agree
ah
ahead
aid
aim
air
airfield
airplane
airport
airship
airyalarm
alike
alive
all
alley
alligator
allow
almost
alone
along
aloud
already
also
always
am
America
American
among
amount
an
and
angel
anger
angry
animal
another
answer
ant
any
anybody
anyhow
anyone
anything
anyway
anywhere
apart
apartment
ape
apiece
appear
apple
Aprilapron
are
aren't
arise
arithmetic
arm
armful
army
arose
around
arrange
arrive
arrived
arrow
art
artist
as

Question 2

Spache Words List

Accepted Answer

The Spache readability formula, much like the New Dale-Chall Readability Formula, uses a set of words which are familiar to students to calculate the readability of text.

Spache scores are most useful up to grade four - above this they aren't particularly accurate, and that's why we split them from the rest of our readability grade level scores in our tools.

a
able
about
above
across
act
add
afraid
after
afternoon
again
against
ago
air
airplane
alarm
all
almost
alone
along
already
also
always
am
among
an
and
angry
animal
another
answer
any
anyone
appear
apple
are
arm
around
arrow
as
ask
asleep
at
ate
attention
aunt
awake
away
b
baby
back
bad
bag
ball
balloon
bang
bank
bark
barn
basket
be
bean
bear
beat
beautiful
became
because
become
bed
bee
been
before
began
begin
behind
believe
bell
belong
bend
bent
beside
best
better
between
big
bird
birthday
bit
bite
black
blanket
blew
block
blow
blue
board
boat
book
boot
born
borrow
both
bother
bottle
bottom
bought
bow
box
boy
branch
brave
bread
break
breakfast
breath
brick
bridge
bright
bring
broke
broken
brother
brought
brown
brush
build
bump
burn
bus
busy
but
butter
button
buy
by
c
cabin
cage
cake
call
came
camp
can
candle
candy
can't
cap
cap

Question 3

Ogden Basic English Words List

Accepted Answer

Although not a Readability algorithm, the Ogden Basic English Word List is a valuable asset to those teaching or learning English. The 850 Ogden words are intended to be a starting point for anyone learning English.

a
able
about
account
acid
acros
across
act
addition
adjustment
advertisement
after
again
against
agreement
air
all
almost
am
among
amount
amusement
an
and
angle
angry
animal
answer
ant
any
apparatu
apparatus
apple
approval
are
argument
arm
army
art
as
at
attack
attempt
attention
attraction
authority
automatic
awake
away
baby
back
bad
bag
balance
ball
band
base
basin
basket
bath
be
beautiful
because
bed
bee
been
before
behavior
being
belief
bell
bent
berry
best
better
between
bird
birth
bit
bite
bitter
black
blade
blood
blow
blue
board
boat
body
boiling
bone
book
boot
bottle
box
boy
brain
brake
branch
bras
brass
bread
breath
brick
bridge
bright
broken
brother
brown
brush
bucket
building
bulb
burn
burst
busines
business
but
butter
button
by
cake
came
camera
canva
canvas
card
care
carriage
cart
cat
cause
certain
chain
chalk
chance
change
cheap
cheese
chemical
chest
chief
chin
church
circle
clean
clear
clock
cloth
cloud
coal
coat
cold
collar
color
comb
come *

Question 4

What's a good readability score?

Accepted Answer

For grade levels, the result of most of the scoring algorithms, the score corresponds roughly to the number of years of education a person has had - based on the USA education system.

A grade level of around 10-12 is roughly the reading level on completion of high school.

Text to be read by the general public should aim for a grade level of around 8.

Question 5

Lazy Words List

Accepted Answer

For example. instead of "they ran very fast", saying "they sprinted" is both simpler and more evocative.

These are the lazy words highlighted by Readable's lazy word detector:

all
almost
am
are
best
big
every
feel
got
have got
important
interesting
is
just
never
nice
often
really
seem
small
stuff
that
thing
things
think
used to
very
was
went

Question 6

What is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level?

Accepted Answer

In the mid-seventies, the US Navy were looking for a way of measuring the difficulty of technical manuals used by Navy personnel in training. A challenge in using the Flesch Reading Ease measure is that test results are not immediately meaningful.

To make sense of the score requires the aid of a conversion table. So, the Flesch Reading Ease test was revisited and, along with other readability tests, the formula was amended to be more suitable for use in the navy. The new calculation was the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (1975).

For more information, please read our blog: The Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level.

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