Score easy (≤2 syllable) vs. hard (3+ syllable) words across a 100‑word sample to estimate grade level.
Use Linsear Write for quick estimates on technical manuals or training material where you need a single grade level fast. Originally designed for Air Force technicians to grade their own writing, it remains a useful sanity-check formula.
Linsear Write splits the difference between Gunning Fog (which heavily penalises long words) and Flesch–Kincaid (which weights sentence length). It is a useful third opinion when Fog and FK disagree.
Linsear Write was created by the US Air Force as a fast readability check for technical manuals.
It weights "easy" (1–2 syllable) words and "hard" (3+ syllable) words differently within a 100-word sample.
Best used as a quick sanity check rather than a definitive readability score.
The US Air Force developed Linsear Write to help airmen evaluate technical writing without specialist training.
Words of two syllables or fewer count as easy, and words of three or more syllables count as hard (long). The proportion of long words is the main driver of the grade score, so dense polysyllabic vocabulary pushes the level up quickly.
It is designed around a 100-word sample. Scoring a much shorter passage makes the result noisy, so paste at least a full paragraph or two for a stable estimate.
Both estimate a US grade level, but Linsear Write splits words into a simple easy/hard bucket rather than averaging syllables per word. It tends to track Flesch-Kincaid closely for technical and instructional prose, which is what the Air Force originally designed it for.
Input
100-word sample with 70 easy and 12 hard words across 9 sentences.
Output
Linsear Write grade level: ~8.5 — 8th–9th grade.
Easy words (1–2 syllables) score 1; hard words (3+ syllables) score 3. The weighted total is divided by sentences then halved, giving grade ~8.5.
Classic 0–100 readability score.
readabilityU.S. grade level for your text.
readabilityPenalises complex (3+ syllable) words.
readabilityHealth & medical text grade level.