What Is the Dale-Chall Readability Calculator?
This online tool calculates text readability using the Dale-Chall readability formula. Just paste your whole content or the passage you want to evaluate into box to get an instant Dale-Chall score.
What Is Dale-Chall Readability?
The Dale-Chall readability formula was developed by Edgar Dale and Jeanne Chall as a way to evaluate how clear and understandable a text is.
The formula reports estimated readability as a single score, similar to the Flesch-Kincaid readability metric. It uses a list of simple words that a fourth-grader can comfortably read and calculates a score based on the number of words and the number of difficult words and sentences in a text.
A low Dale-Chall score corresponds to high readability.
Here is the formula for calculating the readability score using the New Dale-Chall method. First, work out the raw score:
0.1579 × (100 × difficult words ÷ words) + 0.0496 × (words ÷ sentences)
When more than 5% of the words are difficult (not on the familiar-word list), add 3.6365 to the raw score to get the adjusted score. The grade table below is based on that adjusted score.
Dale-Chall readability scores
| Score | Grade |
|---|---|
| 4.9 or lower | 4th grade or lower |
| 5 - 5.9 | 5th or 6th grade |
| 6 - 6.9 | 7th or 8th grade |
| 7 - 7.9 | 9th or 10th grade |
| 8 - 8.9 | 11th or 12th grade |
| 9 - 9.9 | 13th to college |
How Can You Improve a Dale-Chall Readability Score?
You can improve a Dale-Chall score by replacing complex words with words in the list of Dale-Chall familiar words. These simpler words improve text readability according to Dale-Chall.
Related Tools
- Readability Checker: See other readability scores based on word count, syllable count, and other factors.
- Word Counter: Count the number of words and unique words in a text.