Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score:
Indicates how easy a text is to read. A high score implies an easy text. Comics typically score around 90 while legalese can get a score below 10.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level:
Indicates the grade a person will have to have reached to be able to understand the text. A grade level of 9 means that a ninth grader will be able to understand the text.

Measure your readability:
1. Select the text of your page
2. Go to the Readability Index Calculator
3. Paste in your text
4. Read your scores
5. See where you rank on the Readability Index

The Readability Index measures the length of the sentences and the number of syllables per word, resulting in a school grade score.

Readability has nothing to do with the complexity or seriousness of the subject. It's not a matter of "dumbing down" the text. It's about clarity and plain, straightforward language that's easy to understand.

Newspaper articles are written to a lowest common denominator of simplicity, but the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times are written to a more exacting standard, and so they are written to the reading comprehension level of a 9th grader.

Marketing text is frequently written at an excruciating level of difficulty because the clients think it makes them seem lofty and important. They're proud that only people with three PhD's can understand their message. But that is a very limited demographic.