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500 Character Typing Test

Start typing to begin the test.

Type the displayed words. The test begins with your first keystroke.
tab + enter – restart test escape – restart / close
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About this test

Five hundred characters is close to the length of a typical short email or text message. Measuring your WPM at this length gives you a practical indicator of how fast you move through everyday written communication — not just typing test conditions.

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3.6 out of 5 · 793 ratings

Live Results on This Test

42
median WPM
78
WPM — top 10%
98.0%
average accuracy
611
tests — last 90 days

Computed from real completed tests on this exact format over the last 90 days. Score above 42 WPM and you're faster than half the people who take this test.

Free 500 Character Typing Test — Check Your WPM — Tips to Score Higher

From Test Score to Inbox Throughput

Here's a calculation worth doing once: a typical knowledge worker sends 15–25 substantial email replies a day, and at roughly 500 characters each that's 8,000–12,000 keystrokes of composed prose. At 40 WPM, the typing alone consumes around 50 minutes; at 80 WPM, it's 25. Your score on this test is the variable in that equation — every 10 WPM you add returns several minutes to every working day, which is why the 500-character distance (100 words, 2.5 minutes at 40 WPM, 75 seconds at 80) is the most directly monetizable benchmark on the site.

It also measures something timed tests can't: completing whole thought-units. An email has an opening, a body, and a sign-off, and your fingers behave differently across those phases — most people start deliberately, accelerate through the middle, and stumble on the closing pleasantries they type on autopilot. Run this test a few times and notice where your rhythm shifts; that's a map of how you actually compose.

To put the number in context, compare it against your 1-minute test score. If the fixed-length result is more than a few WPM lower, the difference is composition overhead — and shrinking that gap is a more realistic goal than chasing raw speed.

Other Tests to Try

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600 Character Typing Test At 600 characters (~120 words), this test begins to surface consistency issues.
1-Minute Typing Test The industry-standard benchmark used by employers and typing certifications worldwide.
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