readability
Analyze Text Readability Scores
Struggle to gauge if your writing matches your audience's reading level? This skill calculates industry-standard readability metrics (Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog, SMOG) and provides specific recommendations to simplify complex text.
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Using "readability". The utilization of lexical complexity indices facilitates the enhancement of written communication comprehension.
Expected outcome:
Flesch Reading Ease: 32.4 (Difficult - College level)
Flesch-Kincaid Grade: 14.2
Gunning Fog: 16.8
SMOG: 14.3
Recommendations:
- Replace 'utilization' with 'use'
- Simplify 'lexical complexity indices' to 'readability scores'
- Change 'facilitates the enhancement of' to 'improves'
Revised: Using readability scores improves written communication.
Using "readability". We studied the problem. We tested solutions. The best one worked well.
Expected outcome:
Flesch Reading Ease: 89.2 (Easy - 6th grade)
Flesch-Kincaid Grade: 3.2
Gunning Fog: 4.8
SMOG: 3.5
Target Audience: General public, children ages 8-10
This text is very accessible. No major changes needed.
Security Audit
SafeAll static analysis findings are false positives. The skill contains only markdown documentation with no executable code. The flagged 'external_commands' pattern (line 40) is within a code block demonstrating output format, not executable Ruby/shell code. The 'blocker' patterns matched common English words in documentation. This skill performs pure text analysis with no security risks.
Quality Score
What You Can Build
Simplify Technical Documentation
Transform complex API documentation or technical manuals into content accessible to non-technical users by identifying grade level and complex word density.
Optimize Marketing Copy
Ensure blog posts, landing pages, and email campaigns resonate with target audiences by matching readability to their education level.
Improve Academic Communication
Adjust research paper abstracts or grant proposals to meet specific reading level requirements for journals or funding agencies.
Try These Prompts
Analyze the readability of this text: [paste your text here]
Compare the readability of these two texts and explain which is more accessible: Version A: [text] Version B: [text]
Analyze this text and tell me if it's appropriate for 8th grade reading level. If not, what should I change? [paste text]
Analyze my text for readability and provide 5 specific sentence-level improvements I can make right now: [paste your text]
Best Practices
- Provide at least 3-4 sentences (50-100 words minimum) for accurate metrics - shorter samples may produce unreliable scores
- Use readability scores as one data point alongside audience analysis and domain knowledge - technical audiences may expect higher complexity
- Run analysis on complete paragraphs rather than isolated sentences to capture natural sentence variety
- Combine readability scores with user testing when possible - metrics measure complexity, not comprehension
Avoid
- Do not chase lower grade levels indiscriminately - some topics require precision and complexity regardless of scores
- Avoid simplifying text at the cost of accuracy - technical terminology exists for valid reasons
- Do not use readability scores as the sole quality metric - context, purpose, and audience matter more than numerical grades
- Never ignore domain-specific vocabulary - forcing simplification of precise terms can confuse expert readers