Enter what you typed and how long it took, and get gross words per minute, net words per minute and accuracy — the three numbers every typing test reports, calculated the standard way.
A “word” in typing measurement is not a dictionary word; it is a fixed unit of five characters, spaces and punctuation included. That convention exists because real words vary so much in length that counting them would make a test on short words read faster than a test on long ones. So gross WPM is simply the number of characters typed, divided by five, divided by the number of minutes elapsed. Type 300 characters in one minute and your gross speed is 60 WPM.
Net WPM subtracts a penalty for errors: one word per uncorrected error. Type those same 300 characters with five mistakes left in the text and your net speed is 55 WPM. Corrected errors — ones you backspaced over — are not penalised in the net figure, but they cost you the time spent correcting, which shows up as a lower gross number.
Net WPM. It is what employers, courses and certificates mean when they ask for a typing speed, and it is what this site's tests display. Gross WPM flatters everyone equally and says nothing about whether the text was usable. Accuracy — correct characters as a share of all characters typed — is worth quoting alongside it; a net figure at 98% accuracy means something different from the same figure at 90%.
Some tests and most data-entry assessments use characters per minute (CPM) or keystrokes per hour (KPH) instead. The conversions are direct: CPM is WPM multiplied by five, and KPH is CPM multiplied by sixty. A typist at 50 WPM is doing 250 CPM or 15,000 KPH. Data-entry roles commonly ask for 8,000 to 12,000 KPH on alphanumeric text.
The calculator above is for results you already have. For a fresh one, the one-minute test measures everything itself, timing each keystroke, and then goes further than any calculator can: it shows which keys and transitions took the time, and writes practice for them.
If you are converting a result from another site, check whether it reported gross or net speed and whether it counted five-character words or actual words; both conventions are in use, and the difference between them is often the whole gap between two people's reported scores.
Start the free course