Turn characters, time and errors into gross WPM, net WPM, accuracy and KPH
Typed a passage against the clock, or got a character count from a test or a job's data-entry check? Enter the characters, the time and the errors you left uncorrected. The calculator gives gross and net words per minute the way typing tests define them, your accuracy, characters per minute and keystrokes per hour, and converts KPH to WPM for job listings that quote it.
A word is counted as five characters, including spaces and punctuation, so that a passage of long words and one of short words give comparable scores. Gross WPM is characters ÷ 5 ÷ minutes. Net WPM then takes off one word per minute for every error you left uncorrected: net WPM = gross WPM − errors ÷ minutes.
Example: 1,250 characters in 5 minutes is 250 words ÷ 5 minutes = 50 gross WPM. With 10 uncorrected errors, net WPM is 50 − 10 ÷ 5 = 48, and accuracy is 1,240 ÷ 1,250 = 99.2%. That is 250 characters per minute, or 15,000 keystrokes per hour.
Employers and most online tests quote net WPM, because an error that reaches the page has to be found and fixed later. Errors you corrected while typing are already paid for in time: they lower your gross speed rather than your net.
A 2018 study of 136 million keystrokes from 168,000 volunteers found an average of about 52 words per minute, with the fastest typists above 120. Speed without accuracy is a poor trade, though: the Typing Goal Calculator shows how much time a few percent of errors really costs once you count the corrections.
Data-entry roles often state a requirement in keystrokes per hour instead of words per minute. One word is five keystrokes and an hour is sixty minutes, so KPH = WPM × 300 and WPM = KPH ÷ 300. A requirement of 10,000 KPH is about 33 WPM; 15,000 KPH is 50 WPM.
KPH tests for numeric entry usually count every digit and the Enter key, so a 10-key score and a typing score are not directly comparable even when both are quoted in KPH.
Type for at least a minute, ideally three to five, on text you have not practised; short bursts flatter everyone. Copy from a printed or on-screen passage rather than composing, because thinking about what to say is not typing speed. Run the test three times and take the middle score.
Divide the characters typed (including spaces) by five to get words, then divide by the minutes taken. 1,250 characters in 5 minutes is 250 words ÷ 5 = 50 WPM.
Gross WPM counts everything typed. Net WPM subtracts one word per minute for each uncorrected error, so 50 gross WPM with 10 errors over 5 minutes is 48 net WPM.
About 52 WPM is average, based on a study of 168,000 typists. Around 60–70 WPM is comfortably fast for office work, and many data-entry jobs ask for 40–50 WPM with high accuracy.
Divide keystrokes per hour by 300, because a word is five keystrokes and an hour is 60 minutes. 15,000 KPH is 50 WPM.
It is the standard typing-test convention. Counting real words would reward passages full of short words, so every test divides characters by five to make scores comparable.