---
title: "English readability ensemble"
description: "Nine readability formulas reported with provenance: Flesch, FKGL, Fog, SMOG, ARI, Coleman-Liau, Dale-Chall, FORCAST, LIX/RIX."
keywords: ["readability", "flesch", "fkgl", "smog", "fog", "english"]
---

mehen emits **every formula's raw score with provenance** rather than averaging. Two formulas on the
same text routinely disagree by 2–4 grade levels because they target different comprehension thresholds
(SMOG ~100%, FKGL ~75%, Dale-Chall in between). Averaging them is statistically wrong.

## Formulas

| Formula | Syllables | Key notes |
|---|---|---|
| **Flesch Reading Ease** | yes | `206.835 − 1.015·ASL − 84.6·ASW`. Higher = easier. |
| **Flesch-Kincaid Grade** | yes | `0.39·ASL + 11.8·ASW − 15.59`. MIL-M-38784A standard. |
| **Gunning Fog** | yes | `0.4·(ASL + 100·P_complex)`. Target grade 7–12 for business writing. |
| **SMOG** | yes | `1.0430·sqrt(poly·30/sentences) + 3.1291`. `null` below 30 sentences. |
| **ARI** | no | `4.71·CPW + 0.5·ASL − 21.43`. Syllable-free. |
| **Coleman-Liau** | no | `0.0588·L − 0.296·S − 15.8`. Syllable-free. |
| **New Dale-Chall** | no | `0.1579·PDW + 0.0496·ASL` (+ `3.6365` if PDW > 5%). |
| **FORCAST** | counts 1-syllable | `20 − (N/10)`. Non-narrative text. |
| **LIX** | no | `ASL + 100·(long_words/words)`. |
| **RIX** | no | `long_words / sentences`. |

## Ensemble reporting

1. Emit every formula with provenance.
2. Compute an **ensemble grade band** as `[min(FKGL, Fog, ARI, CLI), max(…)]` — the interval where those
   four "running-prose" formulas agree.
3. Emit FORCAST separately as the preferred single score for non-narrative docs.
4. Suppress SMOG when `sentences < 30`.
5. Report Dale-Chall only with an explicit `list:` provenance tag (NGSL 1.2 by default — Browne et al.,
   2013).

## Syllable counting

Tier 0 default is a vowel-group heuristic (~85% agreement with CMU on open-domain text). Behind
`--features syllables-cmu`, mehen links the **CMU Pronouncing Dictionary** for exact counts on ~134k
words with the heuristic as an OOV fallback.

## Sentence segmentation

UAX #29 (`unicode-segmentation`) plus:

- A bundled ~150-entry English abbreviation list (`Mr.`, `e.g.`, `i.e.`, `U.S.`, `v1.2.3`).
- No split when the period is followed by a lowercase letter, a digit, or `<space><digit>`.
- Markdown block boundaries (blank line, heading, fence open/close, list item start) are **hard**
  terminators regardless of punctuation.

## Doc-type thresholds

| Doc type | FKGL | Fog | Passive max | Max sentence words |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| README / overview | ≤ 10 | ≤ 12 | 15 % | 30 |
| Tutorial | ≤ 9 | ≤ 11 | 10 % | 25 |
| API reference | ≤ 12 | ≤ 14 | 20 % | 35 |
| ADR / design | ≤ 12 | ≤ 14 | 25 % | 40 |
| Error messages | ≤ 7 | ≤ 9 | 5 % | 15 |
| Release notes | ≤ 11 | ≤ 13 | 15 % | 30 |

These are conventions synthesized from Google, Microsoft, and 18F style guides. They are tunable
profile defaults.

## References

- Flesch, R. (1948). *A new readability yardstick.* Journal of Applied Psychology 32(3): 221–233.
  [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1037/h0057532).
- Kincaid, J. P., Fishburne, R. P., Rogers, R. L. & Chissom, B. S. (1975). *Derivation of new
  readability formulas (Automated Readability Index, Fog Count and Flesch Reading Ease Formula) for
  Navy enlisted personnel.* Research Branch Report 8-75, Naval Technical Training Command.
  [DTIC PDF](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA006655.pdf).
- McLaughlin, G. H. (1969). *SMOG grading — a new readability formula.* Journal of Reading 12(8):
  639–646. [JSTOR](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40011226).
- Gunning, R. (1952). *The Technique of Clear Writing.* McGraw-Hill.
- Coleman, M. & Liau, T. L. (1975). *A computer readability formula designed for machine scoring.*
  Journal of Applied Psychology 60(2): 283–284.
  [DOI](https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076540).
- Senter, R. J. & Smith, E. A. (1967). *Automated Readability Index.* AMRL-TR-66-220.
  [DTIC PDF](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/AD0667273).
- Chall, J. S. & Dale, E. (1995). *Readability Revisited: The New Dale-Chall Readability Formula.*
  Brookline Books.
- Caylor, J. S. & Sticht, T. G. (1973). *Development of a Simple Readability Index for Job Reading
  Material.* HumRRO Professional Paper 1-73 (FORCAST).
  [DTIC](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/AD0773634).
- Anderson, J. (1983). *Lix and Rix: Variations on a little-known readability index.* Journal of
  Reading 26(6): 490–496. [JSTOR](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40031755).

## See also

- [Lexical diversity](/metrics/markdown/prose/lexical-diversity) — formula-independent vocabulary
  measures.
- [Wording quality](/metrics/markdown/prose/wording-quality) — passive voice, hedges, wordy phrases.
