You’re sitting there, fingers hovering over the home row, wondering if you’re actually as fast as you feel. Maybe you just finished a long email and thought, "Man, I was flying." Or maybe you're looking at a job description that demands 60 words per minute (WPM) and you have no clue if you're hitting 30 or 90. Most people think they know their speed based on a "vibe," but vibes don't get you hired or help you finish that report by 5:00 PM.
So, how can i find out my typing speed without it being a total headache?
Honestly, it’s easier than you think. But here’s the kicker: your "speed" isn't just one number. If you're hammering out 100 words a minute but every third word is a typo, you aren't actually fast. You’re just loud. Real speed is a marriage between raw output and surgical accuracy.
The Brutal Reality of WPM vs. Accuracy
When you ask how can i find out my typing speed, you're usually looking for a WPM count. But we need to talk about the math. A "word" in the typing world isn't "antidisestablishmentarianism." It's standardized. In the industry—and this dates back to the days of clunky manual typewriters—a "word" is exactly five keystrokes. This includes spaces and punctuation.
If you type "apple " (six characters including the space), you've technically typed 1.2 words.
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Now, let's talk about the "Net WPM." This is the number that actually matters. If you take a test and hit 80 WPM but make five errors, your Net WPM drops significantly because, in the real world, you’d have to stop and fix those mistakes. Some platforms, like Monkeytype or Typeracer, calculate this differently, but the gold standard is Gross WPM minus Errors per Minute.
Accuracy is king. Period. If you’re under 95% accuracy, your speed doesn’t count for much in a professional setting. Most high-level data entry or transcription jobs won't even look at you if you're hitting 100 WPM but hovering at 90% accuracy. It's too much cleanup work for the editors.
Where to Actually Test Your Skills
Don't just Google "typing test" and click the first ad you see. Those are often bloated with trackers or have weird, non-standardized word lists. If you want to know how can i find out my typing speed accurately, you need tools that mimic real-world scenarios.
1. Monkeytype (The Enthusiast's Choice)
This is currently the darling of the mechanical keyboard community. It’s clean. It’s fast. It’s highly customizable. You can test yourself on "English 1k" (the 1,000 most common words) or go for the "English 10k" if you want to humble yourself. What’s cool about Monkeytype is the "burst" data. It shows you exactly where you slowed down. Did you fumble on the word "rhythm"? The graph will show a massive dip. It’s basically an EKG for your fingers.
2. TypeRacer (The Competitive Edge)
If you find solo testing boring, go here. You race against other live humans. It forces you to type quotes from books and movies, which includes capital letters, commas, and those annoying semicolons. It’s much harder than just typing "the and of but." Because it’s competitive, your adrenaline spikes, which is a great way to see how your typing holds up under pressure—kinda like a real-life deadline.
3. Keybr (The Skill Builder)
Keybr is a bit different. It doesn't just give you a score; it uses an algorithm to find which keys you’re struggling with. If you constantly miss the "P" key, it’ll start feeding you words with "P" until your muscle memory catches up. It's less of a test and more of a diagnostic tool.
Why Your Keyboard Hardware Might Be Sabotaging You
You might be wondering why your speed fluctuates between your laptop and your desktop. It’s not in your head. The physical hardware—the "actuation force" and "travel distance"—dictates how fast your brain's signal translates into a character on the screen.
If you're on a standard membrane keyboard (the kind that comes free with a Dell desktop), you’re likely "bottoming out." You have to press the key all the way down for it to register. This creates fatigue. On the flip side, many professionals use mechanical keyboards with "linear" or "tactile" switches. Switches like the Cherry MX Brown or Gateron Yellows allow you to trigger the keypress halfway down.
Then there's the "chiclet" keyboard on MacBooks. Some people find the short travel distance makes them faster because their fingers don't have to move as far vertically. Others find it "mushy" and lose their place. Honestly, if you want to find your true speed, you should test yourself on the device you use for 8 hours a day, not just the one that feels the fastest.
The Secret Technique: It’s Not Just About Fingers
Most people who ask "how can i find out my typing speed" are looking for a quick fix. But if you want to break the 80 WPM ceiling, you have to look at your posture. It sounds like something your 3rd-grade teacher would nag you about, but it’s physiological.
Your wrists should never be resting on the desk while you type. They should be floating. When you rest your wrists, you're anchoring your hands, which forces your fingers to do all the reaching. This creates strain and slows you down. If you "float," your whole arm moves slightly to help your fingers reach the top row (QWERTYUIOP).
Also, check your monitor height. If you're looking down at a laptop, your neck is strained, your shoulders are hunched, and your blood flow to your arms is slightly restricted. It’s a chain reaction. Sit up, get your elbows at a 90-degree angle, and watch your WPM jump by 5 or 10 points instantly. It’s basically free speed.
Common Myths About Typing Speed
We need to clear the air on a few things.
First, the "hunt and peck" method. We all know that one person who uses two fingers and seems lightning-fast. They might hit 50 WPM. But they’ve hit a hard ceiling. They can’t go faster because they have to look at the board. Touch typing (using all ten fingers without looking) is the only way to reach professional speeds of 80-120 WPM. If you’re still looking at your hands, your test results will always be capped by your eye-to-finger coordination rather than your brain-to-finger speed.
Second, the idea that "fastest is best." Some of the most productive coders I know only type 40 WPM. Why? Because they spend more time thinking than typing. However, if you're in a role like journalism, legal transcription, or heavy administrative work, that speed is a direct multiplier of your income.
How to Interpret Your Results
Once you take a few tests, you’ll get a data set. Don't just take one test and call it a day. Your speed at 9:00 AM after a coffee will be very different from your speed at 4:30 PM on a Friday.
- Under 30 WPM: You’re likely a "hunt and peck" typer. You need to learn the home row.
- 30 to 50 WPM: You’re an average casual user. You can get through emails, but you're probably not "fluent."
- 50 to 80 WPM: This is the professional sweet spot. You can keep up with most office tasks without feeling like the keyboard is a bottleneck.
- 80 to 120 WPM: You’re in the top 5% of typists. This is high-speed territory.
- 120+ WPM: You’re likely a competitive typist or a court reporter. At this speed, the physical limits of the keyboard hardware actually start to matter.
If you’re wondering how can i find out my typing speed for a specific job, always check if they require a "Proctor" test. Some companies won't accept a screenshot from a random website. They’ll want you to take a timed, monitored test via a platform like TypingAgent or eSkill to ensure you aren't using a text-expansion macro or having a friend do it for you.
Actionable Steps to Improve Your Score
If your test results weren't what you hoped for, don't sweat it. It’s a motor skill, not an IQ score. You can train it.
- Stop looking down. Put a towel over your hands if you have to. If you can't type without looking, you aren't touch typing. This will hurt your speed for a week, but then you'll explode past your old record.
- Focus on the "difficult" keys. For most, it's the Z, X, C, and the symbols like brackets or hyphens. Practice these specifically.
- Slow down to go fast. This sounds like a cliché, but it works. Practice at a speed where you can maintain 100% accuracy. Once you have the rhythm, the speed will naturally follow.
- Use a "burst" strategy. Try to type short, easy words (like "the," "is," "it") as fast as humanly possible, then slow down for the longer, complex words. This "rhythmic" typing is much more sustainable than trying to maintain a frantic, steady pace.
Start by heading over to Monkeytype and running a 60-second test. Do it three times and take the average. That is your baseline. From there, spend 15 minutes a day on Keybr to iron out your weak spots. You’ll be surprised how quickly 40 WPM turns into 70 WPM when you stop fighting the keyboard and start flowing with it.