Typing Speed Test

How fast should you type?

The average typing speed is around 40 words per minute (WPM), but this varies widely by profession. Office workers typically type between 40–60 WPM, while professional writers and journalists often reach 60–80 WPM. Software developers average around 50–70 WPM for prose, though coding speed differs from raw typing speed. Transcriptionists and court reporters can exceed 100 WPM.

Typing vs. dictation: which is faster?

While most people type at 40–80 WPM, the average speaking speed is 130–170 WPM — roughly 2–3x faster. Modern on-device speech recognition, like the models used in WisprType, can transcribe spoken words in real time with high accuracy. This means you can compose emails, write documents, and even draft code comments significantly faster by speaking instead of typing.

Voice dictation is especially valuable for longer-form writing. A 200-word email that takes nearly 3 minutes to type at 70 WPM can be dictated in about 80 seconds. Over a year, that adds up to tens of hours saved — time you can spend on work that actually matters.

How the typing speed test works

Choose a duration (30 or 60 seconds) and a text category (everyday, email, code, or chat). Start typing when you're ready — the timer begins on your first keystroke. Your WPM is calculated as the number of correctly typed characters divided by five (the standard word length), divided by the elapsed time in minutes. Accuracy is the percentage of correct keystrokes out of all keystrokes made.

Tips to improve your typing speed

• Focus on accuracy first — speed follows naturally as muscle memory develops.
• Learn proper touch typing posture: home row position, relaxed wrists, and minimal finger movement.
• Practice regularly with different types of text to build versatility.
• Or skip the keyboard altogether — try voice dictation for an instant 2–3x speed boost.