Fact · Typing and writing speed
Words correct per minute (WCPM) is the number of words read in one minute from a sampled passage, minus the words read incorrectly, which include misidentified words, hesitations and omissions.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“was specifically operationalized as the number words read in total (in one minute) from a randomly sampled passage of text minus the number of words read incorrectly (misidentified, hesitated in reading, or omitted)”
Oral Reading Fluency: Outcomes from 30 Years of Research (Technical Report 1701), Gerald Tindal, Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon, 2017, Introduction.
Open the original- What it measures
- This is the scoring rule that turns a timed reading into the single WCPM figure that schools record and compare.
- What it does not show
- The report gives the rule, but scoring guides differ on details such as which self-corrections count as errors. Compare WCPM only when the same passage and scoring rule were used.