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Typing Speed Practice: Most Common English Words

Typing speed is something that can be improved with practice. Remember how hard it was in the beginning?

One of the secrets to fast typing is maintaining a rhythm as you type. Typing these common, and typically short words helps you develop a faster rhythm. If you start your day with this typing drill, then you will be setting a quicker pace for the rest of your typing practice.

This typing test is based on a randomly selected words taken from a lightly curated list of 300 of the most common words in the English language. Typing the most commonly used words helps increase your typing speed and is a great way to start your daily typing practice. Common words help improve your typing speed by developing muscle memory for the most often used groups of letters.

You can practice your typing skills here. Typing speed practice tests with the most common English words. Improve your typing speed and accuracy online with the words that you type every day. Track your progress with a report at the end of every test. The practice tests are designed to last a minute or two.

This online typing test tracks your errors, your mistakes and even lets you correct your mistakes as you go. If you’re an absolute beginner, try taking a look at our typing tutor first.

Sample Data Entry Test Prompt

be old red her children went help I food hard without with they every just then be thought change watch tree can show want large after found me with fire came part began went begin above use this life turn I girl move need new hard over before four idea air your him own hear fall there she home off to help began would they still city down can begin away food want move little might should must most more life light plant both how come face and something find

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How can you improve your typing speed?

To improve your typing speed, you need to practice typing frequently. That’s the only way to master the finger placement on each key and touch-typing pattern. Typing 10 minutes a day for 6 days will help you speed up your typing more than typing for an hour for only one day. That is because the more often you ask your fingers to remember where the letters are on your keyboard, the easier it will be to remember. After a month or two typing will become almost instinctive and you will be able to type without thinking about where the keys are.

What is a good typing speed?

When you are learning to type there are some distinct stages that you will experience and can be recognized by how fast you type.

  • 25 wpm: When you learn to type you will struggle to hit 25 wpm as you learn the keyboard. Once you know where all the keys are, your typing speed will be close to 25 wpm. There are many entry level jobs that include some light typing that require 25+ wpm.
  • 40 wpm: Many data entry jobs are seeking candidates who can type 40wpm or higher. This is the speed that generally indicates you not only know where the keys are, but have also practiced enough that typing is becoming automatic. It’s not uncommon to plateau around 40wpm if you do not type every day.
  • 60 wpm: Typing speeds of 60 wpm and higher indicate an advanced typist. Few jobs require higher typing speeds. Most people can reach 60 wpm with enough practice.
  • 100 wpm: Only a few people can get past 100 wpm, and many of them can only reach those speeds for short bursts at a time. Extremely fast typing speeds require some natural ability as well as a significant amount of practice.

Why Typing Speed Matters

With the rise in remote workers and the increased acceptance of texting and chatting as a communication medium, typing speed has become an increasingly important skill. As the world evolves to more remote work and texting, typing speed has become more important to communicate not just with co-workers, but also with friends and family. The fastest typist I know are not secretaries who type at work, but gamers who need to text or chat as fast as they think.

Practice with the Words you use Most Often

The best practice for increasing your speed is to practice the most common words. The most common 300 words make up about 65% of the printed material in English. Improving your muscle memory to type these words automatically will give you a huge boost in your overall typing speed.

How Many Hours a Day Should you Practice Typing?

Getting comfortable with the keyboard is one of the first important steps you’ll need to take as a novice typist. You should practice daily if you are trying to increase your typing speed. It is not as important to type for hours at a time as it is to type regularly. If you can get used to typing for at least ten minutes – once or twice a day – you should see the quickest increase in your typing speed.

How Focusing on Accuracy Improves Your Typing Speed

It may seem counter-intuitive, but one way to increase your speed is to relax and focus on accuracy. First, because mistakes slow you down. As your muscle memory develops you will begin to KNOW when you hit the wrong key – and that will cause you to hesitate and slow down, or spend time to backspace and fix your mistake. Even if you type a little bit slower to be more accurate – it will still be faster than when you make mistakes.

Another problem with typing too fast and making mistakes is that you will be training your muscle memory incorrectly – or even randomly – which will prevent you from reaching your best typing speed.

So practice a little bit every day. Aim for accuracy when you type and let the speed come naturally as your muscle memory develops.