How long does it take to read 160 words? According to a study from Ghent University, an average adult can read 238 words per minute. Therefore, you should be able to read 160 words in around 40.3 seconds.
But, the exact time it will take you to read will depend on a few factors including your personal reading speed, the type of content you're reading (fiction vs non-fiction), and whether you're reading silently ("in your head") or reading out loud.
In this post, I'll get into the specifics of how long it should take you to read 160 words.
While the average silent reading speed is 238 words per minute, the average speed when reading out loud is 183 words per minute. That's 23% slower than reading "in your head"!
That means to read 160 words out loud, it will take 52.5 seconds.
The average silent reading speed is 238 words per minute, but everyone reads at a different rate. If you're a slower reader, you likely read around 175 words per minute.
A slow reader will take around 54.9 seconds to read 160 words.
Fast readers can read about 300 words per minute. That's 26% faster than an average reader.
A fast reader can read 160 words in just 32 seconds instead of a normal reader taking 40.3 seconds.
Sometimes the best way to understand just how big something is, is to compare it to things you already know. If you've read one of these books, you can think of 160 words as any of the following:
Assuming Fire and Ice is around 51 words.
Assuming Hey Jude (Lyrics) is around 208 words.
Assuming The Very Hungry Caterpillar is around 224 words.
People can generally read fiction faster than non-fiction. The average reading speed of fiction (like novels) is 260 words per minute (while non-fiction is 238 words per minute).
So, reading 160 words of fiction should take around 36.9 seconds for an average person.
Type in any amount of words or pages into the section below, and then click "Go". To figure out how long it will take to read anything. Here are some example you could try out: