Text Simplifier

What is the Text Simplifier?

The Text Simplifier is a free AI tool that rewrites dense or technical text so it is easier to read. Pick a reading level, plain English, a 12 year old, or a non-expert professional, and it returns three versions that swap long words for short ones and split long sentences, while keeping every fact, number and name.

How to use the Text Simplifier

1. Paste the text to simplify, up to 1,500 characters.
2. Pick the reader: plain English for most audiences, a 12 year old for the simplest version, or a non-expert professional to keep the key terms.
3. Press Simplify text and compare the three versions.
4. Run the one you like through the Readability Checker to confirm the score moved.

What does it mean to simplify text?

Simplifying text means keeping what it says and changing how it says it: shorter sentences, common words, one idea per sentence, and jargon either removed or explained. It is different from summarizing, which drops information. A simplified paragraph should be about as long as the original and contain every claim in it.

When should I write in plain English?

Almost always on the web. Plain language guidance from governments, the UK's GOV.UK style guide among them, holds that specialists prefer it too, because it is faster to read whatever your expertise. The exceptions are legal text that must use defined terms and documentation where the precise term is the point.

For AI search the argument is the same. A model can only quote what it can parse cleanly, and a sentence that defines the term as it uses it is easier to cite than one that assumes the reader knows it.

How do I simplify complex text myself?

Work in four passes. First split every sentence that holds more than one idea. Second swap abstract words for concrete ones: utilize becomes use, facilitate becomes help, in the event that becomes if. Third explain or remove each piece of jargon the first time it appears. Fourth put the subject and the verb at the start of the sentence, so the reader knows who does what before the detail arrives.

Check the result with the Readability Checker. A plain English page usually lands between 60 and 70 on Flesch Reading Ease. If the text is still long rather than hard, the Sentence Shortener cuts words without changing the level.

How do the three reading levels differ?

Plain English writes for a general adult reader at about a grade 8 level: short sentences, everyday words and no jargon. It is the right choice for most web pages, emails and product copy.

For a 12 year old aims at about grade 6. Sentences get very short, only common words are used, and any term that cannot be avoided is explained. Use it for younger students, for readers working in a second language, or as a first draft you then build back up. For a non-expert professional keeps the precise terms that matter and explains each in a few words, which suits a report for another department or a brief for a client, where the vocabulary has to stay.

How do I simplify text with ChatGPT?

Give it the same rules this tool uses. Name the reader ("a general adult reader, about grade 8"), tell it to keep every fact, number and name and add nothing, ask for one idea per sentence, and ask it to keep roughly the original length so it simplifies rather than summarizes. Asking for three versions with different approaches gives you something to compare.

Without those rules, a chatbot will often shorten the text, drop a qualifier or add an example that was not in the source. The ChatGPT Prompt Generator can turn a rough request like this into a fuller prompt.

How do I simplify text for students?

Start with the For a 12 year old level and keep the subject's key terms. A student studying photosynthesis needs the word photosynthesis, explained, not a version that avoids it. Check that the simplified text still contains every term the lesson or the test will use.

For readers learning English, also cut idioms and phrasal verbs, which are hard to look up, and use the same word for the same thing every time. Varying the word for style makes a reader wonder whether something new is meant.

What makes text hard to read?

Mostly long sentences and long, abstract words, which is what every readability formula measures. Beyond those, four habits do the most damage: verbs turned into nouns (make an assessment of instead of assess), passive voice that hides who acts, strings of stacked nouns such as customer data platform integration roadmap, and jargon used without a definition.

Each one makes the reader hold more in mind before the sentence pays off. The simplifier is told to write one idea per sentence in short, concrete words, which removes most of them. To measure the change, paste the original and the new version into the Word Counter and compare the longest sentence and the reading ease score.