Dale-Chall List of Simple Words
Word List: Dale-Chall List of Simple Words
Below is the Dale-Chall List of Simple Words word list containing 2,942 individual words. Click on a word to discover related lexical and grammatical information.
About This Word List
The Dale-Chall Word List is a tool developed in the 1940s by Edgar Dale and Jeanne S. Chall to measure the ease or difficulty of texts. It consists of around 3,000 words that 80% of fourth-grade American children are familiar with. Any word not on this list is considered challenging. The selection of words is based on their familiarity to children, which helps assess the readability and comprehension difficulty of written materials. Researchers and educators can use the Dale-Chall Word List to evaluate if texts are suitable for specific reading levels. This ensures effective instruction and helps improve literacy skills among young learners. The Dale-Chall Word List is an objective, quantitative tool for estimating the difficulty of written material without requiring testing of the reader. It is a validated, recognised method of assessing readability and is used to enhance document quality.
