Free Sentence Simplifier (+ Guide)

What is a sentence simplifier?

A sentence simplifier is a tool that splits long sentences and swaps hard words for everyday ones, without changing what the sentence says.

Most hard sentences fail the same way: too many ideas in one breath. Splitting them is most of the fix.

How to use the sentence simplifier

It takes a few seconds:

A real example: a committee's long sentence

Here's the sentence from the Try button:

It's one 36-word sentence at reading grade 21.4. For comparison, the 122 blog posts I measured read at grade 7.6, with a middle sentence of 13 words.

The second is the one I'd use. It reads at grade 7.1 and still says "stakeholders".

The first is simpler still, but "the other people involved" is vaguer than the original. So read each version against yours before you pick.

The screenshot below marks two things:

1. A simpler version: the committee's 36-word sentence, rewritten as short, plain sentences.
2. The reading grade: 5.7 for this version, next to 7.6 for the real blog posts I measured.

Why short sentences are easier to read

The reading grade here is the Flesch-Kincaid grade: a US school year, worked out from the words per sentence and the syllables per word. Long sentences and long words both push it up.

That's why splitting a sentence does so much. Real writing that people finish keeps sentences short: the 122 blog posts I measured read at grade 7.6, with a middle sentence of 13 words.

The 6,353 newsletter issues I measured sit at grade 8.2, close to the blogs.

Posts on social media go lower still. LinkedIn posts I measured read at grade 4.6, and posts on X at 5.8.

How to write simpler sentences yourself

The example shows the moves the simplifier makes, and you can make them too:

• One idea per sentence – the original packed several ideas into one sentence. The versions gave each its own.
• Plain words for formal ones – "notwithstanding the fact that" became "even though", and "postponed" became "delay".
• The subject first – "the committee decided" puts who did it up front.
• Cut the filler – "until such time as" says nothing that "until" doesn't.

The readability checker flags the sentences that need it in a whole draft.

How it compares with a paraphrasing tool

They do different jobs:

• A sentence simplifier keeps every fact and makes each sentence easier.
• A paraphrasing tool says the same thing in new words, at about the same level.
• A text summarizer keeps only the main points and drops the rest.

If you write every day, my post on how to write 1,000 words every day covers the habit, and this covers the cleanup.

Who is the sentence simplifier for?

It's for anyone whose sentences run long:

• Readability checker – anyone checking a whole draft for hard sentences
• Text simplifier – anyone simplifying a whole document
• Grammar checker – anyone who wants the new version checked for mistakes
• How to start a blog – bloggers writing posts people finish

And if you're writing for work, short sentences get read on a phone between meetings.