When you finish a typing test you usually see a big number, like 48 WPM, and maybe a few smaller ones: CPM, accuracy, raw speed. This page explains what each one means, how it's calculated, and which one to pay attention to.
The quick version:
- WPM (words per minute) = characters typed per minute ÷ 5
- CPM (characters per minute) = every letter, space and punctuation mark you typed in a minute
- 60 WPM = 300 CPM. To convert, multiply or divide by 5.
Why a "word" is five characters
If tests counted real words, typing "a cat sat" would score better than "unbelievable responsibilities" even if it took the same effort. To keep things fair, typing tests use a standard word: five characters, including spaces and punctuation (Words per minute, Wikipedia). Researchers use the same rule. The authors of a 2022 BMJ typing study, for example, "defined a word as five characters including spaces" to match international conventions (Schuurman et al., 2022).
So "the cat" (7 characters including the space) counts as 1.4 words, and "unbelievable" (12 characters) counts as 2.4 words.
The WPM formula
Here's the basic calculation:
WPM = (characters typed ÷ 5) ÷ minutes
Example: In a 2-minute test you type 500 characters. 500 ÷ 5 = 100 words. 100 words ÷ 2 minutes = 50 WPM.
For a 1-minute test it's even simpler: divide your characters by 5. If you typed 215 characters in 60 seconds, that's 43 WPM.
Gross WPM vs net WPM
This is where scores can get confusing, because there are two kinds of WPM.
Gross WPM (sometimes called raw WPM) counts everything you typed, right or wrong.
Net WPM only gives you credit for correct typing. Tests calculate it in slightly different ways. Some subtract a penalty for each uncorrected error, and some only count correct characters. Either way, mistakes you leave behind pull the number down.
Example: You type 300 characters in one minute, and 15 of them are wrong.
- Gross: 300 ÷ 5 = 60 WPM
- Net (correct characters only): 285 ÷ 5 = 57 WPM
RiteType reports net WPM as the main score, because that's the number that reflects useful typing. A fast score full of typos isn't much use when you're writing an email or filling in a form.
Accuracy
Accuracy is the share of your keystrokes that were right. If you pressed 300 keys and 285 were correct, your accuracy is 95%.
It sounds like a small detail, but accuracy and speed are closely linked. In a study of 168,000 typists, Aalto University researchers found that slower typists "make more errors and require a long time to identify and correct them" (Aalto University, 2018). Fixing a typo means stopping, backing up and retyping, and all of that eats into your speed. That's why we suggest aiming for 95% accuracy or better before you push for speed.
CPM: characters per minute
CPM is just your raw character count per minute, with no dividing by five. It's common in some countries and in languages where "words" don't work the same way.
- CPM → WPM: divide by 5 (250 CPM = 50 WPM)
- WPM → CPM: multiply by 5 (40 WPM = 200 CPM)
Some people prefer CPM because it moves in bigger steps, so it's easier to see small improvements. 38 to 39 WPM doesn't feel like much, but 190 to 195 CPM does.
KPM and KPH: keystrokes
KPM (keystrokes per minute) counts every key you press, including Shift, Backspace and keys you pressed by mistake. It's usually a little higher than CPM. Typing a capital letter, for example, takes two keystrokes (Shift + letter) but makes one character.
KPH (keystrokes per hour) is used for 10-key number pad work in data entry jobs. Since it's per hour, the numbers are big: 10,000 KPH is about 167 keystrokes per minute. If you're applying for a data entry job, check whether the employer wants a WPM score, a KPH score, or both.
Quick conversion table
| WPM | CPM | Characters in a 5-minute test |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 100 | 500 |
| 30 | 150 | 750 |
| 40 | 200 | 1,000 |
| 50 | 250 | 1,250 |
| 60 | 300 | 1,500 |
| 80 | 400 | 2,000 |
| 100 | 500 | 2,500 |
Why your score changes from site to site
If you take tests on three websites, you might get three different scores. Here's why:
- Text difficulty. Short common words are faster than long words, numbers and punctuation.
- Error rules. Some tests stop you until you fix a mistake, some let you carry on, and some don't allow Backspace.
- Net vs gross. Some sites show raw speed as the headline number.
- Test length. A 1-minute test catches your best burst. A 5-minute test includes the moments you slow down.
- Practiced text. If you take the same passage over and over, your score goes up because you've memorized it, not because you're faster.
The fix is simple: pick one test, use the same length each time, and track your own trend. That's the reason RiteType saves your best score for each length separately.
Which number should you care about?
For most people: net WPM, with accuracy above 95%. That's what employers and teachers mean when they ask how fast you type. CPM is the same information in different units. KPM and KPH matter if you do data entry.
Want to see all of these for yourself? Take a free typing test and look at the results card. Then see how your number compares in our guide to average typing speed.
Preparing for a hiring test? Work out your score with the net WPM calculator or convert speeds with the WPM to KPH calculator.