Free fonts that are easy to read
Font pairings
Free fonts for websites and print that pass three simple tests, so nobody mixes up I, l and 1. Make your own pairing, try your own words, and see which popular fonts fail.
The three tests
A font only goes on this page if it passes all three. Each one is about letters that people mix up, especially when they're tired, dyslexic, or reading on a small screen.
- The capital I has a top and a bottom. Without them, I, l and 1 can look the same, and AI reads as Al, a man's name.
- b, d, p and q aren't mirror images. Children learning to read often mix up letters that are mirror images, and some dyslexic readers keep doing it as adults. A font that gives each one its own shape gives them one less thing to untangle.
- 0 and O look different. A zero should be narrower than a capital O, or carry a slash or dot.
The test line has every one of those letters in it.
The research supports letters that are easy to tell apart, like an l with a tail or an i with a serif (Beier and Larson, 2010 (opens in a new tab)). Special dyslexia fonts haven't been shown to help (Wery and Diliberto, 2017 (opens in a new tab)), and where one did, the extra spacing made the difference, not the letter shapes (Marinus and others, 2016 (opens in a new tab)). So every font here is an ordinary one that passes the three tests.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Make your own pairing
Choose a heading font and a text font. Each name is written in its own font. Then type over the heading and paragraph to see your own words.
A local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Click the heading or paragraph to type your own words.
Pairings that pass
A heading font and a text font that work together, and both pass all three tests.
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Headings: Parkinsans
Text: Atkinson Hyperlegible NextA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
A friendly, round heading with a text font made by the Braille Institute so every letter is easy to tell apart.
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Headings: Bitter
Text: Atkinson Hyperlegible NextA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
A sturdy slab serif for headings. Clear on screens, even at small sizes.
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Headings: Fraunces
Text: Atkinson Hyperlegible NextA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
A warm, soft serif heading for something that feels personal.
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Headings: Delius
Text: Atkinson Hyperlegible NextA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
A handwritten heading that still feels grown up, with a capital I that has a top and a bottom.
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Headings: Source Serif 4
Text: Atkinson Hyperlegible NextA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
A classic book serif over a very clear sans. Calm and serious.
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Headings: Fraunces
Text: Source Serif 4A local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Two serifs, one soft and one plain, for long reading.
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Headings: Parkinsans
Text: BitterA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
A round sans heading over a slab serif text.
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Headings: Andika
Text: LiterataA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Andika was made for people learning to read. Literata was made for reading books on screens.
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Headings: Literata
Text: AndikaA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
The same two the other way round: a book serif heading over very clear text.
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Headings: Zodiak
Text: Atkinson Hyperlegible NextA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
A strong, sharp serif from Fontshare for headings that need to stand out.
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Headings: Sentient
Text: Atkinson Hyperlegible NextA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
A gentle serif from Fontshare with a slightly old fashioned warmth.
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Headings: Gambetta
Text: Atkinson Hyperlegible NextA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
A lively serif from Fontshare, made for headlines.
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Headings: Erode
Text: Atkinson Hyperlegible NextA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
A crisp, modern serif from Fontshare that stays clear when it is big.
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Headings: Gambarino
Text: Atkinson Hyperlegible NextA local offer every family can read
A good font lets every reader tell one letter from another. That matters to a dyslexic child, a parent reading a plan late at night, and a SENCO with 40 reports to get through.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens.
An elegant, light serif from Fontshare for something calm.
Fonts that fail
Some of the most used fonts on the web fail at least one test. Look at Al and AI in each line below. In many of them you can't tell the man from the machine.
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Inter
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens. Il1 bdpq 0O
Fails on: The capital I is one plain stroke, so AI and Al look the same.
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Poppins
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens. Il1 bdpq 0O
Fails on: The capital I is one plain stroke, b d p q are the same circle and stick turned round, and 0 is nearly as round as O.
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Montserrat
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens. Il1 bdpq 0O
Fails on: The capital I is one plain stroke, and 0 is almost as wide as O.
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Kalam
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens. Il1 bdpq 0O
Fails on: The capital I is one plain stroke, so AI and Al look the same, and so do the I and l in Isla.
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Patrick Hand
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens. Il1 bdpq 0O
Fails on: A friendly handwriting font, but the capital I is one plain stroke, so AI reads as Al.
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Short Stack
Isla, 10, quietly asked her friend Al, not AI, to bring the SENCO 100 bubble pens. Il1 bdpq 0O
Fails on: The capital I has a top and a bottom, but l and 1 are the same shape.
Every font here is free to use, on a website or in print, from Google Fonts or Fontshare. The fonts on this page are served from poppop.studio, so nothing about you goes to either of them when you look.