1. Run-on sentences
Sentences over 30 words almost always carry two ideas. Split them in two. The Flesch score will jump immediately.
Textorum.io · Readability mistakes
Common Readability Mistakes
Most readability problems come from a small set of repeating habits. Catch and fix these ten and your writing will read 30% easier — without losing depth.
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The ten most common readability mistakes
2. Passive voice everywhere
Heavy passive voice adds words and hides the actor. 'The change was implemented' becomes 'We shipped the change'.
3. Jargon and acronyms without context
Define every acronym on first use. Replace insider jargon with the plain word — or, if the term must stay, gloss it in a clause.
4. Wall-of-text paragraphs
Paragraphs longer than five sentences feel exhausting on screens. Break them. Even a single-sentence paragraph is fine for emphasis.
5. Buried lead
Putting the conclusion at the end of a section costs you snippet wins and skim-reader attention. Front-load the answer.
6. Empty filler words
'Basically', 'literally', 'in order to', 'really', 'just' — these add length without meaning. Strip them on edit.
7. Nominalizations
Verbs hidden inside nouns slow reading. 'Make a decision' becomes 'decide'. 'Conduct an investigation' becomes 'investigate'.
8. Inconsistent heading hierarchy
H4 inside an H2 with no H3 in between confuses both readers and crawlers. Keep the hierarchy tidy.
9. Long, link-heavy sentences
Inline links are good for SEO, but a sentence with three links breaks scanning rhythm. Move some to a related-links list.
10. Skipping the readability check
Even experienced writers miss two or three of these per piece. A 30-second check catches them before publish.
Dig deeper with related Textorum.io tools: Check readability online & Calculate the Flesch score.
Why fix these mistakes?
Mistake catalogue
The repeating habits that account for most readability issues in real drafts.
Diagnostic checklist
A structured pass any editor can run on any document.
Ranked by impact
The list is ordered by how much each mistake actually hurts the score.
Each fix is one line
No abstract advice — every entry has a concrete, sentence-level fix.
Watch for these in
- AI-generated drafts
- Translated content
- Long-form blog posts
- B2B and technical writing
- Academic-to-marketing rewrites
- Press releases and PR copy
How to audit text for readability mistakes
- 01
Run a diagnostic pass
Read the draft once looking only for the ten named mistakes.
- 02
Tag each instance
Mark every occurrence so you can see which mistakes dominate the document.
- 03
Fix the highest-impact mistakes first
Long sentences and passive voice typically pay back the most score per edit.
- 04
Re-score the document
Confirm the fixes lifted the score instead of just feeling cleaner.
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Readability mistakes FAQ
What is the single biggest readability mistake?
Long sentences. They are the largest input to every readability formula and the most common source of reader fatigue.
Are readability mistakes worse in AI-generated content?
Yes. AI drafts tend to over-use long sentences, passive voice and filler. Always run AI output through a readability check.
Can readability mistakes hurt SEO?
Indirectly. They raise bounce rates and lower dwell time, both of which correlate with rankings — and they reduce your chance of being quoted by AI-powered search systems like AI Overviews.
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