The hyphen key (-)

This key, measured

Share of all characters

0.33%

Appears

once in 306 characters

Finger

R little finger

Row

number row

hyphen is not one of the letters: 218,076 of the 66,792,973 characters in the 111 public-domain books this site cuts its practice texts from — 0.33%, or once every 306. On a QWERTY keyboard it sits on the number row, so the right little finger leaves the home row for it and has to come straight back.

Keep going

Keep going

• Typing test

  Gross and net WPM, accuracy and keystrokes per hour — the figures typing exams use, at eight lengths from 15 seconds to 15 minutes.

• Typing lessons

  Fifteen short lessons, two new keys at a time, with the keyboard showing which finger goes where.

• Practice texts

  Type a passage from a classic book: real sentences, capitals and punctuation, with the numbers that say how hard each one is.

• Key drills

  A drill for each row, hand, finger and kind of character — and how much of English prose each set of keys actually carries.

• Typing speed

  What a speed means in characters, keystrokes per hour and minutes per page — and a test paced to the number you are aiming at.

• Weak keys

  A drill built from the keys you miss most, worked out from your own tests.

• Times tables

  Each table with its patterns, a drill that returns to what you got wrong, and a 60-second speed test.