One of the most obvious features of words is whether they are short or long. Although ‘short’ and ‘long’ are relative terms, the average length of words in the text can provide a measure of whether it is likely to be more or less readable for many readers. The average word length of your text is calculated by counting the total number of characters in every word and dividing it by the total number of words.
But average word length is only a rough measure of how difficult or easy the text will be for the average reader. This is because longer words are not always harder to understand (see also Word difficulty):
different [9 letters]
information [11 letters]
[Both words are likely to be understood by most readers because they are words that are familiar from everyday use.]
And shorter words are not always easier to understand (see also Word difficulty):
jib [3 letters]
wrest [5 letters]
[Both words may be unfamiliar to many readers.]
