HSK Level Checker: What HSK Level Is This Word or Text?

Paste any Chinese text, or type a single word, to see the HSK level of every word under both HSK 2.0 and HSK 3.0, and how much of the text a learner at each level would already know. The example below is already checked; change it, or try one of the other examples.

How to Use the Checker

• Paste a text or type a word. The results update as you type. A single word, such as 已经 (yǐjīng, already), shows its level in each standard and whether it moved between them.
• Read the coverage table. Each row is a learner who knows every word up to that level. All words counts every word in the text, repeats included; different words counts each word once. The first tells you how much of the page you’d follow, the second how many new words you’d have to look up.
• See the levels in the text. Each word is shaded by its level, with the level under it, and a dashed red underline marks words on neither list. Switch between HSK 2.0 and HSK 3.0 to see how the picture changes, and tap a word to see both of its levels.
• Open the word list under the text for every different word with its two levels and how often it appears, hardest first.

The checker reads Simplified characters. The text you paste stays in your browser; nothing is sent to us.

HSK 2.0 vs HSK 3.0: Why a Word Has Two Levels

HSK 2.0 is the six-level exam that has run since 2010, with 5,000 words from HSK 1 to HSK 6. HSK 3.0 here means the word lists of the 2021 standard for teaching Chinese, which has nine levels and about 11,000 words, with levels 7–9 sharing one list. These are the lists Mandarin Mosaic’s HSK 3.0 lessons follow. Our counts from them:

These are the app’s lists, which come to slightly fewer words than the official totals of 5,000 and 11,092. A few words appear on two levels of the same list, and the checker counts them once, at the lower level.

The early HSK 3.0 levels are much bigger, so everyday words moved down. 中文 (zhōngwén, Chinese) is HSK 3 in HSK 2.0 but HSK 1 in HSK 3.0, and 空气 (kōngqì, air) and 交通 (jiāotōng, traffic) drop from HSK 4 to HSK 2. Some words went up: 开始 (kāishǐ, to begin) is HSK 2 in HSK 2.0 and HSK 3 in HSK 3.0, and 拥挤 (yōngjǐ, crowded) moves from HSK 5 to the 7–9 band. 500 HSK 2.0 words, such as 熊猫 (xióngmāo, panda), aren’t on the HSK 3.0 lists at all.

So the same text usually looks easier under HSK 3.0 at the same level number: a learner at HSK 3.0 level 3 knows about 2,200 words, against 600 at HSK 2.0 level 3. Compare levels by the number of words, not the number in the name.

One more version is coming. A new exam syllabus published in November 2025 regroups the words again (300 at level 1), and its first exam is on 13 December 2026. The checker doesn’t use that syllabus, so if you’re sitting that exam, ask your test centre which list applies. Our HSK vocabulary list compares all three.

How to Read the Coverage

Studies of reading in English as a foreign language put the minimum for reading on your own at about 95% of the running words known, and comfortable reading at about 98% (Laufer and Ravenhorst-Kalovski, 2010). At 98%, that’s one unknown word in 50. The studies were on English, so take the figures as a rough guide for Chinese, and use the all words column to compare with them.

• Above about 95% at your level, you can read the text with a few look-ups. It’s good reading practice.
• A little below that, it’s study material: read it with a dictionary, or with a tool that shows meanings as you tap.
• Much lower, there are too many gaps to guess from context. Pick something easier, or learn the text’s most frequent unknown words first; the word list shows them.

The checker splits text into the longest words it finds on either list. Anything else is split into single characters, so a name such as 小林 (xiǎo lín) shows as 小 + 林, and 林 is marked as on neither list. Names, brand names and newer words such as 播客 (bōkè, podcast) lower the coverage, even though a learner may know them. A compound made of two listed words, such as 每天 (měitiān, every day, split as 每 + 天), counts as known if both parts are, and occasionally the split itself is wrong. The figures are close, not exact.

To read at the right level without checking every text, Mandarin Mosaic’s Chinese Articles are graded by HSK level, and its lessons teach each level’s words in sentences with one new word where possible. To find your own level first, take the Chinese level test.

Frequently Asked Questions

What HSK level is 已经?

已经 (yǐjīng, already) is HSK 2 in both HSK 2.0 and HSK 3.0. Type any word into the box above to check it.

Why is a common word marked as not on either list?

The lists don’t include every word. Names, places, brand names, new words and many compounds aren’t on them, and the HSK 2.0 lists leave out some single characters that only appear inside longer words: 天 (tiān, day) is on the HSK 3.0 list but not on HSK 2.0, which has 今天 (jīntiān, today) and 天气 (tiānqì, weather) instead.

Does it work with Traditional characters?

Only partly. The lists are in Simplified characters, so a Traditional character that’s written the same way is recognised and one that isn’t, such as 經 in 已經, is marked as on neither list. Convert the text to Simplified first for a fair count.

Can I check a whole chapter or book?

Yes. Paste in as much as you like; the counts cover the whole text, and for very long texts the coloured view shows the first 3,000 words. A chapter or two gives a fair first idea of a book, though later chapters can bring in new names and topics.

Is a text at my HSK level easy to read?

Not always. A text can use only HSK 4 words and still be hard because of grammar, idioms or long sentences, and coverage doesn’t measure those. Treat the percentage as the first check, then read a paragraph.

For every word at a level, see our HSK 1, HSK 2, HSK 3 and HSK 4 vocabulary lists.

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