Latvian typing test
Sixty seconds against the 229 most common words in Latviešu, accents and all. WPM, accuracy, a speed graph and the exact keys that cost you time.
Tab restarts Esc leaves the test results save to this browser only
The Latvian word list, measured
Every figure there is counted from the file this test types, not estimated. Words are drawn from the common pool at random and never repeat back to back, so no two runs are the same and there is nothing to memorise.
Characters and keyboards
11 characters in the file sit outside the plain Latin alphabet: ā č ē ģ ī ķ ļ ņ š ū ž. They turn up in 47% of the common words, so you meet them constantly rather than occasionally. A Latvian layout puts each on its own key; on a plain US board you would need an international or dead-key layout, and hunting for them costs real WPM.
What your score actually represents
Latvian words run 0.7 characters longer than English on average. That does not make your WPM lower, because WPM counts every five characters as one word rather than counting actual words. What it changes is how much text you produce: at 60 WPM you are typing about 53 real Latvian words a minute, against roughly 60 in English.
The formulas never change with the language: speed is correct characters divided by five per minute, accuracy is correct keystrokes over total keystrokes, and consistency comes from the variation in your per-second speed. All of them are written out on the typing metrics page.
Punctuation in Latvian
Switch the punctuation modifier on and sentences get a capital, commas and quotes inside them, and a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark at the end. The apostrophe possessive stays off: it is an English habit and would be wrong in Latvian.
Getting a fair reading
- Do one warmup run. Cold starts read five to ten WPM low in any language.
- Use the layout you actually type Latvian on day to day, not a borrowed machine.
- Hold 96% accuracy before you push for speed. Corrections cost more time than they save.
- The control bar switches to 15, 30 or 120 seconds and turns punctuation and numbers on.
If your speed is stuck, the bottleneck is usually finger placement rather than effort. The free touch typing course rebuilds it from the home row, and your runs here feed the trend on your stats page.
Other tests and languages
- Lithuanian typing test The same test in Lietuvių
- Catalan typing test The same test in Català
- All languages Every language the test supports, 64 in all
- All typing tests Every duration, mode and layout
- Free typing certificate Download your result, no signup
- What is a good WPM? Where your number sits against real data
Questions people ask
Can I take a typing test in Latvian?
Yes. This page loads the Latvian word list before the test starts, so every word you type is a real Latviešu word, not translated English. The common pool holds 229 of the most frequent words and the full file holds 531, averaging 4.7 characters each. The test runs 60 seconds by default and you can change the length in the control bar.
Do I need a Latvian keyboard layout?
Not strictly, but it helps. 47% of the common words use one of these characters: ā č ē ģ ī ķ ļ ņ š ū ž. A Latvian layout puts them on single keys; on a plain US board you would need an international layout, and hunting for accents will cost you speed.
Is a Latvian WPM score comparable to an English one?
The maths is identical: WPM is correct characters divided by five, per minute, and accuracy is correct keystrokes over total keystrokes. So the number means the same thing here as on the English test. The typing is not identical though. Latvian words run 0.7 characters longer, so the same WPM represents fewer actual words. Reaching for characters your layout buries, or a script where one glyph takes several keystrokes, pulls a score down without your technique changing. Compare yourself in Latvian against yourself in Latvian.
What is the longest word in the Latvian test?
dzīvnieks at 9 characters, the longest in the common pool. The average is 4.7, so most of what you type is far shorter. Long words are worth noticing because a single mistake inside one costs the whole word in the WPM count.
Is this Latvian typing test free?
Yes. It is free, there is no account, and nothing is emailed to you. Results are written to your own browser storage, so your history lives on your device and you can review it on your typing stats page. If you need a document to show someone, take a run on the typing certificate page and download it there.