TIMED PRACTICE · Ελληνικά
Greek typing speed test
Flow like a stream. Space commits a word, backspace fixes the last one. Tab or Esc restarts.
Testing your Greek typing speed
Greek is written in its own script. The Greek 319 layout maps 30 characters across the keys you already have, so every motion transfers and every letter moves.
The speed test and the games draw on one bank of 53 common Greek words — 28 distinct characters in all, averaging 4 written units per word. A test can run for a fixed duration or a fixed number of words, with punctuation and numbers optional. Words are drawn at random each time, so no two runs are the same and there is nothing to memorise. The result reports net speed, accuracy, how steady you were across the run, and the five keys you got wrong most often.
One number is worth carrying into the first session. About 60% of the letters in these Greek words come from just ten characters. Get those ten genuinely automatic — not merely findable — and the rest of the layout stops being the thing standing between you and a readable sentence.
A Greek keyboard is a setting, not a purchase. Selecting the Greek 319 layout in your operating system repoints 30 of the keys you already have at Greek characters; nothing about the hardware changes. The guide below shows both faces of each key at once, the letter printed on the cap and the one it will actually write.
The hard part of Greek is not the hands, it is the map. Most people find the motions transfer immediately and the recall does not: you know the key you want and cannot say where it is. That gap closes with repetition, and closes faster if you resist looking.
- Writing system
- Greek
- Keyboard layout
- Greek 319
- Direction
- left to right
- Mapped characters
- 30
- Practice words
- 53
- Distinct characters
- 28
- Average word
- 4 units
Characters you will press most in these Greek words
- α21
- τ18
- ν16
- ο14
- ε13
- ρ12
- ι10
- ς9
- ά8
- ό8
- π8
- σ8
Counted across the 53 practice words — the characters worth getting right first.
τα ήρεμα χέρια βρίσκουν τη σειρά έδρας με πρακτικήA sigma with two forms, and accents that got simplified
Greek has two lowercase forms of sigma: σ in the middle of a word and ς at the end. Both have their own key, and choosing the wrong one is a spelling error.
Greek accentuation was simplified in 1982. The polytonic system — three accents and two breathing marks, inherited from ancient Greek — was replaced for everyday use by the monotonic system, which uses a single acute accent to mark the stressed syllable. Polytonic remains in use in the Orthodox Church and in classical scholarship, and modern keyboards produce monotonic by default.
The Greek 319 layout maps letters to their Latin counterparts where the sound corresponds — α on A, β on B, and so on — which makes it unusually approachable for anyone who knows the alphabet.
Questions about typing in Greek
Do I need a Greek keyboard?
No, and this is the part people most often get wrong. A Greek keyboard is a software setting: add the Greek 319 layout in your operating system's keyboard settings and the keys under your fingers begin producing Greek characters. Keycaps with Greek letters printed on them are a convenience for people who look down, and if you are learning to touch type you are learning not to.
How long should a Greek typing test be?
Longer than you would like. A 15-second test measures your sprint and flatters you; over two minutes your sustainable speed shows up, along with the fact that concentration runs out. If you want one number that describes you rather than your best moment, take the longer one.
Why does my score change so much between attempts?
Partly the draw and partly you. No two runs of the Greek typing test use the same words — they are sampled fresh from the bank each time, so one attempt can hand you a friendlier set than the next — and concentration varies more than most people credit. Take three and look at the middle one rather than the best.
How is typing speed measured here?
In words per minute, where a "word" is a fixed five characters rather than an actual word. That convention is what makes a WPM figure comparable between languages whose real words are very different lengths. The number reported is net WPM: uncorrected mistakes are subtracted, so it reflects text you actually produced correctly.
Which Greek keyboard layout do these tests use?
Greek 319, with 30 characters mapped across the standard key positions. The 53 practice words between them use 28 of those 30, so the drills reach very nearly all of the layout rather than a comfortable corner. The keyboard guide below the typing area shows the physical key and the character it produces together, so you are never reading a layout diagram in one window while typing in another.
What will I actually be typing in Greek?
53 of the most common words in Greek, drawn at random. They use 28 distinct characters between them and average 4 written units each, with the longest running to about 8. Short, frequent words are used on purpose: they are the ones your hands will meet most often outside a lesson, so the practice transfers.
Is Greek hard to type?
Harder to start, not harder to reach. Every motion you already have transfers; what does not is the map, and 30 key positions have to be relearned. With a fairly compact inventory of 28 characters across the practice bank, most people are past the worst of it inside two weeks of short daily sessions.
Do I need an account, and is it free?
No, and it is free either way. Every lesson, drill, test and game works signed out, with your progress kept in this browser. An account adds three things only: your progress and settings follow you to another device, your streak survives clearing your browser data, and you can appear on the leaderboards under a name you choose.
Also in Greek: lessons and typing games.
Other languages that move the alphabet onto the same keys: Hebrew, Korean, Tigrinya, Amharic, Armenian, Georgian. Or browse all 86 by writing system.
Further reading
- Typing Greek: a layout you can half-guessMost of the Greek keyboard is where an English reader would put it. The six keys that are not, the two lowercase sigmas, and where the accents hide.
- What touch typing isTouch typing means typing without looking, using all ten fingers from a fixed home position. What it is, why it works, and what it is not.
- The bottom rowZ X C V B N M sit below home and are the least practised keys on the board. Which finger takes which, and why C and B cause trouble.