Discover the best free dyslexia fonts for improved readability. Enhance your reading experience with our top picks.

Top 5 free dyslexia fonts

Dyslexia is a common learning disability that affects an individual's ability to read, write, and spell. It is estimated that around 10% of the population has dyslexia, and it can have a significant impact on their daily lives. However, certain fonts make reading easier for dyslexic readers. In this article, we'll explore the best fonts for dyslexia and why they work.

What is dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a neurological condition that affects the way the brain processes language. Dyslexia can range from mild to severe and can affect people of all ages.

Individuals with dyslexia may experience difficulties in phonemic awareness, decoding, and fluency, which can lead to difficulties in reading comprehension. Dyslexia can also impact writing ability, making it challenging for individuals to spell words correctly or organize their thoughts in a clear and concise manner. The effects of dyslexia can vary from person to person, and it is important to note that dyslexia does not affect intelligence.

Top 5 free dyslexia-friendly fonts

One way to make reading more accessible for people with dyslexia is through the use of dyslexia-friendly fonts. These fonts are designed to make it easier to distinguish between individual letters and words, reducing the visual crowding that can make reading challenging for individuals with dyslexia. Here are the top five widely available, dyslexia-friendly, and free fonts that can be used to improve readability and comprehension:

1. Arial — Arial is a sans-serif font that is widely used for web design and graphic design. This font is recommended for dyslexic readers because it is easy to read, and each letter is uniform in size and shape. Arial is also a widely available font, making it accessible for dyslexic readers.
2. Verdana — Verdana is a sans-serif font that was designed specifically for use on the web. It is recommended for dyslexic readers because it is easy to read, and each letter is uniform in size and shape. Verdana is also widely available, making it accessible for dyslexic readers.
3. Comic Sans — Comic Sans is a font that is often ridiculed in the design community, but it has been shown to be effective for dyslexic readers. The font has a unique shape for each letter, making it easier for dyslexic readers to distinguish between letters. Additionally, Comic Sans is a more playful font, which can make reading more enjoyable.
4. Century Gothic — Century Gothic is a sans-serif font that has a large and uniform x-height, making it easy for individuals with dyslexia to distinguish between letters and words. The letters in Century Gothic are designed with rounded edges and clean lines, which can reduce visual noise and make it easier to focus on the text. Century Gothic has generous spacing between letters and words, which can reduce crowding and improve readability for individuals with dyslexia.
5. Open Sans — Open Sans is a sans-serif typeface with a high x-height—the height of lowercase letters in relation to uppercase characters—which makes reading less difficult for those with dyslexia. The big x-height makes it easier to distinguish between individual letters. Additionally, those with dyslexia will find it simpler to recognize and absorb language because to Open Sans' generous letter and word spacing.

Fonts designed specifically for dyslexics

Although the top five fonts we have already covered are great for those with dyslexia and are free, there are also a few special fonts designed specifically with dyslexia in mind. These different fonts are crafted to enhance readability by reducing visual crowding, improving letter recognition, and minimizing confusion between similar-looking letters, so let’s examine a few more good fonts for dyslexia.

OpenDyslexic

OpenDyslexic was designed by Abelardo Gonzalez, and it is an open-source font that is available for free. This font is unique because it is designed to add a bit of weight to the bottom of each letter, which makes it easier for dyslexic people to distinguish between letters. The font is also spaced out a bit more than other fonts, which can improve readability.

Dyslexie Font

Christian Boer created the Dyslexie font, which is a typeface designed specifically for dyslexic readers. It is unique because each letter has a unique shape and is weighted differently. The font is also spaced out, and the letters are slightly slanted, making it easier for dyslexic readers to read. This font and a Google Chrome extension that can easily enable you to read anything in this font can be found on the Dyslexie website for a small fee.

Sylexiad

Dr. Robert Hillier designed and developed the Sylexiad range of typefaces for adult dyslexic readers as part of his doctoral research, producing a Ph.D. called A typeface for the adult dyslexic reader (2006). His dyslexia-friendly Sylexiad fonts are available for free on his website Sylexiad.com and contain both serif and sans serif options.

What makes a font dyslexia-friendly?

There is evidence to suggest that certain fonts may be easier for individuals with dyslexia to read than others. While there is no "dyslexia font" that has been universally agreed upon as the best for dyslexic readers, research has suggested that certain characteristics of fonts can make reading easier for individuals with dyslexia, so let’s break down the characteristics of dyslexia-friendly fonts.

• Sans-serif — Sans-serif fonts are easier to read than serif fonts because they have simple, uniform shapes and lack the small lines or serifs added to the end of letters in fonts like Times New Roman. Common sans-serif fonts, in addition to the ones already mentioned above, include Tahoma, Calibri, Helvetica, and Trebuchet.

• Non-italic and non-oblique — Italic fonts and oblique fonts can make letters appear distorted, which can make reading more difficult, so it’s best to skip fonts with those characteristics.
• Monospace — Monospace fonts have uniform spacing between letters, making it easier to distinguish between letters. Monospace fonts have a fixed width, meaning that each character takes up the same amount of space on a line, giving them a uniform look and making it easier to distinguish between letters. Common monospace fonts include Courier, Lucida Console, and Source Code Pro.

• Spacing — Dyslexia-friendly fonts are typically spaced out more than other fonts, which can improve readability.
• Lowercase — Fonts that use only lowercase letters can be easier to read than fonts that use uppercase letters.
• Legibility — Dyslexia-friendly fonts also prioritize legibility and letter spacing, which can improve reading speed and reading performance.
• Large fonts — Standard font size should be 12-14 points or equivalent (e.g. 1-1.2em / 16-19 px), although some dyslexic readers may request a larger font.

Why you should use a dyslexia-friendly font in your project

When it comes to web design and graphic design, it is important to consider the accessibility of your designs, including the typography you choose. Using dyslexia-friendly fonts can make your content more accessible to a wider audience and can improve the overall user experience.

However, while these fonts can be helpful for individuals with dyslexia, it is important to recognize that they do not cure or treat the learning disability. Dyslexia is a complex condition that requires support and accommodations beyond dyslexic fonts.

In addition to using dyslexia-friendly fonts, other design considerations can also improve accessibility for dyslexic readers. These may include using a clear and consistent style guide, avoiding the use of all capital letters or italicized fonts, using appropriate line spacing and headings, incorporating text to speech functionality, and ensuring that text is easily readable against background colors.

How Speechify helps dyslexia

Using text to speech software like Speechify can make it easier for individuals with dyslexia and other learning difficulties to access written information, which can help them learn and complete tasks more efficiently. How? Speechify can convert any written text into spoken words, including articles, webpages, and more, allowing individuals with dyslexia to listen to written information rather than having to read it themselves. This can reduce the amount of time and effort required to process written information.

Additionally, Speechify allows users to adjust the reading speed to their preference, which can be especially helpful for individuals with dyslexia who may need to listen to information at a slower pace in order to process it effectively.

Speechify also allows users to highlight text as it is read aloud, making it easy to take notes on the content. This can be helpful for individuals with dyslexia who may benefit from visual cues to help them stay focused and organized.

Try Speechify for free today and see how it can help transform your reading experience.

FAQ

How do serif fonts affect dyslexic individuals?

Serif fonts like Times New Roman cause extra visual clutter and can cause those with dyslexia to have a difficult time deciphering between similar letters such as "b" and "d.”

What are the best apps for dyslexia?

Text to speech apps are great for people with dyslexia because the apps, like Speechify, read content aloud to the users and eliminate any reading difficulties they may face.

What is the most dyslexia-friendly font?

There is no single "most dyslexia-friendly font" as different individuals with dyslexia may have different preferences and reading abilities. However, the fonts outlined in this article have been specifically designed or tested to improve readability for individuals with dyslexia.