This German typing test gives you real German words and everyday sentences – Familie, Straße, Nachrichten, zusammen – so you practise the letter patterns German really uses. It is free, runs in any browser and asks for no account. In German you would say Tippgeschwindigkeit testen, and a typing course is 10-Finger-Schreiben (the ten-finger system). Your result shows words per minute and characters per minute, which is what German schools call Anschläge pro Minute.
Kurz auf Deutsch: Hier kannst du deine Tippgeschwindigkeit testen, online und kostenlos, mit einem echten Text auf Deutsch – der 10 Finger Schreiben Test misst deine Geschwindigkeit, und danach erstellst du ein kostenloses Zertifikat. Das 10 Finger System übst du online und kostenlos mit jeder Tastatur, auch mit der Schweizer Tastatur, und der Tippgeschwindigkeit Tester zeigt dir nach jedem Test, welche Tasten du üben solltest.
What makes typing German different
German has three umlauts – ä ö ü – and the sharp s, ß. On a German keyboard each of them has its own key, so unlike French or Spanish accents they cost only one keystroke. Two other features shape German typing more than the letters do:
- Every noun starts with a capital letter. Der Vater kocht Kaffee im Garten needs Shift four times. German text uses Shift far more than English, so clean Shift technique (opposite hand holds Shift) matters.
- Long compound words. Words like Geschwindigkeit or Nachrichtensendung reward typing in chunks – sch, ch, ung, keit – rather than letter by letter.
Because WPM counts every 5 characters as one word, long German words do not lower your WPM by themselves; they only feel slower if you hesitate in the middle of them.
How to type German letters on an English keyboard
You can take this Tippgeschwindigkeit test two ways:
- With your own German keyboard. If your computer is set to German (Germany or Austria) or Swiss German, keep the default option and type as usual.
- With the built-in QWERTZ layout. Choose "QWERTZ (German)" in the Keyboard menu and your English keyboard types German: [ gives ü, ; gives ö, ' gives ä and - gives ß. Y and Z swap places, just as on a real German keyboard. The on-screen keyboard shows the QWERTZ keycaps with finger colours, and the animated hands point to each next key.
Either way, this is a German language typing test with the same text and scoring people in Germany, Austria and Switzerland would get, so a result here compares directly with a Germany typing test for a job. On a phone or tablet the built-in layout is switched off; your phone keyboard gives umlauts if you hold a, o or u, and ß if you hold s.
QWERTZ: where German special characters are
| Character | On a German QWERTZ keyboard | On a US keyboard (built-in QWERTZ) |
|---|---|---|
| ü / Ü | Key right of P | [ |
| ö / Ö | Key right of L (right little finger home key) | ; |
| ä / Ä | Key right of Ö | ' |
| ß / ? | Key right of 0 (Shift for ?) | - / Shift+- |
| z / y | Z top row between T and U; Y bottom left | Y / Z |
| ´ and ` accents (é, è) | Dead key right of ß (Shift for `), then the vowel | = / Shift+=, then the vowel |
| ^ (dead) / ° | Key left of 1 | ` / Shift+` |
| - (hyphen) / _ | Bottom row, right of the full stop | / / Shift+/ |
| " § & / ( ) = | Shift + 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 | Shift+the same number keys |
How to type German ss (ß)
On a German keyboard ß is the key right of 0. With the built-in layout on an English keyboard, press -. Outside this site, the US-International layout on Windows types ß with AltGr+S, and a Mac types it with Option+S. In Switzerland ß is not used at all – Swiss Standard German writes ss, as in Strasse.
10-finger typing on a Swiss keyboard (Schweizer Tastatur)
The Swiss QWERTZ keyboard has no ß key, and it shares its umlaut keys with French letters: ü with è, ö with é, ä with à. The home row and finger positions are the same, so a 10 finger system test works just as well on Swiss hardware. The only snag is ß: the German test text uses it, and your Swiss layout cannot type it. Choose the built-in "QWERTZ (German)" layout for the test – it uses the same physical keys, and the key right of 0 then types ß.
Anschläge pro Minute and words per minute
German typing courses and job ads usually quote speed in Anschläge pro Minute (keystrokes per minute), while most international sites use WPM. This test shows both:
WPM = (correct characters ÷ 5) ÷ minutes
Characters per minute (≈ Anschläge) = correct characters ÷ minutes
Accuracy = correct keystrokes ÷ all keystrokes × 100
Worked example: in a 5 minute German typing test you type 1,050 characters and 1,000 are correct. Your speed is (1,000 ÷ 5) ÷ 5 = 40 WPM, your raw speed is (1,050 ÷ 5) ÷ 5 = 42 WPM, and your accuracy is about 95.2%. That is 200 correct characters per minute – about 200 Anschläge pro Minute. To convert quickly: Anschläge ÷ 5 ≈ WPM.
What is a good German typing speed?
A typing average test puts most adults at around 35–40 WPM. Typical German ranges:
| Level | WPM | About Anschläge/min |
|---|---|---|
| Learning the 10-finger system | under 25 | under 125 |
| Average | 30–40 | 150–200 |
| Good office typist | 50–60 | 250–300 |
| Fast | 70–80+ | 350–400+ |
These are typical figures rather than an official scale. For benchmarks by age and job, see the average typing speed page.
Types of typing test you can take in German
There are different types of typing test here, all free (kostenlos) and all in German. Examples of typing test formats you can pick for German practice:
- Timed tests – 15 or 30 seconds up to 10 minutes. A 10 finger schreiben test of 10 Minuten is a good stamina check before a job test.
- Word tests – 10, 25, 50 or 100 words; 10 words is the easiest typing test for a warm-up.
- Paragraph and quote – a full German text with capitals and punctuation, closest to real writing.
- Numbers and punctuation – toggles that add figures, commas and full stops to any test.
- Custom text – paste your own German text into the custom typing test, for example a letter from work.
After any test you can turn the result into a free certificate (Zertifikat) as a PNG or PDF on the typing certificate page.
How to learn 10-finger typing in German
Das 10 Finger System ist schnell erklärt: Jeder Finger hat seine eigenen Tasten, und die Grundstellung ist ASDF – JKLÖ. Eine kurze Erklärung des 10 Finger Systems zeigt dir die Bildschirmtastatur mit farbigen Fingern. So kannst du das 10 Finger System einfach und schnell lernen: erst die Grundreihe, dann die obere und die untere Reihe, dann Großbuchstaben und Zahlen. Der Tipptrainer online ist kostenlos, und als Tipptrainer online für Kinder gibt es Spiele mit Luftballons. Dieser Schreibtest mit der Tastatur auf Deutsch zeigt dir am Ende Anschläge pro Minute und Fehler, und das 10 Finger System für Englisch lernst du mit dem englischen Kurs.
In English: the 10 finger system on an English keyboard works exactly the same way, and the English course on the lessons page has the matching exercises. The steps below apply to both.
- Start from the home row. Left hand on A S D F, right hand on J K L Ö. The QWERTZ course on the typing lessons page adds two keys at a time, then Shift, numbers and sentences.
- Train Shift for nouns. Hold Shift with the little finger of the opposite hand: right Shift for capitals typed with the left hand, left Shift for the right hand.
- Drill umlauts and ß. They sit under your right little finger, the weakest one. Type über, schön, Mädchen, Straße slowly and cleanly.
- Test little and often. Two or three short German practice tests a day, then a longer one at the weekend. A German fast typing test result comes from rhythm, not rushing. Keep accuracy at 95% or higher.
- Use your weak keys. The result screen lists the keys you missed most; "Practise weak keys" builds a drill from them.