This Spanish typing test gives you real Spanish sentences and common words – pequeña, mañana, también, teléfono – so you practise the letters Spanish actually uses. It is free, needs no sign-up and works in any browser. In Spain and Latin America this is called a prueba de mecanografía or a test de mecanografía, and the result is often quoted in pulsaciones por minuto. Here you get both: words per minute and characters per minute.
What makes typing Spanish different
Spanish uses the 26 Latin letters plus ñ, five vowels with an acute accent (á é í ó ú), ü in words like pingüino, and the opening marks ¿ and ¡. Accents are not decoration: sí (yes) and si (if), él (he) and el (the) are different words, so a Spanish typing test marks a missing tilde as a mistake.
The accents also change your rhythm. On a Spanish keyboard an accented vowel is two keystrokes: the dead accent key, then the vowel. Nothing appears after the first press, which catches out many beginners. Spanish words are also slightly longer than English ones on average, and endings like -ción, -mente and -ando come up constantly, so drilling them pays off quickly.
How to take a typing test online in Spanish
You have two ways to take this prueba de mecanografía online:
- Your own Spanish keyboard. If your computer already uses a Spanish (Spain) or Latin American layout, keep the default option. Whatever your system types goes straight into the test.
- The built-in Spanish (Spain) layout. Choose it in the Keyboard menu and your ordinary English keyboard types Spanish: the ; key becomes ñ, the ' key becomes the accent key, and so on. The on-screen keyboard shows every key, coloured by the finger that should press it, and the animated hands point to the next key.
Latin American keyboards put ñ in the same place but move the accent key and ¿ ¡ elsewhere. The site's built-in layout follows the Spain standard, so if you learnt on a Latin American keyboard, keep using your own. On a phone the built-in layout is switched off; use your phone keyboard and hold a vowel to pick the accented version.
Spanish keyboard: where the special characters are
This table shows the Spain (ISO) layout used by the built-in keyboard, and the key you press on a US keyboard when the built-in layout is on.
| Character | Spanish keyboard | On a US keyboard (built-in layout) |
|---|---|---|
| ñ / Ñ | Key right of L (Shift for Ñ) | ; |
| á é í ó ú | Dead accent key right of ñ, then the vowel | ' then the vowel |
| ü | Shift + accent key (¨), then u | Shift+' then u |
| ¡ / ¿ | Key left of Backspace (Shift for ¿) | = / Shift+= |
| ' (apostrophe) / ? | Key right of 0 (Shift for ?) | - / Shift+- |
| ç | Key right of the accent key, next to Enter | \ |
| º / ª | Key left of 1 | ` / Shift+` |
If a dead key seems to do nothing, it is waiting for the vowel. Type the accent, then the letter – never the other way round.
Spanish typing test without accents (sin tildes)
Many people search for a test de mecanografía sin acentos because their keyboard has no accent key. The standard test keeps the real spelling, because that is what you will type at work. If you want a Spanish typing test with no accents anyway, open the custom typing test, paste any Spanish text with the tildes removed and type that. It is timed and scored the same way, so it works as a prueba de mecanografía online sin acentos. Here is a short sample you could paste, written the way people type when they skip accents:
Hoy hice una prueba de mecanografia online gratis, sin acentos y sin tildes, y conte mis pulsaciones por minuto y mis palabras por minuto. Despues hice una prueba de velocidad de mecanografia online en ingles y otra en español, porque un test gratuito de mecanografia online es la forma mas facil de ver que es lo que me falta mejorar. Tambien empece un curso de mecanografia online gratis para niños y adultos, con ejercicios para escribir rapido en el teclado.
Search engines and people alike often write mecanografia without its accent, which is exactly why a test de mecanografía sin tildes exists. Do go back to the accented version once you are comfortable: a missing tilde is a spelling error in a real letter or exam.
Pulsaciones por minuto vs words per minute
Spanish typing schools and job ads often measure speed in pulsaciones por minuto (ppm), which counts keystrokes, while English sites use words per minute. The site shows words per minute and characters per minute (CPM):
WPM = (correct characters ÷ 5) ÷ minutes
Raw WPM = (all typed characters ÷ 5) ÷ minutes
Accuracy = correct keystrokes ÷ all keystrokes × 100
Worked example: in a 1 minute Spanish typing test you type 255 characters and 245 of them are correct. Your speed is 245 ÷ 5 = 49 WPM, your raw speed is 255 ÷ 5 = 51 WPM, and if 245 of your 255 keystrokes were right your accuracy is about 96%. Your CPM is 245. If the passage had 8 accented vowels, you pressed the dead key 8 extra times, so your pulsaciones por minuto would be about 263 – slightly higher than CPM. To convert roughly, divide ppm by 5 to get words per minute.
How fast should you type Spanish?
Speeds in Spanish are close to English speeds once you know the accent key. What is the average WPM typed? For most adults it is about 35–40 WPM. These are typical ranges:
| Level | WPM | About ppm |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | under 25 | under 125 |
| Average | 30–40 | 150–200 |
| Good / office work | 50–60 | 250–300 |
| Fast | 70+ | 350+ |
How many WPM do you need to pass a typing test? Typing test WPM for jobs is usually set at 35–50 WPM with 95% accuracy or better, while some Spanish public-sector exams have asked for a set number of pulsaciones; always check the official notice for the exam you are taking. The average typing speed page has more benchmarks.
Curso de mecanografía online gratis
A test shows your speed; a course builds it. The site has both, and in Spanish that looks like this:
Además de la prueba de mecanografía online gratis, aquí tienes un curso de mecanografía online gratis en español: las lecciones del teclado español empiezan por la fila central (A S D F – J K L Ñ) y añaden dos teclas cada vez. La mecanografía online en español funciona en el navegador del ordenador, sin instalar nada. Es un curso de mecanografía online gratis con certificado de tus resultados: al final de cada prueba puedes crear un certificado con tu velocidad, aunque no es un título oficial. Para practicar con textos completos, los ejercicios de mecanografía online gratis del modo párrafo te dan un texto entero en lugar de palabras sueltas.
For children, the typing games for kids use simple Spanish words, and each balloon's colour shows which finger to use.
How to practise typing in Spanish
- Learn the home row with ñ. On a Spanish keyboard your right little finger rests on ñ, not on a semicolon. The free Spanish course on the typing lessons page teaches this layout key by key.
- Drill the dead key. Type está, también, después, música slowly until accent-then-vowel is automatic.
- Keep your eyes on the screen. Use the finger colours on the on-screen keyboard instead of looking down.
- Take short tests often. Three 1 minute tests a day beat one long one. Move to 5 minutes once you can hold 95% accuracy – a fast typing test in Spanish rewards steady rhythm, not bursts.
- Fix your weak keys. After each result, press "Practise weak keys" to get a drill built from the letters you missed.
Want variety? The typing games work in Spanish too, and the punctuation and numbers toggles turn this into a harder test with commas, full stops and figures.
Taking a typing test in English instead
If you need a prueba de mecanografía en inglés for a bilingual job, switch the language to English in the menu, or open the English typing test. Your results for both languages are saved in your browser, so you can compare them on the progress page.