Is A Christmas Carol hard to read? Its reading level from A1 to C2
How many words in every 100 you will probably not know, at each level from A1 to C2. Estimated over the whole book with Solaread’s own word-difficulty model.
- Author
- Charles Dickens
- First published
- 1843
- Length
- About 27,500 words
- Copyright
- Public domain
Short answer
Just right only at C2: 3.6 new words in every 100. At B1 it is too hard, 10.7 in 100. It is the seventh hardest of the 20 English classics we measured.
New words per 100, by level
Estimated over all 27,541 running words. Character names are left out. The labels follow Solaread’s difficulty scale: Easy means knowing 98 of every 100 words, Just right 95, A little hard 90, and below that Too hard.
A Christmas Carol vocabulary by level
At A2
- ghost93×
- spirit105×
- cry57×
- merry36×
- nephew34×
- laugh38×
- upon118×
- observe22×
- tiny24×
- reply21×
- gentleman18×
- bless17×
The 12 words an A2 reader is most likely to stop at in this book, with how often each appears. Together they are about 7% of the new words at this level.
At B1
- merry36×
- nephew34×
- ghost93×
- exclaim13×
- phantom15×
- observe22×
- specter12×
- tremble11×
- scarcely11×
- niece13×
- clerk16×
- pudding10×
The 12 words a B1 reader is most likely to stop at in this book, with how often each appears. Together they are about 6% of the new words at this level.
At B2
- exclaim13×
- specter12×
- tremble11×
- merry36×
- scarcely11×
- knocker7×
- to-morrow7×
- plump7×
- heartily6×
- waistcoat6×
- robe9×
- ruddy6×
The 12 words a B2 reader is most likely to stop at in this book, with how often each appears. Together they are about 5% of the new words at this level.
The opening lines
Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade.
Open the free EPUB in Solaread and the words it marks follow your own level, with glosses in the language you choose.
Books with a similar level
- Treasure Island9.7 new words per 100 at B1
- Little Women10.2 at B1
- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde10.2 at B1
Questions
Is A Christmas Carol hard to read?
At B1 it is too hard, with 10.7 new words in every 100 (about one in 9). It is just right only at C2.
What is the reading level of A Christmas Carol?
On Solaread’s scale it is just right only at C2, and the seventh hardest of the 20 English classics we measured. At B2, 7.0 in every 100 words are new.
Where can I get A Christmas Carol for free?
It is in the public domain. Project Gutenberg has a free EPUB you can import into Solaread.
Read it with help only where you need it
Import the free EPUB. Solaread marks the words you probably don’t know, at your level.