Is The Time Machine 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
- H. G. Wells
- First published
- 1895
- Length
- About 32,200 words
- Copyright
- Public domain
Short answer
Just right only at C2: 3.3 new words in every 100. At B1 it is too hard, 11.7 in 100. It is the sixth hardest of the 20 English classics we measured.
New words per 100, by level
Estimated over all 32,174 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.
The Time Machine vocabulary by level
At A2
- traveler63×
- machine90×
- presently28×
- darkness28×
- creature27×
- strange33×
- lever24×
- upon113×
- begin45×
- sphinx23×
- sky33×
- grow46×
The 12 words an A2 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.
At B1
- traveler63×
- presently28×
- sphinx23×
- lever24×
- vanish16×
- dim13×
- creature27×
- dimension19×
- creep14×
- camphor11×
- blackness11×
- flicker11×
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
- traveler63×
- sphinx23×
- vanish16×
- lever24×
- presently28×
- camphor11×
- blackness11×
- flicker11×
- pedestal11×
- glare10×
- shone8×
- dim13×
The 12 words a B2 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.
The opening lines
The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burnt brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents, embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere, when thought runs gracefully free of the trammels of precision.
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
- Jane Eyre12.0 new words per 100 at B1
- Wuthering Heights12.1 at B1
- Heart of Darkness12.2 at B1
Questions
Is The Time Machine hard to read?
At B1 it is too hard, with 11.7 new words in every 100 (about one in 9). It is just right only at C2.
What is the reading level of The Time Machine?
On Solaread’s scale it is just right only at C2, and the sixth hardest of the 20 English classics we measured. At B2, 7.4 in every 100 words are new.
Where can I get The Time Machine 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.