Best Fonts for Dyslexia and ADHD Reading on Screens

There's no single best font for dyslexia or ADHD, and special "dyslexia fonts" haven't held up well in studies. What helps most is a clear, plain font at a good size with generous spacing, and a page without clutter. Here's what to try.

Fonts worth trying

• Plain sans-serif fonts such as Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Century Gothic and Open Sans. The British Dyslexia Association's style guide recommends fonts like these.
• Lexend, a free Google font family designed for reading ease, with wider letter spacing options.
• Atkinson Hyperlegible, a free font from the Braille Institute that makes easily confused letters (like I, l and 1) more distinct.
• Verdana in particular has wide letters and generous spacing, which many readers find easier on screens.

What about OpenDyslexic and Dyslexie?

Fonts made for dyslexia, such as OpenDyslexic and Dyslexie, use heavy letter bottoms and unusual shapes to stop letters from looking flipped. Studies comparing them with ordinary fonts generally haven't found that they make people read faster or more accurately. Some readers still prefer them, and preference matters, since a font you're comfortable with keeps you reading. Try one, but don't expect it to do the work of good spacing.

Spacing and layout matter more than the font

• Text size: larger than you'd think, at least 16 pixels on screen.
• Line spacing: about 1.5 times the text size.
• Letter and word spacing: slightly wider than default helps many dyslexic readers.
• Line length: short lines, roughly 60 to 70 characters, so your eyes don't lose their place.
• Background: off-white or cream instead of bright white, and dark grey text instead of pure black, reduce glare.
• Avoid long italic passages, underlining for emphasis, all capitals and justified text with uneven gaps.

ADHD: fewer distractions beat a different font

For ADHD, the problem is usually staying on the line and on the page, not telling letters apart. Removing distractions and breaking text into smaller pieces helps more than any font. ADHD Reading Focus narrows a web page down to one paragraph at a time, with arrow keys to move on and a font size control, so the rest of the page doesn't pull your attention away.

How to change fonts on the web

• Chrome's default fonts: Settings → Appearance → Customize fonts. Many sites override these with their own fonts.
• Chrome's Reading mode: open it from the side panel. It shows the article text in a font, size, spacing and color you choose, and works on most article pages.
• Your device: Windows, macOS, iOS and Android all have text size and display settings in their accessibility menus.

For more on making pages easier to read, see optimal paragraph length for web reading.