What Is a Dyslexia Font?

What makes a font “dyslexia-friendly”

Fonts sold or shared as dyslexia fonts usually change letter shapes so that similar letters look less alike. Common features are:

• heavier strokes at the bottom of letters, meant to “anchor” them (OpenDyslexic, Dyslexie);
• different shapes for mirror-image letters such as b, d, p and q;
• larger openings in letters like c and e, and taller ascenders and descenders;
• wider spacing between letters and words.

Two related fonts were not made specifically for dyslexia. Lexend was designed around the idea that wider letters and spacing reduce visual crowding. Atkinson Hyperlegible was created by the Braille Institute for readers with low vision.

What the research says

The evidence is mixed, and on the main question it is mostly negative: studies have not found that dyslexia fonts make people with dyslexia read faster or more accurately on average.

• In elementary school students with dyslexia, OpenDyslexic gave no improvement in reading rate or accuracy compared with Arial or Times New Roman, and none of the students said they preferred it (Wery & Diliberto, Annals of Dyslexia, 2017).
• An eye-tracking study with 48 readers with dyslexia found that sans serif, monospaced and roman (upright) fonts helped, while OpenDyslexic did not improve reading performance (Rello & Baeza-Yates, ACM ASSETS 2013).
• In two experiments with more than 270 Dutch children, those with dyslexia did not read faster or more accurately in the Dyslexie font than in Arial or Times New Roman, and most preferred the ordinary fonts (Kuster et al., Annals of Dyslexia, 2018).
• Spacing does seem to matter: extra-large letter spacing improved reading speed and accuracy for Italian and French children with dyslexia (Zorzi et al., PNAS, 2012).

So is it worth using one?

Possibly — as a personal preference, not a treatment. Some readers say a font like OpenDyslexic feels calmer or more comfortable, while in the studies above most children preferred ordinary fonts. If one feels better to you, there is no harm in using it. It does not replace evidence-based reading instruction or support from a teacher or specialist.

The settings with more support are about layout rather than letter shapes. The British Dyslexia Association’s Dyslexia Style Guide recommends:

• a plain sans serif font at 12–14 point (16–19 px on screen), or larger if preferred;
• slightly wider letter spacing, and word spacing at least 3.5 times the letter spacing;
• line spacing of about 1.5;
• lines of about 60–70 characters, left-aligned, not justified;
• dark text on a cream or soft pastel background instead of bright white;
• bold for emphasis instead of italics, underlining or ALL CAPS.

The converter above lets you try each of these on your own text. Compare the three fonts at the same size and spacing, and keep whichever is most comfortable for you.