Highlights•Reading speed has been overestimated.•For English silent reading it is 238 words per minute.•For reading aloud it is 183 words per minute.•There is no evidence for reading gears except for reading versus text scanning.AbstractBased on the analysis of 190 studies (18,573 participants), we estimate that the average silent reading rate for adults in English is 238 words per minute (wpm) for non-fiction and 260 wpm for fiction. The difference can be predicted by taking into account the...