Is OpenDyslexic better than Arial?

Not in controlled studies. A 2017 study in Annals of Dyslexia found OpenDyslexic did not improve reading speed or accuracy compared with Arial or Times New Roman for students with dyslexia. Some readers still prefer how it feels, so it is worth trying.

Is Lexend a dyslexia font?

Lexend is a font family designed to improve reading fluency through wider letterforms and spacing. It is not specifically a dyslexia font, and most of the evidence for it comes from its creator rather than independent peer-reviewed studies. It is a clean, highly readable choice.

What font size is best for dyslexia?

The British Dyslexia Association recommends 12 to 14 point or larger, roughly 16 to 19 pixels on screen. Many dyslexic readers prefer larger text still, so go bigger if it helps.

Does Comic Sans help with dyslexia?

The British Dyslexia Association lists Comic Sans among suitable sans serif fonts because its letters have distinct shapes. There is little direct research on it, but if you find it easy to read, use it.

The Best Fonts for Dyslexia: What the Research Actually Says

Q: What is the best font for dyslexia?

There is no single best font. In an eye-tracking study of 48 dyslexic readers, Rello and Baeza-Yates (2013) found Helvetica, Courier, Arial, Verdana and Computer Modern Unicode worked well, while italics slowed reading. Choose a clear sans serif font and then adjust spacing, which often matters more.

Search for "best font for dyslexia" and you will find strong claims about special fonts that "retrain the brain". The research is more modest, and more useful. The font itself matters a little. How the text is spaced, sized and coloured matters more.

What the studies found

Sans serif, roman and monospaced fonts read best

In 2013, Luz Rello and Ricardo Baeza-Yates tracked the eye movements of 48 readers with dyslexia as they read texts in 12 fonts (ASSETS 2013). Sans serif, roman (upright) and monospaced fonts improved reading performance. Italic fonts made it worse, and Arial Italic was the slowest of all. Their conclusion: Helvetica, Courier, Arial, Verdana and Computer Modern Unicode are good fonts for people with dyslexia.

Specialist dyslexia fonts have not beaten standard fonts

OpenDyslexic gives letters heavy bottoms so they seem anchored to the line. In the same 2013 study it did no better than standard fonts. A later 2017 study in Annals of Dyslexia compared OpenDyslexic with Arial and Times New Roman for students with dyslexia and found no improvement in reading rate or accuracy.

That does not mean these fonts are useless. Comfort affects how long you are willing to keep reading, and some readers strongly prefer them. It means you should not expect a font alone to change how well you read.

Spacing makes a measurable difference

The clearest result in this area is about space, not letter shapes. In a 2012 study in PNAS, Zorzi and colleagues found that extra-large letter spacing improved reading speed and accuracy for children with dyslexia. Crowded letters are harder to tell apart; giving each one more room reduces that crowding.

The shortlist

Font	Why it works	Where to get it
Arial	Clear sans serif, recommended by the British Dyslexia Association	Built into most devices
Verdana	Wide letters and generous spacing, designed for screens	Built into most devices
Helvetica	Performed well in eye-tracking research	Built into Apple devices
Tahoma	Compact but clear sans serif	Windows and many apps
Lexend	Wide, clean letterforms designed for reading fluency	Free from Google Fonts
OpenDyslexic	Weighted letters some readers find anchoring	Free, open source

Fonts to avoid for long reading: anything italic, condensed or decorative, and serif fonts at small sizes.

Settings that matter more than the font

The British Dyslexia Association style guide recommends:

Size: 12 to 14 point or larger (about 16 to 19 px on screen).
Letter and word spacing: increased by around 30 to 35%.
Line spacing: 1.5.
Background: cream or a soft pastel rather than bright white.
Layout: left-aligned text, no justified text, short lines.

How to find your font

Everyone's reading is different, so test rather than guess:

Open our free dyslexia font tester and paste a paragraph you find hard to read.
Increase the size until it feels comfortable, then add letter and word spacing.
Try each background colour.
Pick the font that feels easiest after reading for a minute, not at first glance.

Once you know what works, you can use it everywhere. The ClearRead app for iPhone and iPad includes Lexend, OpenDyslexic, Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, Calibri and Tahoma, with separate sliders for letter, word, line and paragraph spacing and custom colours. It applies them to your own ePubs, PDFs and web articles, and can read the text aloud while highlighting each word, which has stronger evidence than any font.