Reading level 9: what it looks like and what to practise
A Peabody level 9 story has sentences of up to 62 words and 110 to 160 words a screen, with a Flesch–Kincaid score of 8.5 to 9.5. Readers get here by climbing, not by grade. Below: a real sample, the skills practised and free games, all free through the end of 2026.
| Measure | Level 9 |
|---|---|
| Longest sentence | 62 words |
| Average sentence the writer aims at | 16 words |
| Words per screen | 110 to 160 |
| Flesch–Kincaid range | 8.5 to 9.5 |
| Most words off the familiar-word list (Dale–Chall) | 20% |
| Children who start here | none by grade; a reader climbs to it |
| Free stories at this level | 12 stories |
What a level 9 story reads like
This is the start of The Gift of the Magi, a retold classic in Peabody's library at level 9 (measured reading ease 8.9). The whole story is free to read, with no account.
One dollar and eighty-seven cents was the entire fortune, and sixty cents of it consisted of pennies, saved one and two at a time by negotiating with the grocer and the vegetable merchant and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent accusation of stinginess that such relentless bargaining inevitably implied.
The story teaches 8 words, each with a kid-sized meaning. A few: stinginess (not sharing money), vestibule (entrance hall), longitudinal (running lengthwise) and depreciated (made worth less).
Compared with level 8: the longest sentence goes from 62 to 62 words, a screen goes from 100–145 words to 110–160, and the share of words allowed off the familiar-word list goes from 19% to 20%.
What Peabody practises at level 9
At this level the practice brain works on vocabulary and spelling. The skills it holds, in the order it teaches them:
| Skill | What is in it |
|---|---|
| vocabulary | 40 words at vocabulary band 8, such as infinitesimal, ethereal and effulgent (the word bank ends at band 8, so level 9 keeps using it) |
| spelling | spells the phonics and sight words the child already reads |
A word a child gets right is done for good and is not asked again, so practice moves on rather than looping. The sight-word lists are pre-primer (40), primer (52), first grade (41), second grade (46) and third grade (41). The full phonics scope and sequence is a free guide.
Free games that practise these skills
Every game below asks questions from the same practice brain, as three big boxes to tap, with no typing. They start from a child's grade, not their reading level, so a game's questions fit the grade they pick.
| Game | Asks | From | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potion Shop | vocabulary, spelling | 2nd | Read the orders and brew the right potion. |
| Dino Dash | vocabulary, spelling | Pre-K | Hatch dinos, ride them through nine lands, chomp wrong eggs. |
| Astro Rescue | vocabulary, spelling | K | Jump through space and free the lost bots. |
| Temple Escape | vocabulary, spelling | Pre-K | Run eight temples on a companion you hatched, and take the arch with the right answer. |
| Cell Break | vocabulary, spelling | Pre-K | Dig out of jail: find letters, finish words, win your lunch. |
| Last Word | vocabulary, spelling | Pre-K | Give the zombies their words back. Survive the night. |
| Choose Your Own Adventure | vocabulary, spelling | K | Pick a story. Every choice changes how it ends. |
| Onslaught | vocabulary, spelling | K | Build a maze of towers. Hold back the Clankers! |
| Number Trails | vocabulary, spelling | K | Sail a map of numbers. Pick +10, ×2 or −1 to reach the treasure in the fewest moves! |
| Deep Dig | spelling | K | Read the word on the block to dig deeper. |
Two word games sit outside the learning list: Word Rescue (catch falling letters to spell words from your story) and Word Blocks (hop on the word you hear).
The arcade also has two action games with cartoon violence, Sniper and Doomcrawl. We leave them off these lists on purpose; every game is on the games page.
Free stories at level 9
The 12 open stories at level 9 include 8 retold classics and 7 spooky ones, marked as such. Their themes include classic, christmas, ghost, horse, mystery and nonfiction.
- Vasilisa the Brave
- The Pigeon Post
- Theseus and the Minotaur
- The Gift of the Magi
- Around the World in Eighty Days
- Don Quixote and the Windmills
All level 9 stories are free to read without an account. Each ends with questions of a few kinds: inference, literal and word-in-context.
Other levels
Level 8 · Level 10 · all levels and grades · the reading levels cheat sheet
Questions parents ask
Which children start at level 9?
No grade starts at level 9. Peabody starts a child one level under their grade, so a reader reaches this level by reading up from below as books run easy.
How is level 9 measured?
From the text, never from the child. The limits are a longest sentence of 62 words, 110 to 160 words a screen, a Flesch–Kincaid score of 8.5 to 9.5 and at most 20% of words off the Dale–Chall list.
Is it free?
Yes, free through the end of 2026, with no sign-up. Peabody is a reading app, not an assessment: it cannot hear a child read, so a teacher is the one to ask about fluency.
Checked against how Peabody works on 18 October 2026. Written with help from AI, from Peabody's own code and library. Peabody is a learning app, not an assessment: if you're worried about your child's learning, talk to their teacher.