free proofreading exercises with answers

Proofreading Exercises

Learn how to proofread by working through our library of proofreading exercises.

• Post author By Duncan Croker
• Post date August 24, 2020
• 4 Comments on Proofreading Exercises

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• Easy Exercises
• Medium Exercises
• Hard Exercises

In a digital world, it’s more important than ever to make sure your communications are error-free – you don’t want to be responsible for a press release that goes viral because of an awkward misspelling.

That’s why we’ve put together this collection of proofreading exercises to test your skills. Work your way up through the difficulty levels until you feel confident that you’ve mastered the required proofreading skills.

Download each exercise PDF to get started, then print it out or copy-paste it into Microsoft Word; once you’ve finished editing, cross-check the mistakes you found with the relevant answer sheet.

Answer sheets follow AP Stylebook conventions (where appropriate) and use British spelling. New proofreading exercises will be regularly added to this page. Note that the original sources contain the correct text – all mistakes have been added in for the purposes of the exercises.

Easy Proofreading Exercise 1

Exercise details.

Format: News Article

Source: ‘NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance hits back after claims Sydney ferries won’t fit under bridges.’

Easy Proofreading Exercise 2

Source:  ‘Now is the time to buy in the Melbourne property market.’

Easy Proofreading Exercise 3

Format: Blog Post

Source: How to Find the Noosa Fairy Pools

Easy Proofreading Exercise 4

Source: Marketing for Small Businesses

Medium Proofreading Exercise 1

Format: Annual Report

Source: Rio Tinto Annual Report 2019 – Strategic Report

Medium Proofreading Exercise 2

Source: The 11 Best Foods to Support Your Immune System

Medium Proofreading Exercise 3

Format: Online Article

Source: A Better Way to Map Brand Strategy

Medium Proofreading Exercise 4

Format: Online Publication

Source: Telstra s 87B Undertaking

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Hard Proofreading Exercise 1

Format: Academic Journal

Source: Passafaro, P. (2020). Attitudes and Tourists’ Sustainable Behavior: An Overview of the Literature and Discussion of Some Theoretical and Methodological Issues.  Journal of Travel Research, 59 (4), 579–601.  DOI: 10.1177/0047287519851171

Hard Proofreading Exercise 2

Source: Demirkol, S., & Cifci, I. (2020). Delving into the Role of Celebrity Chefs and Gourmets in Culinary Destination Marketing.  European Journal of Tourism Research, 26 , 2603. https://ejtr.vumk.eu/index.php/about/article/view/1934

Other Resources for Improving Your Proofreading

• Tags Proofreading

By Duncan Croker

Duncan is a copywriter with a background in editing and storytelling. He loves collaborating with brands big and small, and thrives on the challenges of hard marketing.

4 comments on “Proofreading Exercises”

This is great. It’s really helpful to see practical exercises. Thanks for putting this together!

Fantastic exercises, thank you for providing these!

These exercises have been really great. Thank you. I’m using them with my A level student in preparation for University where proofreading will be essential! The content is just right for his interest level too and short enough to keep his interest.

Hi Geraldine, it’s great to hear you and your student are finding the exercises helpful. We’ll hopefully add some more in the near future.

Comments are closed.

10 Free Proofreading Tests (To Boost Your Editing Skills)

How about testing your skills through a free proofreading test? Taking free proofreading quizzes will help you improve your editing capabilities rapidly. Can you take these tests without spending a dime? Yes! To make things easy for you, I’ve compiled tests that will help you grasp English grammar rules and common language errors. Are you ready to become a successful proofreader? Let’s do this!

The 10 Best Free Proofreading Tests Online:

1. earn smart online class.

Earn Smart Online Class is an excellent platform for new proofreaders as it offers more than just proofreading tests. The website contains several tips for improving your proofreading skills. Although the proofreading test is short with a few multiple-choice questions, it tests your capability by asking questions where most proofreaders make mistakes. Thus, you can easily test your proofreading skills through this test. The good thing about this website is that besides offering an online test, it also provides a downloadable PDF. Thus, you can choose to take the test at your convenience. It also has an answer key to make sure you check your answers as well!

2. Freelance Writing

As the name suggests, Freelance Writing is a platform dedicated solely to writers. So, if you’re a proofreader, you can get much more from this website. I like this test and would suggest you take it as well because it’s different from many others. It specifically checks your professionalism on the job. The test isn’t composed of multiple-choice questions but of one paragraph with only a few grammatical errors. This test trains you to check documents written by professional writers as well. You’ll also find the solution at the end, which explicitly explains how it works to help improve your proofreading skills.

3. Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP)

The proofreading test by the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) is perhaps the best choice for people who want to test their copy-editing skills through a credible source. Unlike many other tests, it contains several multiple-choice questions. The questions also focus on a broad spectrum wherein you’ll have to highlight grammar mistakes, punctuation errors, language use, etc. The website has 14 quizzes, and you can download the PDF version of the test. You’ll also have to download the answer key, which is right next to the quiz. The best thing I like about this free proofreading test is that it focuses not only on grammar and spelling mistakes. Instead, you’ll learn a lot more to help you become a professional freelance proofreader.

4. Using English for Academic Purposes (UEfAP)

Using English for Academic Purposes (UEfAP) is a credible source with many tips and resources to help you improve your skills in checking copies for errors. It has several quizzes to test your proofreading skills, which you can take after learning the pointers taught by the site. It enables you to assess whether your proofreading skills have improved. Another good thing about this website is that it has a wide assortment of quizzes, including punctuation, parts of speech, spelling, word order, etc. By taking these quizzes, you can have a better grip on various parts of the English language, which will help you a lot in your proofreading career.

5. Grammar Book

Grammar Book is another excellent website for writers and proofreaders because it contains a lot of tips and information to help boost your skills. You can find almost everything about English on this website. So, if you want to learn about proofreading and writing, as well as expanding your vocabulary , it can be an amazing resource. Apart from that, the website has 52 free quizzes and 4 free tests. If you want to access more, you’ll have to subscribe. However, I believe attempting the quizzes and tests is enough to help you improve your English skills . The quizzes are also of different types to help you unlock a broad range of knowledge about proofreading.

6. Portland Proof

7. proofreadnow.com.

ProofreadNow.com is an excellent platform for both beginners and professional proofreaders. However, this quiz can be tough because it challenges you to spot the tiniest mistakes. Their meticulous method is excellent for testing your proofreading skills. That’s why professional proofreaders can also try it to polish their skills even more. The quiz consists of 10 multiple-choice questions, and it won’t take much time to solve them. However, you’ll have to rack your brain to spot and point out the tiniest mistakes. The quiz starts as soon as you select the first answer, and it’ll go on from there. Another thing, there is no do-over once you answer, so you have to think hard before solving.

8. AuthorityPub

9. love to know.

Love To Know is another free online proofreading test that I liked a lot. The test itself is moderate, and the best thing about it is that it’s printable. This feature makes it easier for people who find it difficult to underline and highlight mistakes on the screen. This test won’t tell you the number of mistakes in the document beforehand. You must fish them out. This method is amazing because when clients give you documents to proofread, you will not be told about the number of mistakes as well. So, attempting this test can be an excellent way of getting some practical experience .

10. Sporcle

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Hey there, welcome to my blog! I'm a full-time entrepreneur building two companies, a digital marketer, and a content creator with 10+ years of experience. I started RafalReyzer.com to provide you with great tools and strategies you can use to become a proficient digital marketer and achieve freedom through online creativity. My site is a one-stop shop for digital marketers, and content enthusiasts who want to be independent, earn more money, and create beautiful things. Explore my journey here , and don't miss out on my AI Marketing Mastery online course.

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Can you ace this basic proofreading quiz.

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Mar 22, 2018 7:30:00 AM

Take our quiz to test your basic proofreading knowledge and see if you can catch every single typo. See if you can get every question right and ace the entire quiz. And don’t look for any of the answers online, so you can really step up to the challenge!

Let us know how you did in the comments below. Good luck!

Topics: proofreading quiz , typos, typographic errors

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Top-Tier Proofreading Tests and Quizzes

This article may contain affiliate links. Please see our affiliate disclaimer in the footer menu for more information. Thank you for your support!

I’ve scoured the internet to bring you some of the best proofreading tests and quizzes!

These assessments cover several areas that proofreaders need to master, including grammar, punctuation, spelling, and word usage.

I recommend using a dictionary and other resources while taking these tests since that’s what professional proofreaders do!

Table of Contents

Proofreading Tests and Quizzes to Assess Your Skills

The exams are listed according to the website where they’re located and are organized from easiest to hardest.

I created a test pertaining to word usage to get the ball rolling!

One of the proofreading tests is in UK English, and the rest are in US English.

Please keep in mind that there are spelling, punctuation, grammar, and vocabulary differences between British and American English. 

The duration of the test is listed as short or long.

Short means it will take you a few minutes to complete.

Long indicates you’ll need several minutes or more to finish it.

I’ve included the number of quizzes on each website whenever more than one is available. Some sites will likely add more tests over time.

I hope you have fun testing your skills and boosting your proofreading prowess !  😊

Om Proofreading

Test Format:  Multiple choice

Type of English:  US

Duration:  Long

Test-Taking Note:  This test focuses on mistakes that spellcheckers miss. Most sentences deal with homophones: words with the same pronunciation but different meanings (and often different spellings). I hope you enjoy it!

Note: If you need to rid your writing (or someone else’s) of mistakes with homophones, the free version of Grammarly can catch a lot of homophonic errors! 

And if you aced the test above, you may want to check out my article about confusing homophones . It contains a fun quiz at the end to check your understanding!

Edit Republic

Quiz Format: Multiple choice

Type of English: US

Duration: Short

What the Company Offers: Site owner Phon Baillie has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. She offers several courses for those interested in working as proofreaders or editors.

Portland Proof

Quiz Format: Find the error in each sentence and write the correct word or punctuation mark in the text box

Duration: Short; I’m not sure how many quizzes are on this site, but it seems to have quite a few. I think they’re a ton of fun!

Quiz-Taking Tip:  Click the “Begin Game!” button to start the quiz. Your score is based on how many mistakes you make and how long it takes you to correct each sentence. You can compete with other quiz takers for the highest score.

What the Company Offers: This company provides proofreading services.

GrammarBook.com

Test/Quiz Format: Multiple choice; 4 tests and 52 quizzes are available

Duration: Long (the 2 pretests and 2 mastery tests); Short (the other 52 quizzes)

What the Company Offers: This website is based on Jane Straus’s The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation . I own and love this book!

The site is a fantastic resource for proofreaders and copy editors as it teaches the rules for English grammar, punctuation, and usage. It includes 4 free tests and 52 free quizzes. Hundreds of additional quizzes are available with a paid subscription.

Grammar Monster

Test Format: Varies

Duration: Short (334 total tests!!!)

What the Company Offers: This site provides a wealth of knowledge about grammar, punctuation, and commonly misused words. And, of course, truckloads of tests are available. You can hone your English language skills to your heart’s content!

Quiz Format: Find the error in each sentence

Type of English: Not a relevant factor in this case (but UK punctuation is used)

Duration: Long

Quiz-Taking Tip: You have to click on the correct answer (located in the word bank below each sentence).

What the Company Offers: Sporcle provides trivia entertainment online and at live shows. If you’re into trivia, you’ll love this site!

BusinessWritingBlog

Test Format: Find the punctuation error in each sentence

What the Company Offers: This company is dedicated to helping people become experts in business writing.

Proofread NOW .com

Quiz-Taking Tip: As soon as you click inside the bubble to mark your answer, the quiz moves on, and you can’t go back.

What the Company Offers: Proofreading and copyediting for documents written in English and Spanish; English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English translation services

Employment for Proofreaders: Yes. However, they weren’t hiring the last time I checked. They require a minimum of five years of experience as a professional proofreader. You must also perform exceptionally well on several complicated editing tests.

You can go here to see if they’re currently hiring.

Grammar Lion

Test Format: Multiple choice

Duration: Short 

Test-Taking Note: You need to create an account to access this free test. You can take the test now and then retake it after finishing the Grammar Lion Refresher class to see how much you’ve learned.

Test-Taking Tip: You can’t go back on any questions, so make sure you’re happy with your answer before moving on. After finishing the test, choose “Next Lesson” to see your score. 

What the Company Offers: Site owner Ellen Feld has a master’s degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University. She offers a grammar course and a writing course, both suitable for beginners. Ellen also provides coaching services for writers.

CMOS Shop Talk (from The Chicago Manual of Style )

Workout Format: Multiple choice; 47 workouts are available

Workout Tip: Remember to breathe deeply and engage your core. Oops! I mean, enjoy this fabulous resource! These workouts mainly contain questions related to proofreading; however, they also include questions about editing and knowledge of The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS).

I own a hard copy of CMOS and subscribe to it online. CMOS is my go-to style guide for proofreading and copyediting.

CMOS Shop Talk is an incredibly valuable resource for general proofreaders!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a proofreading test.

A proofreading test evaluates an individual’s proofreading proficiency. These tests are administered for various purposes, such as to assess job candidates, verify progress made in a proofreading class, or determine whether someone should earn a particular credential.

How do I prepare for a proofreading test?

To get ready for a proofreading test , you need to know the details of the exam (e.g., if it has a particular focus, any style guide requirements, or a time limit).

You can take practice proofreading tests to boost your confidence and uncover areas that need improvement, such as specific aspects of grammar and punctuation. Then, you can use online resources and reference books to improve your skills.

What are five items to check when proofreading?

Five items to check while proofreading are grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and formatting. Proofreaders fix errors and inconsistencies in these areas. They also look for proper usage and repeated or omitted words. Finally, verifying that writing adheres to a style guide is often needed.

How can I practice proofreading?

You can practice proofreading by looking for mistakes in documents you encounter in daily life. You can proofread your writing or someone else’s. For example, students can practice with papers and essays, teachers with lesson plans and textbooks, and businesspeople with reports and emails.

We can all mine for mistakes in books, newspapers, billboards, brochures, menus, and anything else we see in print. The opportunities are endless! The more you train your eyes to spot slipups, the better you’ll get.

I hope you’ve enjoyed putting your proofreading skills to the test!

Please see my post about the skills proofreaders possess if you’d like more information about this topic. 

Om Proofreading also has an article about the signs you would make a good proofreader !

Best wishes to you! 

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou

Lindsay Babcock

Lindsay is the creator of Om Proofreading. She has a BA in psychology and earned a certificate in proofreading by passing the final exam in Proofread Anywhere’s general proofreading course. She shares what she’s learning in the field and through research to inform and inspire her readers.

Recent Posts

6 Reasons Why Punctuation Is Important (with Examples)

Punctuation is important because it enables us to communicate our message clearly and effectively. Without punctuation, we wouldn’t understand how units of a sentence relate to one another or how...

What Is a Sentence Adverb? (+ Examples and a Quiz)

Although you're probably somewhat familiar with adverbs, you may be unaware of sentence adverbs. As a trained proofreader who has studied the parts of speech, I can help you understand this unique...