How to measure large print
“Large print” is not a regulated term. Anyone may print anything in any size and call it large print, and most free printable sites never state a number at all. This page gives you the published standards, and a way to check any sheet yourself — including ours.
Why the words don’t settle it
There is no certifying body for the phrase. A publisher who sets a puzzle in 12 point and labels it “large print” has broken no rule. That is not usually dishonesty — it is that nobody measured, because nobody asked.
The practical consequence is that a reader with low vision, or someone choosing sheets on their behalf, cannot compare two printables without printing both and measuring them. So the rest of this page is about doing exactly that.
What the published standards say
Two organisations publish a definition. Both were read on and quoted here verbatim.
“Large-print materials are most commonly available in 16- to 18-point type. The minimum size for large-print materials as defined by the US Postal Service Free Matter for the Blind mailing standard is 14-point type.”
“Large print is generally 16 to 18 point size. Giant print is anything larger than this. Regular print is usually 10 or 12 point.”
So three numbers are worth carrying with you:
- 14 point — the floor the US Postal Service uses for Free Matter for the Blind. Below this, the phrase is not defensible under any published definition.
- 16–18 point — where both organisations agree large print actually sits.
- above 18 point — what RNIB calls giant print. Bigger is not automatically better: type this large fits fewer words on a page, so a document runs longer and costs more to print, and a puzzle grid has to lose squares.
We re-read both sources every three months. An attributed number that has drifted is worse than an unattributed one, because it borrows an institution’s credibility for a claim that institution no longer makes.
How to measure any printable
You need a printed sheet and a ruler with millimetres. This works on anyone’s printable, from any site.
- Print at actual size. Not “fit to page” — see the next section, because this step changes the answer.
- Find a capital letter with no descender and no rounded overshoot. E, F, H, I, L and T are the reliable ones. Avoid O, C and S, which are cut slightly taller on purpose.
- Measure its height in millimetres, from the flat bottom to the flat top. This is the cap height.
- Multiply by 4. That is roughly the point size.
The multiplier comes from two facts: a point is exactly 1⁄72 inch (about 0.353 mm), and in most text typefaces the capitals are about 0.7 of the type size — the rest of the em is the room a lowercase g or y needs to hang below the line.
Treat the result as give or take about ten per cent. Typefaces vary: cap height runs from roughly 0.66 to 0.73 of the em, so the same measured letter can mean slightly different point sizes in different fonts. That tolerance is fine for the question you are actually asking, which is not “is this 17.4 point” but “is this inside the band, under it, or above it”.
A quick reckoner, using the same multiplier: 3 mm of cap height is about 12 point — under the postal floor. 4 mm is about 16 point — inside the band. 5 mm is about 20 point — giant print.
The print setting that changes the answer
Most browsers default to scaling a document to fit the paper. If you print a Letter-size file on A4, or A4 on Letter, the page is shrunk to fit and every letter on it gets smaller — about 6% between those two sizes. A sheet that was set in 21.1 point arrives at roughly 19.8 point, and a sheet that was only just inside the band drops out of it.
So before measuring anything, set scale to 100% or “Actual size”, and use paper that matches the file. It is also why we publish both Letter and A4 versions of every puzzle rather than one file and an apology.
How this site’s own number is derived
We would rather show the arithmetic than ask you to take a number on trust. Nothing below is typed into this page by hand — every figure is computed from the same module that draws the printable sheet, and the build fails if the two stop agreeing.
- The grid is drawn inside a fixed square of 460 points. That is what fits on the narrower of the two papers once margins are taken off, without the sheet spilling onto a second page.
- A standard puzzle is 12 squares across, so each square is 460 ÷ 12 = 38.3 points (1.35 cm, or 0.53 in).
- A letter is set at 0.55 of its square — the proportion that leaves the letter clear of the rules around it. That gives 21.1 point type.
So the grid letters are 21.1 point, which is above the 18 point top of the published band — what RNIB would call giant print. The word list under the grid is set at 17 point, inside the band. Both are set in Atkinson Hyperlegible, a typeface the Braille Institute designed to keep similar letters apart for readers with low vision.
To check it: print any puzzle at actual size and measure a capital in the grid. You should get about 5.2 mm of cap height. If you get materially less, tell us — the address is on the contact page — because that would mean this page is wrong.
What this method cannot tell you
Point size is one variable and not the only one that matters. A sheet can be set in 20 point and still be hard to read.
- Contrast. Grey type on white, or black on a tinted background, can undo the size entirely.
- Typeface. At the same point size, a face with tight apertures or near-identical I, l and 1 is harder work than one drawn to keep them apart.
- Spacing. Letters crowded against their neighbours, or lines set too close, cost legibility that extra size does not buy back.
- Paper and toner. A fourth-generation photocopy of a good sheet is a bad sheet.
We have not commissioned an independent audit of this site, and we do not claim conformance with any accessibility standard — what we can do is publish the numbers and the method so you can check them. What we do and where we fall short is set out on the accessibility page.
Standards re-read on . We check them every three months.