Home Row Typing Practice

How this practice works

The home row is the middle row of letter keys: A, S, D, F on the left and J, K, L, ; on the right. Your fingers rest here and travel out to the other keys and back. This page gives you words built from the home row letters plus G and H, which your index fingers reach sideways. Examples include sad, flask, glass, shall, and flag.

Choose No timer for a set of about forty words at your own pace, or 1 min or 3 min to keep going until the countdown ends. When the run finishes, you see your WPM and accuracy.

Where your fingers go

• Left pinky on A, ring finger on S, middle finger on D, index finger on F.
• Right index finger on J, middle finger on K, ring finger on L, pinky on ;.
• Index fingers also reach G and H in the middle.
• Both thumbs rest on the space bar.

Feel for the small raised bumps on F and J. They let you find the home row without looking. After each reach, return your finger to its home key.

Tips

• Keep your wrists level and your fingers curved.
• Press each key lightly. You do not need to hit hard.
• Accuracy first. Speed follows once your fingers stop wandering.
• Use the same finger for the same key every time, even when another finger feels closer.

This page is a drill, not a full vocabulary, so the words can feel repetitive. That is the point. Repetition builds muscle memory. When you are ready to reach up and down, follow the home row lesson and then the top row lesson. For a broader workout, try common words practice.

A beginner routine

If you are new to touch typing, spend your first week here. Each day, type for five minutes with no timer, keeping your eyes on the screen. Say the finger names quietly if it helps: index, middle, ring, pinky. After a few days, add a 1 min run and watch your accuracy. When you can finish a run with very few mistakes and without looking down, you are ready to move on to the top and bottom rows. Rushing past the home row is the most common reason beginners get stuck later.

Do not worry if the words seem silly or the pace feels slow. Home row practice is about training your hands, not about reading. Every correct keystroke strengthens the link between your eye, your brain, and your fingers. A few days of patient practice here will make every later lesson easier, and it only takes a few minutes at a time.

The words here use the letters A S D F G H J K L, so the semicolon key is not part of the words. You can practice it in the lessons and in punctuation practice.

Frequently asked questions