Best keyboard layout for typing

27 Nov 2020 (Updated on 13 June 2021)Admin

What is the best keyboard layout for typing? It is a common yet controversial question that almost everyone wants to know. Dvorak lovers claimed that it is the best and fastest keyboard layout. On the other side, QWERTY lovers take the example of Stella Pajunas Garnand, who made the world record by typing 216 words in a minute using an IBM electric typewriter. So in this post, we will try to understand the effect of keyboard layout on our typing performance.

QWERTY is the oldest and widely used keyboard layout. Although it was designed to make typing slow, many typists can easily type at 100 WPM speed, which I believe is incredible. So we can say that anyone can achieve great speed in any keyboard layout by just practicing. And it is almost impossible to find out the fastest keyboard layout by comparing the output of two typists.

QWERTY vs Dvorak vs Colemak

heatmap of most-typed letters

To understand these layouts and choose the best one, we need to analyze them more scientifically. All the major keyboard layouts (Dvorak, Qwerty, and Colemak) has three keys row. The middle row is called the home row. You can see in the image QWERTY has nine keys in the home row, while the other two have ten keys. The home row is the place where the fingers are initially placed. That's mean the key that present in the home row requires less finger movement and time. As the Dvorak and the Colemak layout have one key more than the QWERTY layout, these two indeed perform a little better than the QWERTY keyboard.

Summary

E is the most typed alphabet followed by T, A, O, I, and N.
You can type 30 to 32 common English words using only the home row keys of a QWERTY keyboard. For a Colemak keyboard, the number is 436 and with a Dvorak keyboard, 282 words could be typed by using only the home row keys.
QWERTY keyboard was designed by Christopher Latham Sholes in the year 1867.
August Dvorak and William Dealey developed the Dvorak layout in the year 1936, and the Colemak keyboard layout was designed in the year 2006 by Shai Coleman.

Let's discuss further and find the best one. We have conducted an experiment and stored over 6000 commonly used English words in our database to find out the words we can type by the keys present in the home row.

The result is really surprising; we found only 30 words that we can type using the keys of the home row of a QWERTY keyboard. Here is the list.

List of words you can type using the home row keys of a QWERTY keyboard.

glass
glad
gas
flash
flash
flag
fall
fall
dad
ask
as
as
as
all
all
all
ah
add
ad
half
half
half
half
hall
sad
salad
shall
slash
ash
lad

Dvorak vs Colemak

On the other side, 282 words could be typed by the Dvorak keyboard layout's home row keys. And when we check the third one, the result is fascinating; you can type 436 common English words using the home row keys of a Colemak keyboard. Here is the list.

List of words you can type using the home row keys of a Dvorak keyboard.

estate
end
end
edition
edit
eat
east
east
east
dust
due
donate
do
dishonest
dish
disease
diet
die
destination
dentist
death
dead
date
date
data
dad
aunt
attitude
attention
attention
attend
at
assistant
assistant
assist
assess
as
as
as
and
aid
aid
ahead
ah
addition
add
ad
tooth
too
tone
toe
to
to
tin
tie
tie
thus
thousand
this
this
this
thin
then
the
that
that
that
that
than
than
test
test
tent
tennis
tend
ten
tea
taste
taste
sun
suit
suit
sudden
studio
student
stone
status
statue
station
state
state
state
stand
stand
south
south
south
sound
sound
soon
son
so
so
used
use
use
us
united
unit
union
tune
hand
hand
hat
hate
hate
he
head
head
heat
heat
hesitate
hi
hide
his
his
hit
hit
honest
host
host
hot
house
house
hunt
hunt
I
idea
in
in
indeed
inside
inside
inside
inside
insist
instead
institute
institution
intend
intended
intense
intention
into
issue
issue
IT
it
its
nation
neat
need
need
need
net
nine
nineteen
no
no
no one
noise
none
nose
not
note
note
notion
nut
odd
oh
on
on
one
one
one
onion
onto
out
out
outside
outside
outside
outside
sad
sand
sea
season
seat
seat
see
seed
send
sense
sense
session
set
set
shade
she
sheet
shine
shoe
shoot
shot
shout
shout
shut
shut
side
sit
site
situation
saint
sensation
shed
shoot
sin
situated
sound
stun
sue
suite
sustain
teens
tenant
tension
thesis
tide
tissue
ton
tonne
toss
tuition
unite
aide
AIDS
ash
aside
assassination
asset
attain
audio
audit
auto
deed
dense
detain
detention
distant
donation
dose
dot
duo
ease
ease
ensue
enthusiast
haunt
hidden
hint
hint
ID
idiot
initiate
instant
intent
nest
net
nod
nonsense
noon
odds

List of words you can type using the home row keys of a Colemak keyboard.

estate
error
entire
entertain
enter
end
end
either
either
either
editor
edition
edit
eat
eastern
east
east
east
earth
earn
ear
dressed
dress
dress
door
donate
do
dishonest
dish
disease
disaster
dirt
dinner
diet
die
destination
desire
desire
desert
desert
dentist
death
dear
dear
dead
date
date
data
dad
attention
attention
attend
at
assistant
assistant
assist
assess
as
as
as
artist
art
arrest
arrest
arise
area
another
another
and
air
aid
aid
ahead
ah
address
address
addition
add
ad
trend
tree
treat
transition
trainer
train
train
tradition
trade
trade
tooth
too
tone
toe
to
to
tired
tin
tie
tie
throat
three
threaten
threat
this
this
this
thirteen
third
thin
there
then
theirs
their
theatre
the
that
that
that
that
than
than
test
test
tent
tennis
tend
ten
tear
tear
tea
taste
taste
T-shirt
stress
stress
street
store
store
stone
station
state
state
state
start
start
stare
star
star
standard
standard
stand
stand
stair
sort
sort
soon
son
so
so
hair
hand
hand
hard
hard
hat
hate
hate
he
head
head
hear
heart
heat
heat
her
her
here
hero
hers
hesitate
hi
hide
hire
hire
his
his
hit
hit
honest
horror
horse
host
host
hot
I
idea
in
in
indeed
indoor
indoors
inner
inside
inside
inside
inside
insist
instead
intend
intended
intense
intention
interest
interest
interested
internet
into
iron
iron
IT
it
its
nation
near
near
near
neat
need
need
need
neither
neither
neither
net
nine
nineteen
no
no
no one
noise
none
nor
nor
north
north
north
northern
nose
not
note
note
notion
odd
oh
on
on
one
one
one
onion
onto
or
order
order
other
other
radio
rain
rain
raise
rare
rate
rate
rather
read
reader
reason
red
red
rent
rent
resident
resident
resist
resort
rest
rest
retain
retire
retired
rid
ride
ride
rise
rise
road
root
sad
sand
sea
season
seat
seat
see
seed
send
senior
sense
sense
series
session
set
set
shade
share
share
she
sheet
shine
shirt
shoe
shoot
short
shot
side
sir
sister
sit
site
raid
rat
ratio
rear
rear
render
reside
restoration
restore
restraint
retreat
retreat
riot
rod
rose
rotate
rotation
saint
senator
sensation
shatter
shed
sheer
shoot
shore
sin
soar
steer
stir
strain
strand
teens
tenant
tender
tension
terrain
terror
terrorist
thesis
thread
tide
ton
tonne
toss
trait
transit
trio
adhere
aide
AIDS
arena
ash
aside
assassination
assert
assertion
asset
attain
dare
deed
dense
detain
detention
deteriorate
disorder
distant
distort
distress
distress
donation
donor
dose
dot
drain
ease
ease
endorse
era
harsh
hatred
hidden
hint
hint
historian
horn
ID
idiot
inherent
inherit
initiate
insert
insertion
insider
instant
intent
interior
interior
nest
net
nod
nonsense
noon
odds
orientation
radar
radiation
raid

Now it is clear that Colemak keyboard user needs to move fingers less than the QWERTY users. And less finger movement means quick typing. Although many QWERTY typists can really type fast, it's proved that Dvorak and Colemak are more scientifically designed to make your typing faster.

I hope this fair comparison helps you learn something new.

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