Printable eye chart: tumbling E and near-vision card
Choose how far you will stand from the chart (10 feet unless you change it), print at 100% and measure the 100 mm check line. You get a tumbling E chart drawn to that distance, plus a near-vision card.
Printable eye chart
Print at 100% (“actual size”), then measure the line under the chart: it should be exactly 100 mm. On screen the chart is a preview only.
Tumbling E chart · view from 10 feet (3.05 m)
6/60
6/30
6/21
6/15
6/12
6/9
6/7.5
6/6
6/4.5
Near-vision card · hold at about 40 cm (16 in)
N24The light came in low across the table, and the tea had gone cold while we talked about the garden.
N18The light came in low across the table, and the tea had gone cold while we talked about the garden.
N12The light came in low across the table, and the tea had gone cold while we talked about the garden.
N10The light came in low across the table, and the tea had gone cold while we talked about the garden.
N8The light came in low across the table, and the tea had gone cold while we talked about the garden.
N6The light came in low across the table, and the tea had gone cold while we talked about the garden.
N5The light came in low across the table, and the tea had gone cold while we talked about the garden.
How to use it
Pick the distance first: 10 feet (the default, since most homes have a room that long), 20 feet, 3 meters or 6 meters. Measure from the wall to where your eyes will be, and mark the spot on the floor with tape.
Print at 100%, which some printers call "actual size". Many print dialogs shrink pages to fit the paper, and a shrunken chart makes your vision look worse than it is. The chart sheet carries a line marked 100 mm: measure it with a ruler. If it is not 100 mm, switch off "fit to page" or "scale" and print again.
Tape the chart to a plain wall with the 20/20 line near eye height. Light it well and evenly, with no shine on the paper and no bright window behind it. Then test one eye at a time:
- Wear your distance glasses or contact lenses, if you have them. A second round without them shows how much they help.
- Cover one eye with your palm or a card. Do not press on it, and try not to squint with the other.
- Start at the top and work down, saying or showing which way each E's arms point: up, down, left or right. Guessing is allowed.
- Your result is the smallest line where you got most of the letters right, meaning more than half: 3 of 4, or at least 3 of 5.
- Switch eyes, and write down both results with the date and distance.
Children can answer by turning a cardboard E to match, and many manage this from about age 4.
The near-vision card has short paragraphs in sizes from N5 to N24. Hold it about 40 cm (16 inches) away in good light, with reading glasses if you use them, and note the smallest size you can read comfortably. If small print is getting harder, the reading glasses strength tool shows the usual starting powers by age.
How the numbers work
The chart uses the rule behind Snellen charts. From the test distance, a letter on the 20/20 line covers an angle of 5 minutes of arc (a minute is one sixtieth of a degree). The E is built on a 5 by 5 grid, so each stroke and each gap is 1 minute of arc, the finest detail a person with 20/20 vision can just make out. Other lines scale in proportion: a 20/40 letter is twice the 20/20 size, a 20/200 letter ten times.
letter height = distance × tan(5') × (denominator ÷ 20)
Here tan(5') is about 0.0014544, and the denominator is the 40 in 20/40.
At the default 10 feet the distance is 3,048 mm, so a 20/20 letter is 3,048 × 0.0014544 × 1 = 4.43 mm tall, with strokes just under 0.9 mm thick. The single E on the 20/200 line is ten times taller, 44.33 mm. At 20 feet everything doubles: the 20/20 letter is 8.87 mm and the 20/200 letter 88.66 mm.
Letter heights in millimeters:
| Line | 10 ft | 20 ft | 3 m | 6 m |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20/200 (6/60) | 44.33 | 88.66 | 43.63 | 87.27 |
| 20/100 (6/30) | 22.17 | 44.33 | 21.82 | 43.63 |
| 20/70 (6/21) | 15.52 | 31.03 | 15.27 | 30.54 |
| 20/50 (6/15) | 11.08 | 22.17 | 10.91 | 21.82 |
| 20/40 (6/12) | 8.87 | 17.73 | 8.73 | 17.45 |
| 20/30 (6/9) | 6.65 | 13.3 | 6.54 | 13.09 |
| 20/25 (6/7.5) | 5.54 | 11.08 | 5.45 | 10.91 |
| 20/20 (6/6) | 4.43 | 8.87 | 4.36 | 8.73 |
| 20/15 (6/4.5) | 3.32 | 6.65 | 3.27 | 6.54 |
The line names stay the same at every distance, because the angle is what counts. Your distance must be right, though: from 8 feet, a 10-foot chart looks a quarter larger and flatters your result by about one line. The visual acuity converter turns your line into decimal and logMAR values.
N sizes are print sizes in printer's points (1 point is 1/72 inch, about 0.35 mm) in a Times-style typeface. N5 is very small print, like some ingredient lists; N8 to N10 is close to much newspaper and paperback text.
What this tool can't tell you
A home chart is a rough check of one thing: how sharply you see high-contrast detail at one distance. It cannot detect glaucoma, which takes side vision first and often leaves the chart result unchanged until late. It cannot find early macular disease, diabetic changes in the retina, raised eye pressure or most other eye diseases. A good score is not a clean bill of health, and a poor one does not say why.
See an eye doctor if one eye reads clearly worse than the other, if your result has dropped, or if you notice any change in your sight. Adults without symptoms are generally advised to have a baseline eye exam at 40, earlier with diabetes, high blood pressure or a family history of eye disease.
Some symptoms cannot wait. Sudden loss of vision in one eye, even if it returns within minutes, can be a warning sign of stroke and is an emergency, as is sudden severe eye pain with blurred vision, halos around lights, headache and nausea. New flashes, a sudden shower of floaters, or a curtain over part of your vision need same-day eye care. For an emergency, call your local emergency number (such as 911, 999, 112, or 119 in Japan). Eye emergencies and first aid covers what to do on the way.
Questions people ask
Why an E instead of ordinary letters?
The tumbling E needs no reading, so young children, people who use another alphabet and anyone who prefers pointing can all do it.
Can I check my child's eyes with it?
As a game, yes, but not in place of proper screening. A lazy eye often has no visible sign, and children rarely complain. If one eye does worse at home, book a check, because treatment works best in early childhood (see the column on lazy eye). Ask your child's doctor what screening is offered where you live.
Can I use the chart on screen instead?
The preview is not to scale, because screens differ in pixel size and browsers zoom. A print with a checked 100 mm line can be trusted.
Will a home result count for a driving license?
No. Licensing offices test vision themselves or ask for a report from an eye professional. Many US states use 20/40 in the better eye as the standard for a regular license, and rules vary.
Sources
- ISO 8596 and the Snellen and tumbling E chart conventions: the 20/20 symbol subtends 5 minutes of arc, each stroke 1 minute.
- The N notation for near-vision cards adopted by the UK Faculty of Ophthalmologists, read at about 40 cm.
- American Academy of Ophthalmology patient pages on vision screening and eye exams.