All Tools
Paste any text to find passive voice constructions. Get highlighted results, a passive percentage gauge, and rewriting suggestions for every instance found.
Passive voice sneaks into even the best writing. This free passive voice detector scans your text in the browser, highlights every passive construction with its location, and gives you a clear percentage gauge so you know exactly where you stand. No signup, no data stored, no word limits. Paste any text and clean up your writing in seconds.
Passive voice makes sentences longer, vaguer, and harder to follow. It hides who is doing the action, which weakens your message. "The team launched the product" hits harder than "The product was launched by the team." In marketing copy, emails, and web content, active voice increases clarity, keeps readers engaged, and drives more conversions. Most style guides recommend keeping passive voice below 10% of your total sentences.
Passive voice is not always wrong. Use it when the actor is unknown ("The window was broken"), when the action matters more than the actor ("The vaccine was approved in 2021"), in scientific writing ("The samples were tested at 100°C"), or when you deliberately want to soften blame ("Mistakes were made"). The goal is intentional use — not accidental overuse. If you can name the actor and the sentence sounds better active, rewrite it.
In active voice, the subject performs the action: "The dog bit the man." In passive voice, the subject receives the action: "The man was bitten by the dog." The easiest test: if you can add "by zombies" after the verb and the sentence still makes sense, it is passive. Active sentences are typically shorter, clearer, and more engaging. Passive sentences use a form of "to be" (is, was, were, been) plus a past participle, which this tool detects automatically.