CGLTyping
Tamil Typing Test
Practice Tamil typing in Unicode using your computer's own keyboard. Live WPM, accuracy and mistake tracking, same as every test on this site.
Before you start: switch your keyboard to Tamil
Windows: Settings → Time & Language → Language & region → add "Tamil" → choose your preferred layout (e.g. Tamil 99), then switch to it with Win + Space. Mac: System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources → add "Tamil". No download needed — this ships with your OS.
Before You Start
This test is ungraded practice — no fixed pass/fail line, just your real speed and accuracy in Unicode Tamil.
- Make sure your Tamil keyboard is active before you click Start.
- The timer starts the moment you type your first character.
- Backspace is on by default — turn it off for stricter accuracy practice.
- Copy-paste and right-click are disabled.
Best on a desktop or laptop keyboard.
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Uses Your Own Keyboard, Not an On-Screen One
This test accepts whatever Tamil Unicode text your own computer's Tamil keyboard produces, and scores it exactly like every other test on this site: gross and net WPM, key depressions, and full/half mistake classification. If you can type Tamil on your computer — whichever layout you use — this test works, no extra setup beyond enabling the keyboard.
How to Turn On a Tamil Keyboard
You don’t need to install anything. Windows and macOS both ship with a Tamil keyboard:
- Windows 10 and 11: Settings → Time & language → Language (called Language & region on Windows 11) → Add a language → Tamil. Switch between keyboards with Win + Space.
- macOS: System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources → add Tamil, then switch from the menu bar.
You’ll be offered more than one Tamil layout. Tamil 99 is the layout standardised by the Tamil Nadu government. InScript follows the same arrangement as other Indian-language keyboards. Phonetic layouts such as Anjal let you type Tamil sounds with English letters. All of them produce the same Unicode Tamil, so this test accepts any of them. Practise on the one your exam or office uses.
What Makes Tamil Typing Different
- Vowel signs that sit before the letter. In கெ, கே and கை the sign appears to the left, but on a standard layout you still type the consonant first and the vowel sign second. Typing them in the order you see them is the classic beginner’s mistake.
- The pulli (்). The dot that removes the built-in vowel is its own key depression. Leave it off and க் becomes க, which makes the word wrong.
- Two-part vowel signs. கொ, கோ and கௌ wrap around the consonant but are typed after it.
- Grantha letters. ஜ, ஷ, ஸ and ஹ turn up in names and borrowed words and sit on less familiar keys.
Each of these marks counts as a key depression, and one wrong mark makes the whole word a full mistake. It’s also why Tamil WPM figures read lower than English ones: a Tamil word usually needs more key presses. Judge your Tamil speed against your own earlier Tamil results.
Tamil Typing for Exams and Certificates
In Tamil Nadu, typist and steno-typist posts generally ask for the Government Technical Examination certificates in typewriting, which are held in Tamil and English at junior and senior grade. Other recruiters set their own typing tests. The required speed, duration and keyboard layout are stated in each notification, so check yours before you choose a target.
Until then, practise at a length close to your exam’s and put accuracy first. For other languages, the English typing test, Hindi typing test, Marathi typing test, Gujarati typing test and Punjabi typing test all use the same test engine.
Frequently Asked Questions
Switch your computer's keyboard input to Tamil in your operating system's language settings, then type normally. The test box accepts whatever Tamil Unicode text your system produces.
Windows and macOS offer more than one Tamil layout (such as Tamil 99 and InScript-style layouts). Use whichever your target exam or workplace specifies — this test accepts correct Tamil Unicode text regardless of which layout produced it.
No. Windows and macOS both include Tamil keyboard layouts built in — enable one in your system's language or input settings, no separate download required.
Mobile Tamil input methods (transliteration, swipe keyboards) work differently from a desktop keyboard layout and won't give a realistic reading. Use a desktop or laptop with Tamil enabled at the OS level.