Letter B Typing Practice

A 60-second drill packed with words that contain B. Your left index finger does the work.

Quick answer

Type B with your left index finger. B is on the bottom row of a QWERTY keyboard. Reach from F on the home row, then return. B is the 20th most common letter in English, at 1.48% of all letters.

FactB
FingerLeft index
HandLeft
Keyboard rowBottom row
Home key for this fingerF
Share of English letters1.48%
Frequency rank20th of 26

How to type B correctly

  1. Rest your fingers on the home row: A S D F with the left hand and J K L ; with the right.
  2. Reach from F on the home row, then return.
  3. Keep your eyes on the screen. Your finger should find B by feel, not by sight.
  4. Type the drill above until your accuracy stays above 95%, then try a full typing test.

Tips for the index finger

Each index finger covers two columns. Return to F or J after every reach so your other fingers stay anchored.

Common words with B

be, back, bad, bag, ball, bank, base, bear, because, become, bed, been, before, begin, behind, best, better, between.

Keys you might hit by mistake

On QWERTY, the keys around B are V, N, F, G, H. If your results show errors on B, check whether you are pressing one of these instead. That usually means your hand has drifted from the home row; reset by feeling for the bumps on F and J.

Typing a capital B

Press Shift with your right hand (the opposite hand from the one that types B), then press B. Using the opposite Shift keeps both hands on the home row and is faster than reaching with the same hand.

A 5-minute routine for B

  1. One minute slow: type the drill above at half speed with 100% accuracy.
  2. Two minutes of words: be, back, bad, bag, ball, bank. Type each word five times.
  3. One minute of pairs: type the most common pairs with B listed below, then reverse them.
  4. One test: take a 1-minute typing test and check the Keys tab to see if B got faster.

Repeat daily for a week. Speed on a single key improves quickly because the movement is so small.

How Typeri finds your weak keys

Every test records how long each key takes and how often you miss it. The Keys tab on your results shows a heat map of your keyboard, and weak key practice builds a drill from the keys that cost you the most time.

Other keys for your left index finger

The left index finger also types 4, 5, R, T, F, G, V. Practicing them together builds the whole column of movement, so try their drills too.

Which finger types which key

FingerLeft handRight hand
IndexR T F G V B 4 5Y U H J N M 6 7
MiddleE D C 3I K , 8
RingW S X 2O L . 9
PinkyQ A Z 1 ` Tab Caps ShiftP ; / 0 - = [ ] ' Enter Shift Backspace
ThumbSpaceSpace

Every way to practice on Typeri

ModeWhat it doesBest for
TimeRandom common words for 15 seconds to 10 minutes, or any custom lengthBenchmarks and stamina
WordsA fixed number of words, 10 to 200 or customQuick, repeatable checks
QuoteReal sentences in short, medium or long passagesEveryday writing speed
ZenType anything you like with no target text; Shift + Enter to finishWarm-ups and free writing
CustomPaste any text: a speech, an article or job vocabularyPracticing exactly what you type at work
CodeReal code in 17 programming languages with auto-indentProgrammers
10-keyNumeric keypad drills scored in keystrokes per hourData entry and accounting

Add punctuation or numbers to time and words tests, switch between 12 languages, and open the settings to change text size, show an on-screen keyboard, add a pace caret or stop on errors.

More questions

How many words is a letter B drill? At the average speed of 52 WPM you will type about 52 words. At 40 WPM about 40 words, and at 80 WPM about 80 words.

How accurate is the letter B drill? It counts only correctly typed characters and uses the standard five-characters-per-word formula, the same method employers and typing schools use. For a reliable number, take the test three times and average the results.

Why is my score lower than on other sites? Many sites report raw speed or round up. Typeri reports net speed, so uncorrected mistakes do not count. Text difficulty also matters: punctuation, capitals and numbers all slow everyone down.

Does the test work on a phone? Yes. Tap the text to open your keyboard. Phone typing is usually slower than a physical keyboard, so compare phone results with other phone results.

How often should I test? Once or twice a day is plenty. Spend the rest of your practice time on drills for your weakest keys and letter pairs, which is where improvement comes from.

Other keys

Frequently asked questions

Which finger types the letter B?

On a QWERTY keyboard, B is typed with the left index finger.

How common is the letter B in English?

B makes up 1.48% of letters in English text, making it the 20th most common letter (Norvig, Google Books data).