1. the amount of written or printed material that a person can apprehend during a single fixation of the eye during reading. The greater the reading span, the fewer times the eye needs to stop along a line of text. A span of 7 to 10 characters is considered typical. Also called eye span; recognition span. See also eye–voice span. 2. in memory tests, the number of words a person can remember on being asked to recall the last word of each sentence in a passage that he or she has just read.