Phonetic Spelling Generator

The output is a script for reading aloud, with your words kept apart.

1. Type or paste the word, name or code into the Input box.
2. Choose Spell with: Letter names (ay bee see) is the default and NATO words (Alfa Bravo) is the alternative.
3. Read the result. Each word sits on its own line, letters are separated by single spaces, and digits appear as words.
4. Press Copy, Download .txt or Use as input.

Any space in the input starts a new line in the output. Characters that have no spelling, such as punctuation, are passed through unchanged in letter-name mode. Nothing is uploaded, so names and codes you type stay on your device, and you can paste a whole list and get each entry on its own line.

In letter-name mode the tool writes: ay, bee, see, dee, ee, ef, jee, aitch, eye, jay, kay, el, em, en, oh, pee, cue, ar, ess, tee, you, vee, double-you, ex, why and zed. Digits become zero to nine. Examples: Hi there 42 gives aitch eye, then tee aitch ee ar ee, then four two. Box gives bee oh ex, and in NATO mode it gives Bravo Oscar Xray.

Names with silent or unexpected letters benefit most: Sean gives ess ee ay en, which leaves no doubt about the spelling. Two choices are fixed. The letter Z is always written zed, with no option for the American zee, and H is always aitch, not haitch. When your listener might use a different convention, the NATO mode avoids the question, since Zulu and Hotel mean the same everywhere. Case is ignored, so Hi and hI give the same output. In NATO mode the same code words are used as in the NATO translator, including Stop for a full stop and Dash for a hyphen.

Compared with the NATO translator, this generator works in one direction only: it always puts each word on its own line, offers letter names as well as code words, and cannot turn the spelling back into text. Phonetic spelling can mean two things. This tool gives spelling for speech: what to say so a listener can write the right letters. It does not show how a word is pronounced. The International Phonetic Alphabet does that, writing hello as /həˈloʊ/, which is useful to learners and actors but no help for dictating a postcode.

If you need a respelling such as SHAWN for Sean, or IPA symbols, a dictionary is the better source. If you need someone else to type the correct characters, spelling aloud is the right job. For a longer introduction to the code words themselves, see the NATO phonetic alphabet translator.

A good routine is to read the whole word once at normal speed, then spell it, then read it again so the listener can confirm. Pairs such as bee, dee, pee, tee and vee blur together on a bad line, and so do em and en or eff and ess. Switch to NATO words for those letters, or for the whole word when it matters, such as an email address or account number. Say digits one at a time, or in pairs with a pause between them, and mention capital or lower case yourself, because the output never records it.

The generator suits unusual surnames, licence plates, booking references and Wi-Fi keys, and it is also handy for anyone who finds it hard to hear small differences between letters, since the written script can be shared or read from the screen. For a random value worth reading out, use the strong password generator, and if you would rather have digits written as full numbers in words, the number to words converter does that.