Spell it so it's heard right.
Type a name, booking reference or postcode to spell it in the NATO alphabet, then read it out or press Speak. Paste code words on the right to turn them back into letters.
NATO alphabet chart
Numbers
What the NATO alphabet is for
Letters such as B, D, P and V, or M and N, sound alike on a bad phone line or radio. The NATO alphabet replaces each letter with a word that cannot be mistaken for another, chosen after testing with speakers of English, French and Spanish. It is used by pilots, air traffic control, the military, police, emergency services and anyone reading out a booking reference, serial number or email address.
Say each word clearly, with a short pause between words and a longer one between groups. For punctuation, say the name of the mark: "dash", "dot", "at". The converter adds these in brackets.
Frequently asked questions
Why is it spelled Alfa and Juliett? +
The official ICAO spellings are Alfa and Juliett so that speakers of other languages pronounce them correctly: "alpha" could be read with an f or a p sound, and the double t stops French speakers treating the final t as silent. Alpha and Juliet are common in everyday use and the decoder accepts both.
Is it the NATO alphabet or the ICAO alphabet? +
Both names refer to the same 26 code words. The alphabet was developed for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and adopted by NATO in the 1950s. It is also called the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet.
How are numbers said? +
Numbers are spoken digit by digit. Pilots and the military use adapted pronunciations to avoid confusion: TREE for 3, FOW-er for 4, FIFE for 5 and NIN-er for 9. Switch on "Show pronunciation" to see them.
How do I spell my name over the phone? +
Say each letter as its code word: SMITH is Sierra Mike India Tango Hotel. Type the name in the converter and read the result. Saying "as in" is optional; "S as in Sierra" is common on customer service calls.
Is it called the phonetic alphabet? +
Informally, yes. Strictly it is a spelling alphabet: it assigns words to letters. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is something different, a system for writing down speech sounds.