Text to NATO Alphabet

Convert text to the NATO phonetic alphabet. Each letter becomes its phonetic code word like Alpha, Bravo, Charlie.

Text to NATO Alphabet tool

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Example

Input: SOS 1

Result: S - Sierra / O - Oscar / S - Sierra / (space) / 1 - One

Each letter and digit is replaced by its NATO phonetic code word on its own line, and spaces are marked as (space).

NATO Phonetic Alphabet A to Z

LetterCode wordLetterCode word
AAlphaNNovember
BBravoOOscar
CCharliePPapa
DDeltaQQuebec
EEchoRRomeo
FFoxtrotSSierra
GGolfTTango
HHotelUUniform
IIndiaVVictor
JJulietWWhiskey
KKiloXX-ray
LLimaYYankee
MMikeZZulu

Spellings as used by this tool; ICAO documents write Alfa and Juliett.

  1. Type or paste the text you want to spell out.
  2. Read the result, with one code word per character on its own line.
  3. Check each letter against its code word (for example, A - Alpha, B - Bravo).
  4. Note that digits appear as number words and spaces or punctuation get labels such as (space) or (period).
  5. Click the copy button to copy the spelling for a phone call or radio message.

The NATO Phonetic Alphabet From Alpha to Zulu

This tool spells out any text in the NATO phonetic alphabet, one line per character. Type "SOS 1" and you get S - Sierra, O - Oscar, S - Sierra, (space), 1 - One. Read it aloud to give a booking code, serial number or email address over the phone without mix-ups.

The alphabet gives each letter a code word that is hard to mistake for another, even on a bad line. B and D, M and N, or F and S sound alike when spoken, but Bravo and Delta do not. Its official name is the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet. It was adopted in the 1950s. Today it is used by NATO, pilots, air traffic control, ships, police and call centers.

Digits are spelled as plain English words, from Zero to Nine. Radio operators often say "niner" for 9 and "tree" for 3, but the tool keeps the everyday words. Spaces show as (space), and punctuation gets a label such as (period), (at) or (hyphen), which helps when you read out an email address. Characters with no code word, such as accented letters, are marked (unknown).

Official aviation documents spell two words as Alfa and Juliett, so that speakers of other languages say them correctly. This tool uses the common English spellings Alpha and Juliet. For dots and dashes instead of words, try the Morse Code Translator.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

Type your name into the tool and read the code words from top to bottom. "Sam" becomes Sierra, Alpha, Mike. On the phone, many people say it as "S as in Sierra, A as in Alpha, M as in Mike", which works even if the listener does not know the alphabet.
Yes. "Military alphabet", "phonetic alphabet", "ICAO alphabet" and "NATO alphabet" all usually mean the same list, from Alpha to Zulu. It is used across the armed forces, aviation and shipping. The code words for the 26 letters have stayed the same since the 1950s.
In everyday use you just say the digit: One, Two, Three. Aviation and military radio use special forms, such as "niner" for 9 and "tree" for 3, so numbers stay clear over a noisy radio. This tool writes the plain English words, which is what most people expect on a phone call.
Many police forces do, including those in the UK. Some police departments in the United States still use an older APCO alphabet that starts Adam, Boy, Charles. If you are spelling something for a person who is not in either field, the NATO words are the most widely understood.

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