NATO Phonetic Alphabet

Spell anything out as Alfa, Bravo, Charlie — for bad phone lines.

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Type a reference number, postcode, booking code or name and get it spelled out in the NATO phonetic alphabet, ready to read down a bad phone line. Digits and common punctuation are spelled too, and you can choose how the words are separated.

The spellings are the official ICAO ones: Alfa and Juliett, not "Alpha" and "Juliet". That isn't pedantry. The F and the doubled T exist precisely because speakers of many languages don't pronounce "ph" as an F, or a single final T at all — the exact confusion the alphabet was designed to eliminate.

Frequently asked questions

Why is it 'Alfa' and not 'Alpha'?

Because the alphabet is international, and "ph" is not read as an F in many languages. The same reasoning gives Juliett its doubled T: French speakers would otherwise leave a single final T silent. Both spellings are deliberate and official, though almost everyone writes them the familiar way.

What is the NATO phonetic alphabet used for?

Any situation where a letter has to survive a poor audio channel — aviation and maritime radio, emergency services, and everyday call-centre work where someone reads a reference number aloud. It exists because B, C, D, E, G, P, T, V and Z are close to indistinguishable over a bad connection.

How are numbers said?

This tool uses the plain English number words. In aviation and maritime radio some differ in pronunciation — "niner" for nine to distinguish it from the German "nein", "tree" for three, "fife" for five — but the written words are the standard ones.

Can I show which letters are capitals?

Yes — "Mark capitals" prefixes uppercase letters with "Capital". Worth using for case-sensitive codes and passwords, where the distinction is the whole point.