NATO Phonetic Alphabet
Spell anything out as Alfa Bravo Charlie, with the official pronunciations.
Why The Spellings Look Wrong
It is Alfa, not Alpha. Juliett, not Juliet. Those spellings are deliberate: the alphabet was designed to be said correctly by speakers of many languages, and in several of them "ph" is not an F and a single final "t" is silent. The extra letters exist to stop a French or Spanish speaker reading them the other way.
The set was settled by ICAO in 1956 after testing candidate words against noise and accents, and it has not changed since. That is why it is used by air traffic control, the emergency services, shipping and every call centre that has ever read you a reference number: it is the one spelling alphabet everybody already knows.
Key features
- Letters, digits and punctuation — the full working set, not just A to Z.
- Official pronunciations — the ICAO stress patterns, so you say them as they are meant to be said.
- Says which letters are capitals — essential for a password or a reference code.
- Three output layouts — spaced, dashed or one per line for reading aloud slowly.
- The whole chart on the page — for learning, or for printing and pinning up.
This tool runs entirely inside your browser using native Web APIs. Your files and text are never uploaded to a server, never logged and never shared with third parties.
How to use: NATO Phonetic Alphabet
- Type what you need to spell
A name, a postcode, a reference number, a licence plate. - Choose your options
Whether to name capitals and punctuation, and how to separate the words. - Copy it
Or read it straight off the screen. - Learn the chart
The full alphabet is below, pronunciations included.
Technical specifications
| Processing location | Entirely in your browser — no server round trip |
|---|---|
| Data uploaded | None. Files and text never leave your device |
| Price | Free — no account, no trial, no usage cap |
| Category | Text |
| Works offline | Yes, once the page has loaded |
| Browser support | Chrome 90+, Edge 90+, Firefox 90+, Safari 15+ |
| Interface languages | English, 中文, हिन्दी, Español, العربية |
Frequently asked questions
Is it Alfa or Alpha?
Alfa, officially. The F spelling exists because "ph" is not pronounced as an F in many languages, and the whole point of the alphabet is to survive being read by someone whose first language is not English. Nobody will misunderstand you if you say Alpha; the spelling is what is standardised.
How do I say the numbers?
Three is "tree", four is "fow-er", five is "fife" and nine is "nin-er". Each avoids being confused with something else over a poor connection — nine and five are close in noise, and "niner" is unmistakable. The other digits are said normally.
Is this the same as the military alphabet?
Yes, in current use. NATO adopted the ICAO set, so the military, aviation and civil emergency alphabets are one and the same. Older sets — Able Baker Charlie, and the various wartime versions — are historical and will not be understood by anyone under a certain age.
What about letters with accents?
There are none. The alphabet covers A to Z and 0 to 9, and anything else has to be described in words — "e with an acute accent". The tool tells you when your text contains something it cannot spell rather than silently dropping it.
Do I need to say "capital"?
For anything case-sensitive, yes — a password, an API key, a case-sensitive reference. For an ordinary name, no: the person writing it down will capitalise it correctly without being told. The option is there because both situations come up.