NATO Phonetic Alphabet Converter
Spell out text using the NATO phonetic alphabet (Alfa, Bravo, Charlie…).
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This converter spells out text using the NATO phonetic alphabet, turning "AB12" into "Alfa Bravo One Two". It is made for reading codes over a phone or radio without mix-ups between letters that sound alike, such as B, D, P and V, or M and N.
How the output is built
- Each letter becomes its code word, whether it was typed in capitals or small letters.
- Each digit becomes its English name: Zero, One, Two and so on.
- A space in your input appears as a middle dot (·) so you can see where the groups break.
- Punctuation and symbols such as . @ - are copied through unchanged; say them aloud as "dot", "at" and "dash".
- Accented letters are not converted and appear as they are.
Examples from everyday calls
A six-character airline booking reference, K7Q2XB:
Kilo Seven Quebec Two X-ray Bravo
An Indian vehicle registration number, MH 12 AB 3456:
Mike Hotel · One Two · Alfa Bravo · Three Four Five Six
An email address for a customer-care call, ravi.k@gmail.com:
Romeo Alfa Victor India . Kilo @ Golf Mike Alfa India Lima . Charlie Oscar Mike
PAN numbers, IFSC codes, order IDs, Wi-Fi passwords and serial numbers are other good candidates, since each character must be exactly right.
The full alphabet
| Letters | Code words |
|---|---|
| A to F | Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot |
| G to L | Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima |
| M to R | Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo |
| S to X | Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray |
| Y, Z | Yankee, Zulu |
Why "Alfa" and "Juliett" look misspelt
The alphabet was adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 1956 for use by speakers of many languages, and two spellings were chosen deliberately. "Alfa" avoids "ph", which speakers of some languages would not read as an f sound. "Juliett" has a double t so that French speakers do not treat the final t as silent. The converter uses these official spellings.
Digits: plain English, not aviation style
Digits are written as ordinary English words. Aviation radiotelephony uses modified pronunciations for some of them, notably "Tree" for 3, "Fife" for 5 and "Niner" for 9, to make them clearer through static. If you are practising for a pilot's radio licence, learn those forms separately; for phone calls and customer support, plain English digits are what people expect.
Tips for reading it out
- Pause at each middle dot so the listener can write the groups down.
- Say "capital" or "small" before a letter only when case matters, for example in a password. The code words themselves carry no case.
- Ask the listener to read the code back to you. Doing so catches almost every mistake.
For signalling with sound or light rather than speech, the text to Morse code converter covers the other classic system for sending letters reliably.