What a phonetic spelling generator does
Letters such as B, D, P and V sound almost the same on a bad phone line. M and N do too. A phonetic spelling generator gives every letter a whole word that is hard to mishear, so “M as in Mike” can never be taken for “N as in November”.
This page is built for the moment you need to read something out. Type a surname, an email address, a postcode, a flight booking code or a Wi-Fi password, and you get a script with one line per character. Read it from top to bottom and the person on the other end writes down exactly what you meant.
If you only want to convert text into NATO code words and back, the NATO phonetic alphabet translator does that. This generator adds the “as in” wording, symbol names, capital and lowercase announcements, two more spelling alphabets and a pronunciation guide.
How to use it
- Type or paste into Name, word or code. The script appears on the right straight away.
- Pick a Spelling alphabet: NATO / ICAO, LAPD police or World War II.
- Pick a Style: A as in Alfa, A for Alfa, or Code words only for a compact line of words.
- Switch on Say capital or lowercase for passwords and codes where case matters.
- With the NATO alphabet, switch on Show how to say each code word to add the official pronunciation.
- Press Copy or Download to keep the script.
Spaces between words appear as “(space)” so you remember to say them. Symbols are named in plain words: a dot is “dot”, @ is “at sign”, _ is “underscore” and / is “forward slash”. Digits are shown with their word, such as “7 (Seven)”.
Examples
All of these come straight from the tool on this page.
| You type | Settings | Script |
|---|---|---|
| Kim 7 | NATO, A as in Alfa | K as in Kilo, I as in India, M as in Mike, (space), 7 (Seven) |
| Ross | LAPD police, A for Alfa | R for Robert, O for Ocean, S for Sam, S for Sam |
| Ross | World War II, code words only | Roger Oboe Sugar Sugar |
| aB3 | NATO, say capital or lowercase | Lowercase a as in Alfa, Capital B as in Bravo, 3 (Three) |
| QX9 | NATO, show how to say each code word | Q as in Quebec (keh-BECK), X as in X-ray (ECKS-ray), 9 (Nine, NIN-er) |
| [email protected] | NATO, A as in Alfa | J as in Juliett, . (dot), D as in Delta, O as in Oscar, E as in Echo, @ (at sign), M as in Mike … |
In the tool each item sits on its own line. The table joins them with commas to save space.
The three spelling alphabets
NATO / ICAO is the international radiotelephony alphabet: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and so on to Zulu. It is used in aviation, shipping, the armed forces, emergency services and many customer service teams. The spellings Alfa and Juliett are deliberate, so that speakers of other languages say them correctly.
LAPD police is the APCO alphabet that US police adopted in the 1940s: Adam, Boy, Charles, David, Edward and so on. Some US police and security radio users still prefer it, and you will hear it in films and TV shows set in Los Angeles.
World War II is the Joint Army/Navy alphabet used by the US and UK from 1941 to 1956: Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy. It is useful for historical writing, war films, games and family research into old radio logs.
The pronunciation guide
ICAO publishes a guide to saying each NATO code word, with the stressed syllable in capitals. With Show how to say each code word switched on, the generator adds it in brackets, for example Hotel (hoh-TELL), Papa (pah-PAH) and Quebec (keh-BECK). Digits follow the same guide, which is why radio operators say “TREE” for 3, “FIFE” for 5 and “NIN-er” for 9.
This guide covers the code words only. The tool does not tell you how to pronounce your own words or names, and it does not output IPA symbols. For that, a dictionary with audio is the right tool.
Tips and limits
- Passwords and codes: switch on Say capital or lowercase. “Capital B as in Bravo” removes any doubt.
- Accented letters are spelled with the plain letter and marked, so Zoë gives “Ë (with accent) as in Echo”. Say the accent name out loud as well.
- Other scripts such as Greek or Cyrillic have no code words here. Those characters are passed through as they are.
- Read slowly. Pause after each line and ask the listener to read the whole thing back at the end.
- Long text works, but the output gets long fast. Spelling is most useful for names, references and addresses.
Other ways to do it
Most phones have no built-in spelling tool, so people keep a printed card of the NATO alphabet next to the desk. In a spreadsheet you can build one with a lookup table: put the letters A to Z in one column and the code words in the next, then use VLOOKUP or XLOOKUP on each character. In code, a simple map from letter to word and a loop over the string does the job, which is exactly what this page runs in your browser.
For sending a message as dots and dashes instead of words, try the Morse code translator. For a playful secret language rather than clarity, there is the Pig Latin translator.