About the NATO phonetic alphabet
The NATO phonetic alphabet (officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet) assigns a standard word to each letter of the Latin alphabet. It was adopted by ICAO and NATO to make voice communication over radio clearer, avoiding confusion between similar-sounding letters like B and D.
The 26 code words are: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.
How do I spell a word using the NATO phonetic alphabet?
To spell a word phonetically, replace each letter with its assigned NATO code word so it can be understood clearly over a noisy radio or phone line, and replace each digit with its standard spoken form. Example: "HELP" becomes "Hotel Echo Lima Papa" and the digits "91" become "Nine One".
Steps to spell text with the NATO phonetic alphabet
- Convert the input text to uppercase, since the alphabet applies the same code word regardless of the original letter case.
- For each letter A-Z, look up its assigned code word from the standard 26-word list (A = Alfa, B = Bravo, C = Charlie, and so on).
- For each digit 0-9, look up its standard spoken form (0 = Zero, 1 = One, 2 = Two, and so on).
- List each letter or digit's code word on its own line or separated clearly, in the same order as the original text.
- Leave spaces in the original text as word breaks in the output, so the listener knows where one word ends and the next begins.
NATO phonetic alphabet mapping
Each of the 26 letters A-Z -> one fixed code word (for example S = Sierra) | Each digit 0-9 -> its spoken word form (for example 7 = Seven)
- 26 letter code words: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu
- 10 digit words: Zero, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine
Example word spellings
| Word | NATO spelling |
|---|
| HELP | Hotel Echo Lima Papa |
| SOS | Sierra Oscar Sierra |
| B4 | Bravo Four |
| NATO | November Alfa Tango Oscar |
Frequently asked questions
Why is it spelled "Juliett" with two Ts and "Alfa" with an F?
These spellings are intentional, not typos. "Alfa" uses an F because French and some other languages pronounce "ph" differently, and the F spelling guarantees the same pronunciation across languages; "Juliett" has an extra T so French speakers do not silence the final T as they normally would in "Juliet".
Is the NATO phonetic alphabet only used by the military?
No. While it originated for military and aviation radio communication, it is now standard in civil aviation air traffic control, maritime radio, emergency services, telephone customer support (for reading out confirmation codes or license plates), and anywhere clear letter-by-letter communication over an imperfect audio channel matters.
Why not just say the letter name instead of a code word?
Many letter names sound alike over noisy radio or phone connections, especially B, D, E, P, T, and V, or M and N — a listener can easily mishear one for another. Each NATO code word was chosen specifically because it is phonetically distinct from every other code word, eliminating that ambiguity.
Are numbers also given special pronunciations in radio communication?
Yes, beyond the basic Zero through Nine words, official radiotelephony procedure also specifies distinct pronunciations for some digits (like "niner" for 9 in aviation, to avoid confusion with "nine" sounding like "nein" or being cut off) — this tool covers the standard spoken digit words.
This tool converts letters and digits to their standard NATO phonetic alphabet words for reference and practice; it does not cover aviation-specific pronunciation variants (like "niner" for nine) or phonetic alphabets used by other organizations that differ from the NATO/ICAO standard.
Sources: NATO - The NATO Phonetic Alphabet
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Last updated: 2026-08-24