Alphabet
NATO Phonetic Alphabet Translator
The NATO phonetic alphabet spells out letters as clear code words: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie. It exists so letters survive a noisy phone line or radio call. Type any word to spell it, or paste code words to read them back.
Result appears here
It is used by pilots, the military, call centres and anyone reading out a reference number. The conversion is instant and local to your browser.
How the NATO Phonetic Alphabet works
Each letter of the alphabet has one fixed code word, and each digit has a spoken form too. To spell a word you simply read out the code word for each letter in turn.
This translator maps letters to their code words and can also take a list of code words and give you back the original letters.
Examples
NATO Phonetic Alphabet chart
Every letter at a glance. Use it to read or write by hand.
History and origins
After several earlier spelling alphabets, NATO adopted the current one in the 1950s following careful testing across many languages and accents so each word would stay distinct over radio.
The words were chosen to sound unlike one another even through static, which is why Alfa and Juliett are spelled unusually: to avoid mispronunciation by non-English speakers.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Alfa spelled without a ph?
NATO spells Alfa and Juliett unusually so that speakers of any language pronounce them correctly. A standard ph or single t could be misread by non-English speakers.
Who uses the NATO phonetic alphabet?
Aviation, the military, emergency services, shipping and customer support all use it to read letters clearly over radio and phone where a single misheard letter causes errors.
Learn more
Go deeper on the ideas behind this tool.