NATO Phonetic Alphabet Converter
Spell any text in the NATO phonetic alphabet — Alfa, Bravo, Charlie — so names, codes, and email addresses can never be misheard over the phone or radio.
Options
NATO Phonetic Alphabet Chart
A
Alfa
B
Bravo
C
Charlie
D
Delta
E
Echo
F
Foxtrot
G
Golf
H
Hotel
I
India
J
Juliett
K
Kilo
L
Lima
M
Mike
N
November
O
Oscar
P
Papa
Q
Quebec
R
Romeo
S
Sierra
T
Tango
U
Uniform
V
Victor
W
Whiskey
X
X-ray
Y
Yankee
Z
Zulu
0
Zero
1
Wun
2
Too
3
Tree
4
Fower
5
Fife
6
Six
7
Seven
8
Ait
9
Niner
Digit words shown are the official ICAO pronunciations (Niner avoids confusion with the German "nein"; Tree and Fife survive noisy radio better than "three" and "five").
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the NATO phonetic alphabet?
- The NATO phonetic alphabet (officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet) assigns a code word to each letter — Alfa for A, Bravo for B, Charlie for C — so spellings cannot be misheard over radio or phone. It is used by aviation, the military, emergency services, and call centers worldwide.
- Why are Alfa and Juliett spelled that way?
- The official ICAO spellings are deliberately non-standard: 'Alfa' (not 'Alpha') and 'Juliett' (not 'Juliet') so that speakers of languages like French and Spanish pronounce them correctly — 'ph' and a single final 't' could be misread.
- How are numbers spoken in the NATO alphabet?
- ICAO prescribes special pronunciations for digits: Wun (1), Too (2), Tree (3), Fower (4), Fife (5), Six (6), Seven (7), Ait (8), Niner (9), and Zero (0). The tool uses these by default; switch on 'plain digits' to keep numbers as ordinary figures instead.
- What happens to characters that have no code word?
- Punctuation and symbols have no NATO code words, so the converter passes them through wrapped in quotes — for example a hyphen appears as "-" — making clear the character should be read out literally.
- When would I use this converter?
- Any time you need to spell something unambiguously out loud: reading a booking reference or serial number over the phone, dictating an email address or surname to customer support, or radio communication where H, 8, and A are easily confused.