NATO Phonetic Alphabet Translator

Spell any text as Alfa, Bravo, Charlie with the official NATO/ICAO alphabet — in your browser.

How to use

  1. Type or paste the text you need to spell out — a name, a booking code, an address or a license plate.
  2. Click "Spell it" (or just keep typing — the translation updates live): each word becomes a line of code words like Alfa Bravo Charlie.
  3. Copy or download the spelling, or consult the full reference table shown right below the button. Everything runs in your browser.

About this tool

The NATO phonetic alphabet — officially the ICAO International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet — assigns a distinctive code word to every letter: Alfa for A, Bravo for B, Charlie for C, through Zulu for Z. Finalized by the International Civil Aviation Organization in 1956 after extensive intelligibility testing, it was designed so that no two words can be confused even over crackling radio, in noisy cockpits, or between speakers with strong accents. B and P sound nearly identical on a bad phone line; Bravo and Papa never do.

This tool spells any text letter by letter using the official code words. Each word of your input becomes its own line, so a flight code like "AZUL 4104" reads naturally as Alfa Zulu Uniform Lima on one line and Four One Zero Four on the next. Digits use the standard written words Zero through Nine, accented letters are normalized first (é is spelled as Echo), and punctuation is kept as the character itself, since the alphabet only defines letters and numbers. The complete reference table is rendered on the page, so you can also use it as a study chart.

You will meet this alphabet anywhere precision matters: pilots and air-traffic controllers use it constantly, and so do call-center agents dictating protocol numbers, IT teams reading server names and license keys, travelers spelling reservation codes, and radio amateurs identifying call signs. Note the two official spellings that surprise everyone: Alfa (not Alpha) and Juliett (with double T), written that way so speakers of other languages pronounce them correctly.

Frequently asked questions

What is the NATO phonetic alphabet used for?

It is used to spell letters unambiguously over voice channels — aviation, military, maritime and telephone. Saying "Bravo" instead of "B" prevents confusion with similar-sounding letters like P, D and T.

Why is it spelled Alfa and Juliett instead of Alpha and Juliet?

Those are the official ICAO spellings, chosen deliberately: "Alfa" avoids the "ph" digraph that non-English speakers might mispronounce, and the double T in "Juliett" stops French speakers from treating the final T as silent.

How are numbers spelled?

Each digit gets its own word: Zero, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine. In radio practice some are pronounced specially — "tree" for 3, "fife" for 5 and "niner" for 9 — but the written words are the ones this tool outputs.

What happens to accents and punctuation?

Accented letters are converted to their base letter first, so é is spelled as Echo and ç as Charlie. Punctuation has no code word in the official alphabet, so characters like hyphens and dots are kept as they are.

Does my text leave my browser?

No. The spelling runs 100% in JavaScript on your device. Nothing you type is transmitted or stored anywhere.

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