Phone and front-office skills · Spelling alphabet
Phonetic alphabet chart: Alfa to Zulu
The 26 code words with how to say each one, the figures zero to nine, a spell-it drill for any name or code, and 15 practice questions. Free, for anyone who spells names and numbers over the phone.
- A to Z with pronunciation
- Figures 0 to 9
- Spell-it drill
- No sign-up needed
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Part 1 · The chart
The spelling alphabet, A to Z
One word for each letter, so a name or a code lands the first time. This is the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet from ICAO Annex 10, the list NATO and the ITU adopted too; most people call it the NATO phonetic alphabet. The stressed syllable is in capitals.
- AAlfaAL-fah
- BBravoBRAH-voh
- CCharlieCHAR-lee or SHAR-lee
- DDeltaDELL-tah
- EEchoECK-oh
- FFoxtrotFOKS-trot
- GGolfGOLF
- HHotelhoh-TELL
- IIndiaIN-dee-ah
- JJuliettJEW-lee-ETT
- KKiloKEY-loh
- LLimaLEE-mah
- MMikeMIKE
- NNovemberno-VEM-ber
- OOscarOSS-cah
- PPapapah-PAH
- QQuebeckeh-BECK
- RRomeoROW-me-oh
- SSierrasee-AIR-rah
- TTangoTANG-go
- UUniformYOU-nee-form or OO-nee-form
- VVictorVIK-tah
- WWhiskeyWISS-key
- XX-rayECKS-ray
- YYankeeYANG-key
- ZZuluZOO-loo
The figures, zero to nine
- 0ZeroZE-ro
- 1OneWUN
- 2TwoTOO
- 3ThreeTREE
- 4FourFOW-er
- 5FiveFIFE
- 6SixSIX
- 7SevenSEV-en
- 8EightAIT
- 9NineNIN-er
- Decimal DAY-see-mal
- Hundred HUN-dred
- Thousand TOU-sand
- Every number except a whole thousand is said digit by digit: 204 is “two zero four”.
- A whole thousand is the digits of the thousands figure followed by “thousand”: 11,000 is “one one thousand”.
- A decimal point is said “decimal”: 121.5 is “one two one decimal five”.
One list, several names
- International radiotelephony spelling alphabet
- ICAO spelling alphabet
- NATO phonetic alphabet
- Alfa Bravo Charlie
- Aviation alphabet
The “military alphabet” people search for is this same list: NATO adopted it in 1956. Armed forces, airlines, ship radio and offices all use these 26 words.
Where it comes from
Adopted by ICAO on 1 November 1951 and used in civil aviation from 1 April 1952.
After complaints, it was re-examined with speakers from 31 countries. Five words were replaced: the ones for C, M, N, U and X became Charlie, Mike, November, Uniform and X-ray.
The final list took effect at ICAO and at NATO on 1 March 1956, and the ITU adopted it a few years later. That is why one list has three names: the ICAO spelling alphabet, the NATO phonetic alphabet and the ITU phonetic alphabet.
Part 2 · Spell-it drill
Type a name or a code, see it spelled
Type the kind of thing you spell on a call: a surname, a policy number, an email handle (made up, or press Give me one). The page spells it with the code words. Turn on “say it first” to hide the words, say them out loud, then reveal each one to check yourself.
Part 3 · At work
Where you will use it
The phone and front-office roles that spell names and numbers all day. The examples are made up; where your employer’s phone script differs, the script comes first.
Medical office and patient scheduling
Confirming a patient’s name and date of birth with the caller, or with a pharmacy, lab or referral office, so the right chart is opened.
“Last name Przybylski: Papa, Romeo, Zulu, Yankee, Bravo, Yankee, Lima, Sierra, Kilo, India. Date of birth March, zero-nine, nineteen eighty-four.”
Insurance, billing and call centers
Reading a policy, claim or account number back to a caller, and taking an email address without a typo.
“Policy Kilo, X-ray, seven, dash, two, zero, four, Bravo. Email: d, dot, okafor, underscore, nine, two, at sign …”
Dispatch and security desks
Passing a plate, a unit number or a street name over a radio or a phone where every letter counts.
“Plate Alfa, Zulu, nine, Quebec, two. Street Wyckoff: Whiskey, Yankee, Charlie, Kilo, Oscar, Foxtrot, Foxtrot.”
Hotel, travel and reservations desks
Giving a confirmation code or taking a guest’s name for a booking.
“Your confirmation is Hotel, four, Juliett, Papa, zero, zero, seven.”
IT help desk and reception
Reading a one-time code or a username to a caller, and spelling a visitor’s name for a badge.
“Username m, dot, Siobhan: Sierra, India, Oscar, Bravo, Hotel, Alfa, November.”
Six habits that make it work
1Say the whole thing first, then spell it
“Okonkwo. I’ll spell that: Oscar, Kilo, Oscar, November, Kilo, Whiskey, Oscar.” The listener hears the shape of the word before the letters.
2One code word per letter, no “as in”
“Sierra” is enough. “S as in Sam” takes twice as long, and Sam is not on the list, so the next person may use a different word.
3Digits one at a time
Say 2-0-4 as “two, zero, four”, not “two hundred and four” or “twenty-four”. On a poor line, “twenty” and “twelve” sound alike.
4Say “zero”, not “oh”
Oh is the letter O. If a code has both, the code words settle it: “Oscar” is the letter, “zero” is the number.
5Group long numbers in threes or fours
Pause between groups so the listener can write: “four, seven, two … nine, one, five”.
6Ask for a read-back
Have the other person read the name or number back to you, letter by letter if it matters. A read-back catches more than a second spelling.
Part 4 · Practice questions
Fifteen questions on the list
Letters to words, words to letters, the figures, and how to read a code over the phone. One at a time, with the answer explained before you move on. Your result is free.
Question 1 of 15
The code word for S is
The bonus
The desk card, the numbers and dates card and the 50-item drill
Locked until you unlock the bonus above
- A printable desk card: all 26 words with their pronunciation and the figures on one half-page, for the phone or the badge.
- A numbers, dates and times card: how the figures are spoken, how thousands and decimals go, and plain habits for dates, times, phone numbers and amounts.
- A 50-item drill: surnames, first names, codes, street names and email handles, shuffled, with the spelling revealed on tap and your tally at the end.
Sources
Where these facts come from
Everything on this page is written in our own words from these public sources. The phone habits in part 3 and the bonus are working practice, not a standard; your employer’s script decides.
- ICAO: the history of Annex 10, Aeronautical Telecommunications · the 1951 list, the later review with speakers from 31 countries, the five replaced words, and the 1 March 1956 version
- NATO: the NATO phonetic alphabet, codes and signals · the 26 words as NATO spells them, NATO’s adoption on 1 March 1956 and the ITU’s later adoption
- SKYbrary: ICAO phonetic alphabet · the pronunciation of each word and of the figures, hundred, thousand and decimal
- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada: RIC-21 study guide, sections 5.3 and 5.4 · the same table with the stressed syllables, and how figures, thousands and decimals are spoken
Questions
Common questions
Yes. The chart, the spell-it drill, the at-work examples and the 15 practice questions are free, and your result needs no sign-up. An email unlocks the bonus: a printable desk card, a numbers and dates card and a 50-item drill, which open on this page right away and stay open on this browser.
Yes, it is one list. ICAO, the civil aviation body, set it out in Annex 10; NATO put the same list into effect on 1 March 1956, and the ITU, the body for radio, adopted it a few years later. So the ICAO spelling alphabet, the NATO phonetic alphabet and the “military alphabet” are the same 26 words, used by armed forces, airlines, ship radio, dispatchers and offices alike.
Those are the spellings in the ICAO list, and NATO’s own explainer uses them too. Nobody can hear the difference between Alfa and Alpha, so it only matters when you write the list down: use the spellings in the list.
The ICAO list gives a spoken form for every figure, not just the letters, and those three are the ones that differ most from everyday English. Most offices say “nine”, “three” and “five” the ordinary way; the point is to say each digit on its own and clearly.
No. The IPA is a set of symbols that linguists and dictionaries use to write down speech sounds. This page is the spelling alphabet: one plain word for each letter, so a name or a code can be spelled out loud without mistakes.
Your employer’s phone script comes first. Many offices improvise (“S as in Sam”), and that works between two people who know each other; the list is the one set of words most callers already recognise, which makes it a good default. Nothing you type into the drill on this page is saved or sent anywhere.
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