Morse Code Alphabet

Morse code letters: short codes for common letters

The most common letters in English got the shortest codes. E is one dot and T is one dash. A, I, M and N take two symbols, eight letters take three, and the last twelve take four.

Many letters come in pairs that make them easier to remember. Swap every dot and dash in one letter and you get its opposite: E and T, I and M, S and O, A and N, K and R, D and W, G and U. Read some codes backward and you get another letter: B and V, D and U, F and L, G and W, Q and Y.

Morse code numbers follow one pattern

Every number has 5 symbols, and once you see the pattern you can work out any of them:

• 1 to 5 start with that many dots, then dashes: 3 is ...--
• 6 to 9 start with dashes (the number minus 5), then dots: 7 is --...
• 5 is five dots and 0 is five dashes.

Punctuation, signs and accented letters

The international standard (ITU) has codes for . , ? ' / ( ) : = + - " and @. The chart also has ! & ; _ and $, which are common but not part of the standard, so another operator may not know them. Signs take 5 to 7 symbols, so they take longer to send than letters.

For other languages, the chart has À, Ä, Ç, È, É, Ñ, Ö and Ü. Only É is in the ITU standard; the others are common extensions. Å, Æ and Ø share the codes of À, Ä and Ö.

Morse code timing: 1, 3, 1, 3, 7

Morse code is a rhythm as much as a pattern. Everything is measured in units:

• A dot lasts 1 unit.
• A dash lasts 3 units.
• The gap between dots and dashes inside a letter is 1 unit.
• The gap between letters is 3 units.
• The gap between words is 7 units.

How long a unit lasts

The length of a unit sets the speed. Speed is counted in words per minute (WPM) on the word PARIS, so one unit lasts 1,200 divided by the WPM, in milliseconds: 60 ms at 20 WPM and 120 ms at 10 WPM. Every tool on this site uses that timing, from 5 to 40 WPM.

International Morse code vs American Morse code

This chart is International Morse code, the version used on the radio today and the one people usually mean by "Morse code". The site follows the ITU standard (ITU-R M.1677-1).

American Morse code is the older version, made for landline telegraphs in the United States. Some of its letters have spaces inside them, such as C, O, R, Y and Z, and L and 0 use longer dashes. Many letters differ completely, so a message in one isn't readable in the other. American Morse code went out of use with the landline telegraph.

How to memorize the Morse code alphabet

Learn the sounds, not the chart. A chart teaches you to count dots and dashes, and counting is too slow once letters come at real speed. Operators hear dah-di-dah-dit as C the way you hear a spoken word.

Say codes as sounds: "dit" for a dot (or "di" inside a letter) and "dah" for a dash. A is di-dah and N is dah-dit. Then practice by ear: learn Morse code with a free trainer that starts with two characters and adds more as you get them right. Keep this chart for looking things up.

Print the Morse code chart

Press Print chart to print the full chart with every character and its code. It works for a classroom wall, an escape room clue or a desk reference.

To turn a message into code without the chart, use the Morse code translator. To make it into a sound file, use the Morse code generator.