Morse Code Alphabet
The Morse code alphabet gives each of the 26 letters a pattern of 1 to 4 dots and dashes. The most common letters are the shortest: E is one dot (·) and T is one dash (−). Tap a letter to hear it.
Tap any tile to hear it.
Want it on paper? Get the printable Morse code chart. To spell a word, use the Morse code translator.
Letters by length
Short codes go to the letters used most in English. Learning them in this order is a good start.
| Symbols | Letters |
|---|---|
| 1 | E, T |
| 2 | A, I, M, N |
| 3 | D, G, K, O, R, S, U, W |
| 4 | B, C, F, H, J, L, P, Q, V, X, Y, Z |
Patterns that help you remember
Opposite letters
Swap every dot for a dash and the other way around, and you get another letter:
- A ·− and N −·
- B −··· and J ·−−−
- D −·· and W ·−−
- E · and T −
- F ··−· and Q −−·−
- G −−· and U ··−
- I ·· and M −−
- K −·− and R ·−·
- L ·−·· and Y −·−−
- O −−− and S ···
- P ·−−· and X −··−
Mirror letters
Read the code backwards and you get another letter:
- A ·− and N −·
- B −··· and V ···−
- D −·· and U ··−
- F ··−· and L ·−··
- G −−· and W ·−−
- Q −−·− and Y −·−−
Growing families
Add one more of the same symbol to move up the family: E ·, I ··, S ···, H ····. And with dashes: T −, M −−, O −−−.
Punctuation and symbols
| Sign | Name | Morse code |
|---|---|---|
| . | Period | ·−·−·− |
| , | Comma | −−··−− |
| ? | Question mark | ··−−·· |
| ' | Apostrophe | ·−−−−· |
| / | Slash | −··−· |
| ( | Open bracket | −·−−· |
| ) | Close bracket | −·−−·− |
| : | Colon | −−−··· |
| = | Equals sign | −···− |
| + | Plus sign | ·−·−· |
| - | Hyphen | −····− |
| " | Quotation mark | ·−··−· |
| @ | At sign | ·−−·−· |
| ! | Exclamation mark * | −·−·−− |
| & | Ampersand * | ·−··· |
| ; | Semicolon * | −·−·−· |
| _ | Underscore * | ··−−·− |
| $ | Dollar sign * | ···−··− |
* Common, but not part of the official ITU list.
Questions people ask
How many letters are in the Morse code alphabet?
International Morse code has 26 letters, A to Z, plus the numbers 0 to 9 and a set of punctuation marks.
What is the easiest way to learn the Morse code alphabet?
Learn the letters by their sound, not by looking at a chart. Start with the short letters (E, T, I, A, N, M), then add a few new letters at a time. Our free trainer does this for you.
Why is E a single dot?
Morse code gives the shortest codes to the most used letters in English. E is the most common letter, so it got the shortest code. T, the second shortest, is one dash.
Is the Morse code alphabet the same everywhere?
Yes for A to Z. International Morse code is used worldwide. Some languages add extra codes for letters such as Ä, Ö, Ü or Ñ. An older version called American Morse code, used on US railroad telegraphs, had different codes and is almost never used today.
Sources
- Recommendation ITU-R M.1677-1: International Morse code, International Telecommunication Union (2009)
Last updated .