Number to words
Type a number to see it written out in words: plain, check-writing style with dollars and cents, as an ordinal such as "forty-second", or with the British "and", ready to copy.
Commas, a minus sign and decimals are fine. Up to 36 digits before the decimal point.
12.75 reads “twelve point seven five”.
Most printed checks already have “Dollars” at the end of the line.
- Nothing is uploaded
- Free, no sign-up
- Works on phone and desktop
How to write a number in words
- 1
Type a number, with commas and decimals if you like: 1,234.56, -42 or 1000000.
- 2
Read it in words at once, with the decimals read digit by digit or as a fraction.
- 3
Find the form you need below it: on a check, in dollars and cents, as an ordinal or in British English.
- 4
Press Copy next to any of them and paste it into your check, contract or document.
Features
Every way to write it
Plain words, check style with cents as 56/100, dollars and cents, ordinals such as "twenty-first" and 21st, and British English.
Follows the conventions
Hyphens from twenty-one to ninety-nine, "and" only before the cents on a check, and the short-scale billion used in the US and UK.
Big numbers, exact decimals
Up to 36 digits (hundreds of decillions) and 20 decimal places, worked out exactly, with no rounding unless it is money.
Nothing to install
It runs in your browser. The link can keep the number, so you can bookmark it or send it to someone.
How to write a check amount in words
A US check shows the amount twice: in figures in the box after the dollar sign, and in words on the line below. Words are much harder to alter than figures, so they are the part that counts. Here is $1,234.56, step by step:
- Write 1,234.56 in the box, close to the dollar sign.
- Write the dollars in words, starting at the far left of the line: One thousand two hundred thirty-four.
- Add and, once, then the cents as a fraction of 100: One thousand two hundred thirty-four and 56/100.
- Draw a line from the end of your words to the printed word "Dollars", so nothing can be squeezed in.
Use a leading zero for cents under ten (Twenty and 09/100) and write 00/100 for a whole-dollar amount (Four hundred ten and 00/100). Wells Fargo's check-writing guide gives the same layout and notes that you don't need to write "dollars", because it is already printed at the end of the line; turn off "End the check line with dollars" in the tool if you prefer it that way. If the words and the figures ever disagree, the Uniform Commercial Code (section 3-114) says the words prevail.
Hyphens and "and": the rules
Hyphenate the compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine, as The Chicago Manual of Style does, including when they are part of a larger number: 342 is "three hundred forty-two". Nothing else gets a hyphen, so 1,000,000 is simply "one million". Ordinals follow the same rule: "forty-second", "three hundred forty-second".
American and British English differ on "and". American style leaves it out inside a whole number and saves it for the decimal point or the cents. British English puts it before the tens and ones, and before a last part under 100 in a bigger number:
| Number | American English | British English |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | twenty-one | twenty-one |
| 105 | one hundred five | one hundred and five |
| 1,005 | one thousand five | one thousand and five |
| 2,026 | two thousand twenty-six | two thousand and twenty-six |
| 1,234 | one thousand two hundred thirty-four | one thousand two hundred and thirty-four |
| 1,000,000 | one million | one million |
Ordinal numbers
Ordinals give a position: first, second, third. In words, only the last part changes, so 552 becomes "five hundred fifty-second". As figures they take a two-letter ending: "st" after 1, "nd" after 2 and "rd" after 3, except that 11, 12 and 13 take "th", and so do 111, 112 and 113.
| Figure | In words | Figure | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | first | 13th | thirteenth |
| 2nd | second | 21st | twenty-first |
| 3rd | third | 22nd | twenty-second |
| 4th | fourth | 23rd | twenty-third |
| 11th | eleventh | 101st | one hundred first |
| 12th | twelfth | 112th | one hundred twelfth |
Million, billion, trillion: the short scale
In the US, and now in Britain, each new name is a thousand times the last: a billion is a thousand million (1,000,000,000) and a trillion is a thousand billion. This is the short scale, and it is what the tool uses. Britain once used the long scale, where a billion meant a million million; in 1974 Prime Minister Harold Wilson told Parliament that government ministers would use "billion" in its international sense of a thousand million. Many other European languages still use the long scale, so a French "billion" or German "Billion" is a million million, and their word for a thousand million is "milliard" or "Milliarde". When you translate large figures, check which scale the writer meant: one billion and one trillion differ by a factor of a thousand.
For other conversions, the binary translator shows the bytes behind any text, and the Morse code translator turns numbers and words into dots and dashes. If you are writing to a word limit, the word counter keeps track as you type.
Frequently asked questions
How do I write $1,234.56 on a check?
Write "1,234.56" in the box next to the dollar sign. On the line below, write "One thousand two hundred thirty-four and 56/100", then draw a line to the printed word "Dollars" so no one can add to it. The dollars go in words, "and" appears only once, before the cents, and the cents are written as a fraction of 100.
How do I write cents on a check?
As a number over 100, after "and": $20.09 is "Twenty and 09/100", with a leading zero for single-digit cents. For a whole-dollar amount, write 00/100: $410 is "Four hundred ten and 00/100". Some banks also accept the cents in words, such as "one hundred five dollars and fifty cents", but the fraction is shorter and harder to change.
What if the words and the numbers on a check are different?
In the US, the words win. Section 3-114 of the Uniform Commercial Code says that when an instrument has contradictory terms, "words prevail over numbers". A bank may still return a check whose amounts don't match, so write them carefully and make sure they agree.
Should I write "one hundred and five" or "one hundred five"?
In American English, write "one hundred five": "and" is kept for the decimal point or the cents, as on a check. In British English, "one hundred and five" is standard, and the "and" also comes before a last part under 100 in bigger numbers: "one thousand and five". Choose the British English line in the tool for that style.
Which numbers have a hyphen?
Compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine, whether they stand alone or are part of a bigger number: "forty-two", "three hundred forty-two", "forty-two thousand". Their ordinals are hyphenated too ("forty-second"). Round numbers such as "one hundred" or "two thousand" have no hyphen.
How big a number can it write?
Up to 36 digits before the decimal point, which reaches 999 decillion, and up to 20 decimal places. It uses the short scale of the US and modern British English, where each new name is a thousand times the last: million, billion (1,000,000,000), trillion, quadrillion and so on.
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