Why a spelling alphabet
Over a phone line or radio, letters like B, D, P and V sound alike. The international spelling alphabet replaces each letter with a distinct word: B is Bravo, D Delta, P Papa, V Victor. Adopted in 1956 by ICAO and NATO after testing with speakers of many languages, it is used by pilots, the military, police, call centres and anyone reading out a booking reference or a Wi-Fi password.
The spellings "Alfa" and "Juliett" are deliberate: they make speakers of other languages pronounce the words correctly.
Worked example
Booking code QX7B2F is read Quebec X-ray Seven Bravo Two Foxtrot. For the digit nine, radio operators say Niner so it is not confused with the German "nein".
Full alphabet
Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.
How this works
The page uppercases your text, removes accents and replaces each letter and digit with its code word from the ITU Radio Regulations, Appendix 14, the same list used in ICAO and NATO procedures. Each word of your input becomes one line of output, so names and codes stay easy to read aloud. Characters without a code word, such as most punctuation, are kept as typed. Everything runs in your browser.
Frequently asked
Why is it spelled Alfa and not Alpha?
So that speakers of languages where ph is not pronounced f say it correctly. The same reason gives Juliett two t's.
Why do pilots say Niner?
To avoid confusing nine with five over a noisy radio, and with the German word nein.
Is it NATO or ICAO alphabet?
The same list. ICAO adopted it for aviation in 1956, and NATO uses it too; the ITU publishes it for radio.
Does it work with other languages?
Yes for the Latin alphabet; accents are dropped, so ç becomes Charlie.
Sources
- ITU Radio Regulations — Appendix 14, phonetic alphabet and figure code
- ITU-R M.1677-1 — International Morse code
- Wikipedia — NATO phonetic alphabet
Reviewed Oct 17, 2026 · test vectors fixtures/codes/nato-phonetic-alphabet/