Free Number to Words Converter

Worked example

The box opens with 1234 and the result reads "One thousand, two hundred thirty-four". Press "Currency" with USD selected and type 1234.56: the result is "One thousand, two hundred thirty-four dollars and fifty-six cents", and a note below it begins "Amount used: $1,234.56". Press "Check writing" and the same amount reads "One thousand two hundred thirty-four and 56/100 dollars", with the commas left out, the way a cheque line is written. Tick "Add "only" at the end" to finish it with "only". Press "Ordinal" and type 21 to get "Twenty-first". "Batch (one per line)" does the same for a pasted list.

Which settings to use, and the limits

• Pick the mode that matches the job. "Cardinal" reads the number as it stands and reads a decimal part digit by digit, so 12.05 becomes "Twelve point zero five". "Ordinal" gives "Twenty-first" for 21 and "One millionth" for 1000000, and it is offered only when the language is English. "Currency" names the money and rounds to the nearest minor unit, so 1.995 in dollars is "Two dollars". "Check writing" writes the cents as a fraction ("and 56/100") and drops the commas between groups. A currency with no minor unit, such as JPY, is rounded to a whole number.
• Match the English style of your document. The checkbox "British "and" (one hundred and twenty-one)" turns 121 into "One hundred and twenty-one" and 1001 into "One thousand and one". "Commas between groups" and "Hyphenate (twenty-one)" are on at the start; with hyphens off, 21 reads "Twenty one". "Lakh / crore wording" turns 12345678 into "One crore, twenty-three lakh, forty-five thousand, six hundred seventy-eight", and it switches itself on for INR in Currency and Check writing until you tick or untick it yourself. "Letter case" offers "Sentence case", "Title Case", "UPPERCASE" and "lowercase".
• Choose the currency, or name your own. The "Currency" menu appears in Currency and Check writing. For English it lists 19 codes, from USD, GBP and EUR to INR, JPY, CHF and ZAR. "Custom…" opens "Currency name (e.g. bitcoin)" and "Minor unit (optional, e.g. satoshi)", each limited to 40 characters. With bitcoin and satoshi, 1234.56 reads "One thousand, two hundred thirty-four bitcoin and fifty-six satoshi". A custom name is never made plural, an empty name becomes "units", and with no minor unit the amount is rounded to a whole number.
• Type the number the way you have it. "1,234.56" and "1.234,56" both mean 1234.56: when both signs appear, the last one is the decimal mark. A single comma with exactly three digits after it and one to three before it is a thousands mark ("1,234"); otherwise it is a decimal mark ("1,5"). In English a single dot is always a decimal point, but in German or other languages that write 1.234,5 it is a thousands mark, so 10.000 is ten thousand. Spaces, apostrophes and underscores are ignored, a leading + or - is accepted, and Arabic-Indic, Persian and full-width digits are converted. English takes up to 36 digits before the point.
• Convert a list in Batch mode. Press "Batch (one per line)" and paste one number per line under "Numbers, one per line". Each line uses the same mode, language, currency and style settings as the single box, and the page reports a count such as "4 lines converted", followed by " · 1 line could not be converted" if a line failed. Unreadable lines show "Not a valid number" in red. "Copy all" copies the words one per line, and "Download CSV" saves number-to-words.csv with the columns "number" and "words". Only the first 5,000 non-empty lines are read.
• Change the language of the words. The "Language" menu lists English and 19 other choices, among them Deutsch, Español, Français in three regional forms, Português in two, Tiếng Việt in two, 日本語, 한국어 and فارسی. A page in one of these languages starts in that language. "Ordinal" is English only, so that button disappears in the others. Each language has its own currency list and digit limit, for example 21 digits for German and 27 for Vietnamese. "Share result" copies a link that carries the number, plus the mode, currency and language when you changed them.

Common problems and how to fix them

It says "Enter a valid number (digits with an optional decimal point or comma, e.g. 1,234.56 or 1.234,56)".

The text is not a plain number. Letters and signs such as $ or € are refused. So are scientific notation like 1e3, a second decimal point as in 1.2.3, and any grouping that is not in threes. That last rule catches Indian-style commas such as 12,34,567: type 1234567 or 1,234,567 instead, and tick "Lakh / crore wording" to get lakh and crore in the words. In "Batch (one per line)" the same lines show "Not a valid number" instead.

It says "Number too large (max: 36 digits, up to decillions)".

English stops at 36 digits before the decimal point. In another language the message reads "Number too large (max: 21 digits in this language)" with that language's own limit. In Currency and Check writing the digits are counted after rounding, so a number close to the limit can tip over. Remove digits, or split the number and convert the parts one at a time.

It says "Ordinal numbers need a whole number. Remove the decimal part, or switch to Cardinal."

"Ordinal" cannot say "second point five". A decimal part that is not all zeros triggers the message, so 2.5 fails while 2.0 gives "Second". Delete the decimals, or press "Cardinal" to read the whole number with its decimals. Currency and Check writing take decimals, because they treat them as cents.

I typed 1.500 and it says "One point five zero zero", not fifteen hundred.

On an English page a single dot is a decimal point, and a single comma is a thousands mark only when exactly three digits follow it. Type 1,500 for fifteen hundred, or switch "Language" to one that writes 1.500 with a dot, such as Deutsch, where it reads as 1500. A leading zero changes the rule too: 0,500 is read as a decimal, never as five hundred.

The words say "Zero dollars" for an amount I typed, and the note says "Amount used: $0.00".

Currency and Check writing round to the nearest minor unit first, so 0.004 becomes 0.00 and 1.995 becomes 2.00. Type at least 0.005 for a cent to appear. The "Amount used" line under the result always shows the rounded figure that was actually spelled out, so check it before you copy the words onto an invoice. A negative sign is dropped when the rounded amount is zero.

How it compares

This tool only turns a number into words. It does not know your bank's house style, your country's rules for cheques, or whether the amount on a document is correct, so read the result against the convention you must follow. Writing the words by hand is fine for a few round amounts, but long numbers, cents and lakh or crore grouping are where slips happen. English covers up to 36 digits and 19 currencies plus your own. The tool does not read fractions such as 1/2 or Roman numerals.