Reference

The morse code alphabet

Twenty-six letters, ten numbers, a handful of marks. A dot is one beat, a dash is three, and the silence between them matters as much as the sound.

Letters — tap to hear

Numbers — tap to hear

Punctuation — tap to hear

Reading the chart

  • · One beat of silence separates dots and dashes inside a letter.
  • · Three beats separate letters.
  • · Seven beats — written as / — separate words.

Letters worth learning first

E is a single dot and T a single dash — together they cover a huge share of English text. Add A (.-), N (-.), I (..) and M (--) and you can already read short words by ear.

Numbers and punctuation

Digits are always five signals long — see the full morse code numbers chart. Punctuation runs five or six signals, which is why it is used sparingly on air.

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