Letter to Phone Number Converter

Type a number with a word in it and get the digits to dial. Swap lists each digit's letters.

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Direction: Letters to Digits

Sample Digits

555-2253

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Letter for digit by the E.161 keypad. Check the number before you dial it.

Next step Reading it down the line? Spell it in code words Digits that stand for letters by shape, not by key

All 44 keypad entries

1 to 0: the letters on each key 10

0 key: no letters No letters on the 0 key. North American dials mark it Operator, and old British dials gave it O and Q.
1 key: no letters No letters on the 1 key, so a 1 in a number is always a 1. Some older telephones parked Q and Z here.
2 key: A, B or C Swap reads a 2 back as [ABC], because it can stand for three letters. The alphabet starts on 2 because the 1 key carries no letters. A 2 in a number can be read three ways.
3 key: D, E or F Swap reads a 3 back as [DEF], because it can stand for three letters. A 3 can be read three ways. Pressed twice in multi-tap, it types E.
4 key: G, H or I Swap reads a 4 back as [GHI], because it can stand for three letters. The letter I lives here, not on the 1 key it looks like.

Show all 44 keypad entries (39 more)

1 to 0: the letters on each key, continued

5 key: J, K or L Swap reads a 5 back as [JKL], because it can stand for three letters. E.161 asks for a raised mark on this key, so the middle of the pad can be found by touch.
6 key: M, N or O Swap reads a 6 back as [MNO], because it can stand for three letters. The letter O lives here, not on 0. Some older telephones showed only M and N on this key.
7 key: P, Q, R or S Swap reads a 7 back as [PQRS], because it can stand for four letters. One of two keys with four letters. Older telephones read PRS here: Q became standard in the 1990s, once text messages needed it.
8 key: T, U or V Swap reads a 8 back as [TUV], because it can stand for three letters. An 8 can be read three ways: T, U or V.
9 key: W, X, Y or Z Swap reads a 9 back as [WXYZ], because it can stand for four letters. The other key with four letters. Older telephones read WXY here: Z became standard in the 1990s too.

A to Z: the digit each letter dials 26

A is on the 2 key A dials 2. First of three letters on the 2 key. Multi-tap texting: one press of 2.
B is on the 2 key B dials 2. Second of three letters on the 2 key. Multi-tap texting: two presses of 2.
C is on the 2 key C dials 2. Third of three letters on the 2 key. Multi-tap texting: three presses of 2.
D is on the 3 key D dials 3. First of three letters on the 3 key. Multi-tap texting: one press of 3.
E is on the 3 key E dials 3. Second of three letters on the 3 key. Multi-tap texting: two presses of 3. The example the multi-tap write-ups use: press 3 twice.
F is on the 3 key F dials 3. Third of three letters on the 3 key. Multi-tap texting: three presses of 3.
G is on the 4 key G dials 4. First of three letters on the 4 key. Multi-tap texting: one press of 4.
H is on the 4 key H dials 4. Second of three letters on the 4 key. Multi-tap texting: two presses of 4.
I is on the 4 key I dials 4. Third of three letters on the 4 key. Multi-tap texting: three presses of 4. Dial 4 for it, never 1: the 1 key has no letters.
J is on the 5 key J dials 5. First of three letters on the 5 key. Multi-tap texting: one press of 5.
K is on the 5 key K dials 5. Second of three letters on the 5 key. Multi-tap texting: two presses of 5.
L is on the 5 key L dials 5. Third of three letters on the 5 key. Multi-tap texting: three presses of 5.
M is on the 6 key M dials 6. First of three letters on the 6 key. Multi-tap texting: one press of 6.
N is on the 6 key N dials 6. Second of three letters on the 6 key. Multi-tap texting: two presses of 6.
O is on the 6 key O dials 6. Third of three letters on the 6 key. Multi-tap texting: three presses of 6. Dial 6 for it, never 0. Old British dials did put O on the 0 key, which is where the mix-up comes from.
P is on the 7 key P dials 7. First of four letters on the 7 key. Multi-tap texting: one press of 7.
Q is on the 7 key Q dials 7. Second of four letters on the 7 key. Multi-tap texting: two presses of 7. Not on the standard layout until the 1990s. Older telephones left Q off, or put it on the 1 key with Z.
R is on the 7 key R dials 7. Third of four letters on the 7 key. Multi-tap texting: three presses of 7.
S is on the 7 key S dials 7. Fourth of four letters on the 7 key. Multi-tap texting: four presses of 7. Older telephones read PRS on this key, so S was its third letter.
T is on the 8 key T dials 8. First of three letters on the 8 key. Multi-tap texting: one press of 8.
U is on the 8 key U dials 8. Second of three letters on the 8 key. Multi-tap texting: two presses of 8.
V is on the 8 key V dials 8. Third of three letters on the 8 key. Multi-tap texting: three presses of 8.
W is on the 9 key W dials 9. First of four letters on the 9 key. Multi-tap texting: one press of 9.
X is on the 9 key X dials 9. Second of four letters on the 9 key. Multi-tap texting: two presses of 9.
Y is on the 9 key Y dials 9. Third of four letters on the 9 key. Multi-tap texting: three presses of 9.
Z is on the 9 key Z dials 9. Fourth of four letters on the 9 key. Multi-tap texting: four presses of 9. Not on the standard layout until the 1990s. Older telephones read WXY here.

Digits you type 8

2 typed as a digit A 2 that is already a digit is dialled as it is.
3 typed as a digit A 3 that is already a digit is dialled as it is.
4 typed as a digit A 4 that is already a digit is dialled as it is.
5 typed as a digit A 5 that is already a digit is dialled as it is.
6 typed as a digit A 6 that is already a digit is dialled as it is.
7 typed as a digit A 7 that is already a digit is dialled as it is.
8 typed as a digit A 8 that is already a digit is dialled as it is.
9 typed as a digit A 9 that is already a digit is dialled as it is.

How this list was compiled: Letter assignment from ITU-T Recommendation E.161 (02/2001), clause 2.2: 2 ABC, 3 DEF, 4 GHI, 5 JKL, 6 MNO, 7 PQRS, 8 TUV, 9 WXYZ, with 1 and 0 bare. Index page https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-E.161 read on 2026-09-19 (edition 02/01 in force; the 2014 amendment adds a Korean annex only). The PDF link on itu.int answered with a server error that day, so the text was read in the Internet Archive copy of 2026-01-28: https://web.archive.org/web/20260128080016/https://www.itu.int/rec/dologin_pub.asp?type=items&lang=e&id=T-REC-E.161-200102-I%21%21PDF-E. Cross-checked the same day against the table at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_keypad, which also gives the older layouts (QZ on 1, MN on 6, PRS on 7, WXY on 9, and O with Q on 0 on British dials). Q and Z joining the standard layout in the 1990s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.161. The raised mark on 5 and the word operator on 0: E.161 clause 3.6 and footnote 2. Multi-tap presses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-tap. ISO/IEC 9995-8:2009 gives the identical assignment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO/IEC_9995. All read on 2026-09-19. Every row was checked against those texts. Row names and notes are this site's own words. A two-way table of the same 36 rows: every letter row writes its digit, every key row is read back as its letters in square brackets, and eight rows say that a digit typed as a digit stays. The key rows stand first because the way back gives the first row that writes a digit. Every row was checked against the E.161 assignment again. Licence: own work

How it works

This letter to phone number converter swaps each letter for the digit on its key, so 555-CAKE dials as 555-2253. The layout is ITU-T E.161, the international keypad standard. Digits and hyphens stay. Swap lists the letters behind each digit.

Read the full guide

Letters in, digits out

Type the number as it was printed, word and all. A phone number words to numbers converter has one rule: each letter becomes the digit on its key. Digits, spaces, hyphens, brackets and a plus sign stay, and capitals and small letters dial the same. Press Copy the digits.

Digits in, letters out

Press Swap and type the digits that spell the word. Each turns into the letters on its key, so 2253 reads [ABC][ABC][JKL][DEF]. Pick one letter from each bracket: CAKE is one of 81 readings. With no dictionary here the page does not guess. 1 and 0 carry no letters and stay as typed.

The letter O dials 6 and the letter I dials 4. Dial 0 or 1 instead and somebody else answers.
A word longer than the number is fine. The exchange usually ignores digits after the last one it needs.
Printing a word number on a letterhead? E.161 asks for the digits underneath, for callers dialling from abroad.

Questions and answers

Is this also a phone number to letter converter?

Yes. Press Swap, type digits, and each becomes the letters on its key. It stops short of guessing words: 228 is BAT, CAT and ACT at once, and a seven-digit number without 0 or 1 has at least 2,187 spellings.

How do I convert letters to telephone numbers by hand?

Find the key that carries the letter: 2 ABC, 3 DEF, 4 GHI, 5 JKL, 6 MNO, 7 PQRS, 8 TUV, 9 WXYZ. Press it once per letter, wherever it sits on the key. Pressing 7 four times for S is texting, not dialling.

Which key are Q and Z on?

Q is on 7 and Z is on 9. Until the 1990s neither was in the standard layout: telephones left them off or put both on the 1 key. Text messaging needed the whole alphabet, so ITU-T E.161 fixed them where they sit today.

Do all phones put the same letters on the same keys?

Every phone built to ITU-T E.161 does, and ISO/IEC 9995-8 gives the identical assignment. Older national dials disagreed: British ones put O and Q on 0, and an early Danish dial started with C on 1, so a lettered number dialled differently abroad.