Sideways Text Generator

Type a line and copy it with each letter lying on its side, turned clockwise or anticlockwise.

Sideways Text Generator

Sample. Type or paste your own to replace it.

Turned clockwise 12 characters

ᓬ工一ᑎ工 ᓬᗆ≺ ᑕᓀ

Every letter and number here has a character in this set.

Same text, other sets

  • Turned anticlockwise 12 charactersᕒ工一ᑌ工 ᕒᗉ≻ ᑐᓇEvery letter and number here has a character in this set.

More options

Use these for fun, not for anything that matters. Screen readers read many of these characters badly or skip them, search cannot find them, and some apps strip them or show empty boxes.

All 43 characters: tap one to copy it

43 characters in 4 groups.

With a keyboard: Tab goes into the table once, the arrow keys move inside it, and Enter copies.

Turned clockwise, top to the right 16

Turned anticlockwise, top to the left 16

The same after either turn 8

Letters that stay plain 3

Next step Flip the line or turn it upside downStack a small letter on each one

How it works

This sideways text generator swaps each letter for a real character that looks like it after a quarter turn, either way. G, Q and R have none and stay plain. Some apps strip or block these characters, and screen readers may read them badly.

Read the full guide

Type a line, copy it on its side

The large card is Turned clockwise: the top of each letter points right. Turned anticlockwise points it left. Small letters use the capital's character, and a line under each result names any letter that stayed plain.

Which way to turn

Book spines use both turns. Wikipedia's bookbinding article says spine titles run top to bottom in the United States and the United Kingdom, which is the clockwise turn, and bottom to top in most of continental Europe. For a word that runs down the page, put one character on each line. On your own web page, the CSS property writing-mode: vertical-rl turns real letters clockwise.

Tips
  • E, F, K, M, S, T and Y are near misses one way or both, and the list under the tool says what is off.
  • N and Z need no special character: a quarter turn of one is the other. H becomes 工 and 8 becomes ∞ either way.
  • 22 of the 40 characters are Canadian syllabics, where turning a shape changes its vowel: ᑌ is te, ᑎ ti, ᑐ to and ᑕ ta.

Questions and answers

How do you turn text sideways?

Plain text cannot be rotated, because a character carries no angle. This page swaps each letter for a different real character that already looks like the letter on its side, so the turn survives copy and paste wherever those characters display.

Why do some letters stay upright?

G, Q and R have no character that looks like them after a quarter turn, and this page will not fake one. They stay as typed and the line under the result names them. O and X look the same after a quarter turn.

Is sideways text the same as upside down or mirrored text?

No. Sideways is a quarter turn, upside down is a half turn, and mirrored is a flip with no turn at all. Each needs its own lookalike characters. The mirror text generator has the flip and an upside down row.

Why do some sideways letters show as boxes?

The line draws on six scripts and seven maths signs, and a device needs a font for each. The youngest are the 22 Canadian syllabics, in Unicode since September 1999; the other 18 characters date from June 1993.

More tools

Browse Text styles

All 43 characters

Turned clockwise, top to the right 16

  • Canadian syllabics Carrier ghe U+15C6. Stands in for A turned clockwise. Its Unicode name gives it to Carrier, for the syllable ghe. The point of the A faces right and the crossbar stands upright.
  • Canadian syllabics Carrier go U+15F0. Stands in for E turned clockwise. Its Unicode name gives it to Carrier, for the syllable go. A near miss: the corners are rounded. Unicode's confusables file pairs this shape with the capital M.
  • Canadian syllabics Carrier khu U+15F5. Stands in for B turned clockwise. Its Unicode name gives it to Carrier, for the syllable khu. The flat back of the B is on top and both bowls hang down.
  • Canadian syllabics Carrier thu U+15DC. Stands in for D turned clockwise. Its Unicode name gives it to Carrier, for the syllable thu. The flat back of the D is on top and the bowl hangs down.
  • Canadian syllabics la U+14DA. Stands in for J turned clockwise. In syllabics it writes the syllable la. The hook of the J ends up on the left, curling upward.
  • Canadian syllabics medial l U+14EC. Stands in for W turned clockwise. A syllabics sign that Unicode names medial l. Both points of the W face left.
Show all 43 characters (37 more)

Turned clockwise, top to the right, continued

  • Canadian syllabics mi U+14A5. Stands in for L turned clockwise. In syllabics it writes the syllable mi. The foot of the L hangs down on the left. Unicode's confusables file pairs this shape with the Greek capital gamma.
  • Canadian syllabics ne U+14C0. Stands in for P turned clockwise. In syllabics it writes the syllable ne. The stem of the P lies along the top and the bowl hangs from its right end.
  • Canadian syllabics pa U+1438. Stands in for V turned clockwise. In syllabics it writes the syllable pa. The open end of the V faces right. The syllable pe is drawn as a V, and pa is that same shape turned.
  • Canadian syllabics ta U+1455. Stands in for U turned clockwise. In syllabics it writes the syllable ta. The open end of the U faces right, which is also a C shape.
  • Canadian syllabics ti U+144E. Stands in for C turned clockwise. In syllabics it writes the syllable ti. A C turned this way is an arch. Te, ti, to and ta are one syllabics shape in four turns, and this page uses all four.
  • Hangul letter yu U+3160. Stands in for F turned clockwise. The Korean vowel letter yu. A near miss: both short strokes hang from the middle of the bar, where a turned F has one at the end.
  • Latin capital letter ezh reversed U+01B8. Stands in for M turned clockwise. A Latin letter, the reversed ezh. A near miss: the top half is the sharp zigzag of a turned M and the bottom half is a curve.
  • Left tack U+22A3. Stands in for T turned clockwise. A maths sign, also called the reverse turnstile. A near miss: the shape is a T on its side, but it is drawn lower than a capital.
  • NAND U+22BC. Stands in for K turned clockwise. A logic sign; NAND is its whole official name. A near miss: the bar and the two arms are right, but it is drawn as a small maths sign, lower than a capital.
  • Precedes U+227A. Stands in for Y turned clockwise. A maths sign for an order, also read as lower rank than. A near miss: the fork opens to the right as it should, but the arms curve and there is next to no stem.

Turned anticlockwise, top to the left 16

  • Canadian syllabics Carrier gha U+15C9. Stands in for A turned anticlockwise. Its Unicode name gives it to Carrier, for the syllable gha. The point of the A faces left.
  • Canadian syllabics Carrier kho U+15F6. Stands in for B turned anticlockwise. Its Unicode name gives it to Carrier, for the syllable kho. The flat back of the B is underneath and both bowls stand up.
  • Canadian syllabics Carrier tho U+15DD. Stands in for D turned anticlockwise. Its Unicode name gives it to Carrier, for the syllable tho. The flat back of the D is underneath, like a dome.
  • Canadian syllabics le U+14D3. Stands in for J turned anticlockwise. In syllabics it writes the syllable le. The hook of the J ends up on the right, curling downward.
  • Canadian syllabics medial r U+1552. Stands in for W turned anticlockwise. A syllabics sign that Unicode names medial r. Both points of the W face right.
  • Canadian syllabics mo U+14A7. Stands in for L turned anticlockwise. In syllabics it writes the syllable mo. The foot of the L stands up on the right.
  • Canadian syllabics na U+14C7. Stands in for P turned anticlockwise. In syllabics it writes the syllable na. The stem of the P lies along the bottom and the bowl sits on its left end.
  • Canadian syllabics po U+1433. Stands in for V turned anticlockwise. In syllabics it writes the syllable po. The open end of the V faces left.
  • Canadian syllabics te U+144C. Stands in for C turned anticlockwise. In syllabics it writes the syllable te. A C turned this way is a cup. Unicode's confusables file pairs this shape with the capital U.
  • Canadian syllabics to U+1450. Stands in for U turned anticlockwise. In syllabics it writes the syllable to. The open end of the U faces left.
  • Cyrillic capital letter sha U+0428. Stands in for E turned anticlockwise. The Cyrillic capital sha. Three uprights on a bar, which is an E lying on its back.
  • Greek capital letter sigma U+03A3. Stands in for M turned anticlockwise. The Greek capital sigma. Two bars and a notch that points right, which is an M turned to the left.
  • Hangul letter yo U+315B. Stands in for F turned anticlockwise. The Korean vowel letter yo. A near miss: both short strokes stand in the middle of the bar, where a turned F has one at the end.
  • Right tack U+22A2. Stands in for T turned anticlockwise. A maths sign, also called the turnstile. A near miss: the shape is a T on its side, but it is drawn lower than a capital.
  • Succeeds U+227B. Stands in for Y turned anticlockwise. A maths sign for an order, also read as higher rank than. A near miss: the fork opens to the left as it should, but the arms curve and there is next to no stem.
  • XOR U+22BB. Stands in for K turned anticlockwise. A logic sign; XOR is its whole official name. A near miss: the bar and the two arms are right, but it is drawn as a small maths sign, lower than a capital.

The same after either turn 8

  • Canadian syllabics sha U+1515. Stands in for S turned either way. In syllabics it writes the syllable sha. A near miss: the middle stroke slants more than the middle of an S. An S looks the same after either quarter turn.
  • The Han character 一 U+4E00. Stands in for I turned either way. The Han character for one, a single stroke. A plain I on its side is one flat stroke, the same after either turn.
  • The Han character 工 U+5DE5. Stands in for H turned either way. A Han character; the Unihan database glosses it as labor or work. An H on its side is two bars joined by a post, the same after either turn.
  • Infinity U+221E. Stands in for 8 turned either way. The infinity sign. An 8 lying on its side, the same after either turn.
  • Latin capital letter N U+004E. Stands in for Z turned either way. The plain capital N. A quarter turn of Z in either direction is an N shape, so no special character is needed.
  • Latin capital letter O U+004F. Stands in for O turned either way. The plain capital O. A round O looks the same after a quarter turn. A small o becomes the capital so that it matches the height of the other characters.
  • Latin capital letter X U+0058. Stands in for X turned either way. The plain capital X. An X looks the same after a quarter turn. A small x becomes the capital so that it matches the height of the other characters.
  • Latin capital letter Z U+005A. Stands in for N turned either way. The plain capital Z. A quarter turn of N in either direction is a Z shape, so no special character is needed.

Letters that stay plain 3

  • Latin capital letter G U+0047. Stays plain in both sets. No character drawn for this page looked like a G on its side. The result names it under Stayed plain.
  • Latin capital letter Q U+0051. Stays plain in both sets. No character drawn for this page looked like a Q on its side: the tail never sat in the right place. The result names it under Stayed plain.
  • Latin capital letter R U+0052. Stays plain in both sets. No character drawn for this page looked like an R on its side. The result names it under Stayed plain.

How this list was compiled: Every character was looked up by code point in the Unicode Character Database, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/UnicodeData.txt), and the build script stops unless the official name, the script (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/Scripts.txt) and the age (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/DerivedAge.txt) are the ones expected, so no name or code point was typed by hand. The picks are this page's own: each Latin capital was drawn in Helvetica, turned a quarter turn each way, and set beside candidate characters drawn in Noto Sans Canadian Aboriginal, Arial Unicode and STIX Two Math; every row says whether it is a close match or a near miss, and what is off. 22 of the 40 characters are Canadian syllabics, a script in which turning a shape changes the vowel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Aboriginal_syllabics); the syllable each one writes is taken from its Unicode name. The syllabics joined Unicode in version 3.0 (September 1999, https://www.unicode.org/history/publicationdates.html) and every other character here dates from version 1.1. Other names for the maths signs are from https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/NamesList.txt, the two Han glosses from the Unihan database (https://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=5DE5 and codepoint=4E00), and the pairing of U+14A5 with gamma from https://www.unicode.org/Public/security/latest/confusables.txt (version 18.0.0). G, Q and R have no row that swaps them because nothing drawn came close. All checked on 2026-09-20. Names are the official ones in sentence case. Licence: own work (two Han glosses quoted from the Unihan database, other facts restated from the Unicode Character Database, both under the Unicode License v3, https://www.unicode.org/license.txt; facts from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, restated in our own words)