Morse Code Lookup: Every Letter & Number
Click any character to hear it, see its timing, get a mnemonic, and learn what its dots and dashes mean. Looking for a whole message? Use the translator.
Letters A–Z
Numbers 0–9
Punctuation & symbols
Punctuation marks are longer (five or six symbols) and are used far less often, so they are listed here rather than given their own pages.
| Symbol | Name | Morse code |
|---|---|---|
| . | Period / full stop | .-.-.- |
| , | Comma | --..-- |
| ? | Question mark | ..--.. |
| ! | Exclamation mark | -.-.-- |
| / | Slash | -..-. |
| - | Hyphen / minus | -....- |
| ( | Opening parenthesis | -.--. |
| ) | Closing parenthesis | -.--.- |
| " | Quotation mark | .-..-. |
| ' | Apostrophe | .----. |
| = | Equals (BT prosign) | -...- |
| + | Plus (AR prosign) | .-.-. |
| @ | At sign | .--.-. |
| & | Ampersand | .-... |
| : | Colon | ---... |
| ; | Semicolon | -.-.-. |
| _ | Underscore | ..--.- |
| $ | Dollar sign | ...-..- |
How to read the codes
A dit (·) is the short signal and a dah (−) is three times as long. Inside a character the symbols are separated by one silent unit; characters are separated by three units and words by seven. When you say a code aloud, use "di" for every dit except the last one, which is "dit" — so .- is "di-dah" and .... is "di-di-di-dit".
If you only have the dots and dashes and do not know the character, match them against the tables above. Codes are unique: no two characters share the same sequence, though many are each other's mirror image (A .- and N -., D -.. and U ..-). Each character page lists those look-alikes.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find out what a Morse code sequence means?
Pick the character that matches the dots and dashes in the tables above, or paste the whole sequence into the translator — it decodes any mix of letters, numbers and punctuation instantly.
Are these the international codes?
Yes. Everything on this site uses International Morse Code (ITU), the standard used worldwide today. The older American (railroad) Morse differs for several letters — see International vs American Morse.
Why do some letters have short codes and others long ones?
Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail gave the shortest codes to the most frequent English letters: E (·) and T (−) are the two most common letters, while rare letters such as Q, J and Z got four-symbol codes. Each letter page lists how common that letter is.
Is there a page for every character?
All 26 letters and the digits 0–9 have their own page. Punctuation is listed in the table below and on the alphabet page; the printable chart has everything on one sheet.