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Military Alphabet Chart
The complete NATO phonetic alphabet on one page — made to be printed, taped to a monitor, and glanced at mid-call
This is the full military alphabet (officially the NATO/ICAO phonetic alphabet) with the standard pronunciation for every code word — stressed syllables in capitals, exactly as published in the ICAO guidance. Hit Print this chart and your browser's print dialog will also let you save it as a PDF. It fits on a single sheet, in color or black-and-white.
Letters A–Z
| Letter | Code word | Spoken as | Letter | Code word | Spoken as |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Alpha | AL-fah | N | November | no-VEM-ber |
| B | Bravo | BRAH-voh | O | Oscar | OSS-cah |
| C | Charlie | CHAR-lee | P | Papa | pah-PAH |
| D | Delta | DELL-tah | Q | Quebec | keh-BECK |
| E | Echo | ECK-oh | R | Romeo | ROW-me-oh |
| F | Foxtrot | FOKS-trot | S | Sierra | see-AIR-rah |
| G | Golf | GOLF | T | Tango | TANG-go |
| H | Hotel | hoh-TELL | U | Uniform | YOU-nee-form |
| I | India | IN-dee-ah | V | Victor | VIK-tah |
| J | Juliett | JEW-lee-ETT | W | Whiskey | WISS-key |
| K | Kilo | KEY-loh | X | X-ray | ECKS-ray |
| L | Lima | LEE-mah | Y | Yankee | YANG-key |
| M | Mike | MIKE | Z | Zulu | ZOO-loo |
Numbers 0–9
| Digit | Spoken as | Digit | Spoken as |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | ZE-ro | 5 | FIFE |
| 1 | WUN | 6 | SIX |
| 2 | TOO | 7 | SEV-en |
| 3 | TREE | 8 | AIT |
| 4 | FOW-er | 9 | NIN-er |
spellitnow.com — free NATO phonetic alphabet translator, chart and drills.
Reading the Chart
Two details trip people up. First, the official ICAO spellings of two code words differ from what you'll usually see written: Alfa (not Alpha) and Juliett (double T) — both respelled so non-English speakers pronounce them correctly. Second, the digit pronunciations are deliberate distortions: TREE, FOW-er, FIFE and NIN-er survive static and accents better than three, four, five and nine. The full digit story is in our radio numbers guide.
Want the same chart for other alphabets — LAPD, the German tables, French, Spanish, Italian? The interactive reference shows all eight side by side and prints too. To learn the letters rather than look them up, start with the 26-letter quiz or the 7-day memorization plan, and read the full military alphabet guide for how these words are actually used on the radio.