Number to Words

How to convert a number to words

1. Type a number in the Number or amount box. You can write 1234, 1,234.56, 1 234,56 or even $1,234.56.
2. Choose the Output language: English or French.
3. Pick a Format: Number in words for plain text, or Cheque amount to write a sum of money.
4. For a cheque, choose the Currency and how to write the Cents: in words, or as a fraction such as 56/100.
5. Read the result, check the “Read as” line to make sure the number was understood correctly, then copy it.

The result updates as you type. The Convert button simply refreshes it.

Writing numbers in English

This tool follows the usual North American style: 1,234 becomes “one thousand two hundred thirty-four”. Compound numbers from 21 to 99 take a hyphen (twenty-one, ninety-nine), and scale words stay singular: “two million”, never “two millions”.

Tick British style to add “and” the way it is written in the UK, Ireland or Australia: “one hundred and five”, “two thousand and one”. Large numbers use the short scale (million, billion, trillion, quadrillion), and the tool handles anything below one quintillion, which is 18 digits.

Decimals are read digit by digit after the word “point”: 3.14 becomes “three point one four”. Negative numbers start with “minus”.

Writing numbers in French

French spelling has several rules that trip up even native speakers, and this tool applies all of them:

• “et un”: 21, 31, 41, 51, 61 and 71 use “et”: vingt et un, soixante et onze. But 81 and 91 don’t: quatre-vingt-un, quatre-vingt-onze.
• 70, 80 and 90: soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-dix in France and Canada. The French variant option switches to septante and nonante (Belgium) or septante, huitante and nonante (Switzerland).
• Plural of vingt and cent: they take an “s” when they are multiplied and end the number (quatre-vingts, deux cents), but not when another number follows (deux cent un, quatre-vingt-trois).
• Before mille: vingt and cent stay singular, because “mille” is itself a number: deux cent mille, quatre-vingt mille.
• Before million and milliard: these are nouns, so the “s” comes back: deux cents millions, quatre-vingts millions.
• Mille is invariable and is never preceded by “un”: mille, deux mille, trois mille.

The 1990 spelling option applies the reformed spelling (orthographe rectifiée), which links every numeral with a hyphen: vingt-et-un, deux-cent-mille. Million and milliard stay separate words because they are nouns.

Writing an amount on a cheque

In Cheque amount mode, the tool writes the currency and the cents, and starts with a capital letter so the text is ready to copy onto the cheque:

• 1234.56 in words: “One thousand two hundred thirty-four dollars and fifty-six cents”.
• 1234.56 as a fraction: “One thousand two hundred thirty-four and 56/100 dollars”, the format printed on most North American cheques.
• In French: “Mille deux cent trente-quatre euros et cinquante-six centimes”.

French grammar is respected here too: “un million d’euros”, “deux millions de dollars”, “un euro” but “deux euros”, and “vingt et une livres” because “livre” is feminine. Amounts with more than two decimals are rounded to the nearest cent.