Morse Code Alphabet & Chart
The Morse code alphabet assigns a unique sequence of dots and dashes to every letter from A to Z. This chart shows the complete International Morse Code alphabet, so you can look up any letter’s pattern directly or use it as a quick reference while learning to send and receive Morse code.
Morse Code Alphabet Chart (A–Z)
Printable Morse Code Alphabet Chart (PDF)
Download a free, print-ready PDF with every letter, number, and the commonly confused pairs on one page — a handy desk reference, classroom handout, or study sheet. Download the PDF chart →
How Morse Code Letters Are Structured
Dots, Dashes, and Timing
Every letter in Morse code is a sequence of dots (short signals) and dashes (long signals). A dash lasts three times as long as a dot. The specific order and combination of dots and dashes is what makes each letter unique — for example, S (· · ·) and O (– – –) use the same number of signals but are completely different letters because of signal length.
Spacing Between Letters and Words
Spacing is what separates one letter from the next, and one word from another. A short pause separates the dots and dashes within a single letter, a longer pause separates one letter from the next, and an even longer pause separates one word from the next. Get the spacing wrong and a correctly-formed sequence of dots and dashes can be misread as an entirely different letter or word.
Why Some Letters Are Shorter Than Others
Morse code isn’t random. Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail gave the shortest patterns to the most frequently used English letters — E is a single dot, T is a single dash — and saved the longer four-signal patterns for rarer letters like Q, X, and Z. That’s also why the fastest way to learn the chart isn’t reciting it A to Z; it’s learning the short, common letters first. (More on the full history in the Morse Code Guide.)
Commonly Confused Letters
A handful of letter pairs trip up almost every beginner because they look or sound almost identical. Learning these five pairs on purpose will save more time than any other single study tip:
S vs. H
S is three dots, H is four. Losing count of a single dot is the most common beginner mistake — count deliberately instead of listening for a general “feel.”
U vs. V
U is two dots then a dash; V is three dots then a dash. V’s rhythm (short-short-short-long) is the same one the BBC used as its “V for Victory” signal in World War II, borrowed from the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
G vs. W
G is two dashes then a dot; W is a dot then two dashes — the same three signals in reverse order. Pairs like this are best learned by rhythm, not by picturing the shape.
N vs. K
N is dash-dot; K is dash-dot-dash. K is simply N with one more dash — beginners often stop listening a beat too early and hear K as N.
D vs. B
D is one dash then two dots; B is one dash then three dots. Same shape, one extra dot — another classic “stopped listening too soon” mix-up.
Decoding a Letter, Step by Step
Say you hear four short signals, a pause, then two short signals: ···· ··. Read each group on its own before matching it to a letter — four dots is H, two dots is I — giving you “HI.” The habit that matters most: count each signal individually and wait for the pause before deciding a letter is finished, rather than guessing from rhythm alone. You can always check your answer instantly with the Morse Code Translator.
Learn by Pattern, Not by Memorizing A to Z
The fastest way to learn this chart isn’t reciting it in order — it’s grouping letters by how many signals they use, since you’re really learning rhythms, not shapes. E and T use just one signal. A, I, M, and N use two. D, G, K, O, R, S, U, and W use three. The remaining twelve letters (B, C, F, H, J, L, P, Q, V, X, Y, Z) use four. Most learners can recognize every one- and two-signal letter by ear in a single sitting — more than a fifth of the alphabet before touching a “hard” letter.
Common Mistakes When Reading or Writing Letters
- Merging letters together. Not pausing between letters makes two real letters blur into a longer pattern that isn’t on the chart at all.
- Guessing from rhythm before counting. Especially with S/H, D/B, and N/K above — count the signals instead of trusting the overall “feel.”
- Writing dashes that aren’t clearly three times a dot. When tapping or writing by hand, a dash that’s too short is easy to misread as another dot.
- Reading letters in isolation. Check a hard-to-read letter against the word it’s part of — a letter that doesn’t fit any real word is usually a decoding error, not a new word.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which letters are a single dot or single signal?
Only two: E is a single dot, and T is a single dash — the two most common letters in English, which is exactly why they got the shortest codes.
How do you know where one letter ends and the next begins?
By the length of the pause: a short pause separates the dots and dashes inside one letter, and a clearly longer pause marks the gap between letters. See “Spacing Between Letters and Words” above for the full timing rules.
Is the Morse code alphabet the same in every language?
The chart above is International Morse Code, used worldwide for the 26 basic Latin letters regardless of the operator’s spoken language. Some languages add their own accented letters, and the older American Morse Code used on 19th-century telegraph lines assigned different patterns to several letters — see International vs. American Morse Code for the differences.
What’s the hardest letter to remember?
There’s no single answer, but the twelve four-signal letters take longest simply because there’s more to hold in your head. In practice, the confused pairs above — S/H, U/V, D/B — cause more real mistakes than any one “hard” letter.