Any number, in words.

This number in words converter turns any figure into correct English words in a second. Type a number and you get it in the Indian system with lakh and crore, in the international system with million and billion, in the cheque format, and in Hindi.

How to write numbers in words in English

Writing numbers in words in English follows a few simple rules. Learn them once and you can spell any number, big or small.

1. Learn 0 to 19 by heart. These are single words: zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen.
2. Learn the tens. Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety. Note that forty has no "u".
3. Join tens and ones with a hyphen. 21 is twenty-one, 45 is forty-five and 99 is ninety-nine.
4. Read hundreds next. 305 is three hundred five. In Indian school books you may also see "three hundred five". Both are correct.
5. Read big numbers group by group. Split the digits with commas, then read each group with its place name.

For a full list of the first hundred, see numbers 1 to 100 in words.

Indian system and international system

The same number can be read in two ways. India uses the Indian system, where commas come after the first three digits from the right and then after every two digits. The international system puts a comma after every three digits.

So 10,00,000 is ten lakh in India and one million abroad. They are the same amount. Our lakh and crore guide explains this with a full place value chart.

Amount in words in Indian rupees

When you write an amount in words in Indian rupees, for example on a cheque, form or invoice, the usual style is to start with "Rupees", write each word with a capital letter, and end with "Only". This stops anyone from adding more words later.

Read our page on how to write the amount in words on a cheque for paise, common mistakes and the spelling of cheque.

Numbers in words in Hindi

The converter also gives the Hindi words in Devanagari and in Hinglish (Hindi written in English letters). For example, 1,25,000 is एक लाख पच्चीस हज़ार, read as "ek lakh pachchees hazaar". For counting from 1 to 100 in Hindi, visit Hindi ginti.

Writing USD amounts in words

Dollar amounts use the international system. $ 2,500 is written as "Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars Only" and $ 1,250,000 is "One Million Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars Only". Cents go after the word "and", like "and Fifty Cents".

Popular numbers in words

• 49,000 in words: forty-nine thousand
• 1,00,000 in words: one lakh
• 1,50,000 in words: one lakh fifty thousand
• 10,00,000 in words: ten lakh (one million)
• 1,00,00,000 in words: one crore (ten million)

You can also learn ordinal numbers such as first, second and twenty-first, which tell the position of something in a list.

Tips to avoid mistakes

• Do not write "and" between every word. Use it at most once, before the last two digits.
• Do not add an "s" to lakh, crore, thousand or hundred after a number. Write "two lakh", not "two lakhs", in formal writing.
• Count the digits twice before you write a big amount. One extra zero changes one lakh into ten lakh.
• Spell forty, ninety and eight with care. They are the most common spelling errors.