Morse Code Alphabet Chart

How to read this chart

Each entry pairs one character with a sequence of dots and dashes. Read the sequence from left to right as a single pattern. A dot is a short element and a dash is a long element; their order determines the character. Spaces between separate entries belong to the presentation of the chart, not to the pattern of any individual letter.

Use Find a character to search by character or pattern, and check the category filter when a result seems missing. A pattern search can help narrow the visible entries; inspect the full code on the result before treating it as an exact match. Select an entry to hear it. You can also use the chart visually without turning on sound.

A lookup answers which pattern represents a character. It does not supply the boundaries of a complete message. When combining entries into written Morse, keep letter spaces and word separators so the next person can identify where each pattern ends.

Letters: compare short and longer patterns

Start with E and T: one dot and one dash. I and M extend those to two dots and two dashes, while S and O use three. Looking at these groups together helps you see that adding an element changes the letter. A pattern that begins like another letter does not contain that letter as a separate message character.

The sequence .-. is R. Its first dot could form E on its own, and its first two elements could form A, but neither is a separate character unless a boundary ends the group there. This is why looking up a longer pattern requires reading all its elements. Stopping early gives a different answer, even when the beginning was read correctly.

Choose a short word, look up its letters, and write one complete group for each. CAT becomes “-.-. .- -”. Check C, A and T separately, then check the spaces between them. Keep your original word next to the result until the whole sequence has been reviewed.

For listening, play a complete character and associate the whole sound with its label. Counting dots visually and recognizing a rhythm by ear are different tasks. Keep speed and tone consistent when comparing entries, so a setting change does not distract from the pattern you are trying to distinguish.

To see the intermediate nodes without adding them as letters, follow the path to R in the tree.

Numbers: read all five signals

Each digit uses five elements. One begins with a dot followed by four dashes. From 1 through 5, the leading dots increase until 5 is five dots. Six starts with a dash followed by four dots; the leading dashes then increase through 9, and 0 is five dashes. Read every element before deciding which digit you have.

Compare 1 and 9 below. Both contain one dot and four dashes; only the position of the dot changes. Five and zero provide useful endpoints because they contain only dots or only dashes. These comparisons describe the notation; they are not a claim that everyone will confuse the same digits.

When writing 19, preserve a letter boundary between “.----” and “----.”. A two-digit number still consists of two characters. Five-element digit patterns do not remove the need for character gaps in written or audible Morse.

Compare similar-looking characters

Put two complete patterns next to each other and describe the difference precisely. A and N contain one dot and one dash in opposite orders. D and U each contain two dots and one dash, with the dash at a different end. B and V extend that comparison to three dots and one dash.

Read the left character, cover its label, and compare it with the right character. Identify where the dash occurs instead of only counting the number of marks. Then find each character in the interactive chart and listen to them separately. There is no automatic paired-playback control; selecting entries lets you make the comparison at your own pace.

If one pair keeps causing trouble, use it in two short words and check the exact position of the changed letter. Keep visual recall and listening results separate. Correctly identifying a pattern on the chart does not demonstrate that you can recognize it at a particular audio speed.

For phrases with controlled speed and longer pauses, make a listening exercise with Generator.

Punctuation and character-set boundaries

Distinguish the international reference, the text alphabet implemented by MorseWise, and the smaller set shown in Tree. The text tools include A–Z, digits, É and the punctuation displayed in this chart. Tree currently includes A–Z and 0–9 only. A character absent from Tree may still be supported in the text tools.

The text alphabet includes a period, comma, colon, question mark, apostrophe, hyphen, slash, parentheses, quotation mark, equals sign, plus sign and @. It does not include every symbol found in regional or extended charts. Use the displayed entries as the implementation reference, and consult the standard linked below for its original definitions and context.

Some input forms are aliases rather than additional alphabet entries. Curly quotation marks normalize to straight ones; supported long dash forms normalize to a hyphen, and × normalizes to X. É is an explicit supported letter, not a general rule that all accents are removed. Unsupported characters remain visible for review in the conversion tools.

A literal slash has the character code -..-., while / between written groups is used to show a word boundary. Operational signals are another namespace: .-.-. can mean text + or the prosign AR. This chart is a text reference. Use Decoder’s interpretation controls when the sender’s procedural convention matters.

To use the characters in a complete sentence, translate a complete message.

When the code has more than one possible meaning, check character conventions in Decoder.