Spelling guides

Deep dives on the rules behind writing numbers in words — one page per topic.

• Spelling Money Amounts
  How to write dollar amounts in words — for checks, contracts, and legal documents. Examples from $1 to $1,000,000.
• Writing Numbers on a Check
  Step-by-step: how to spell the amount on a US check, including cents, the word 'and', and common mistakes.
• Ordinal Numbers
  Ordinals tell position or rank — first, second, third, and so on. Here's the spelling for every ordinal from 1st to 100th.
• Writing Dates in Words
  How to write dates like 'April 23, 2026' or 'the 23rd of April' in full English words.
• Saying Phone Numbers in Words
  Standard ways to pronounce and write out a US phone number digit by digit.
• Spelling Fractions
  Fractions in English combine a cardinal (top) with an ordinal (bottom). Here's the rule and a table of common fractions.
• Spelling Decimal Numbers
  How to read and write decimals like 3.14 or 0.005 in English — digit by digit after the point.
• Spelling Negative Numbers
  Negatives are spelled with the word 'negative' (or 'minus') before the number.
• Million, Billion, Trillion, and Beyond
  The short-scale names for large numbers used in the US — million, billion, trillion, quadrillion, and up.