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Words to Numbers
Use this free words to numbers converter to turn English number words into digits. Type "one thousand two hundred thirty-four" and get 1234 — with cardinal words, ordinal words like "twenty-first," decimals like "three point one four," negatives, and large scales all the way up to trillions.
Type the number in plain English words. Hyphens are optional ("twenty-one" or "twenty one"), "and" is ignored, and "a" counts as one ("a hundred" = 100). For decimals, use "point" and name each digit after it: "three point one four" = 3.14.
How words to numbers conversion works
English number words are built from small pieces combined by a few rules, and this converter follows those rules exactly. The pieces are the ones (zero through nine), the teens (eleven through nineteen), the tens (twenty, thirty, up to ninety), the word "hundred," and the scale words thousand, million, billion, and trillion. Every number word you will ever meet is just these pieces stacked together in the right order.
Hundred: × 100 · Thousand: × 1,000 · Million: × 1,000,000
Billion: × 1,000,000,000 · Trillion: × 1,000,000,000,000
The conversion reads the words left to right and keeps two running totals: a current group and a grand total. Small words add to the current group — "thirty-four" adds 30 and then 4, giving 34. The word "hundred" multiplies the current group by 100, so "two hundred" becomes 200. A scale word multiplies the current group by its scale and moves it into the grand total, then starts a fresh group — "one thousand" moves 1 × 1,000 into the total, and the words after it build the next group. At the end, whatever is left in the current group is added to the total. That is the whole algorithm, and it is why the order of the words matters: "one thousand two hundred" is 1,200, while "two hundred one thousand" is not a well-formed number at all.
Ordinal words — the ones that show position, like first, second, third, and twenty-first — convert to the same numbers as their cardinal twins. "First" is 1, "second" is 2, "third" is 3, and "twenty-first" is 21. The tricky spellings are the irregular ones: fifth instead of fiveth, eighth instead of eightth, ninth instead of nineth, twelfth instead of twelveth, and the tens, which change "y" to "ieth" — twentieth, thirtieth, fortieth. This converter knows all of them, including "one hundredth," which is 100, and "one thousandth," which is 1,000. Hyphens are optional throughout: "twenty-first" and "twenty first" both work — just do not run the parts together into one word, because "twentyfirst" is not recognised.
Decimals use the word "point," and the rule after the point is different from the rule before it. Before the point, words combine by the grouping rules above. After the point, every digit is named on its own: "three point one four" is 3.14, not "three point fourteen." If you say "fourteen" after the point, the converter reads it as the digits 1 and 4 only when written as two words — "one four." A single word like "fourteen" after the point is treated as an error, because it is ambiguous, and the converter will tell you so rather than guess.
Negative numbers start with "negative" or "minus": "negative forty-two" is -42. The word "and" is ignored wherever it appears, so "one hundred and twenty-three" and "one hundred twenty-three" both give 123 — British and American styles both work. The words "a" and "an" count as one, so "a hundred" is 100 and "a thousand" is 1,000. Commas in the input are stripped out, and extra spaces do not matter.
The largest number this converter handles is 999,999,999,999,999 — just under one quadrillion. English does have a word beyond trillion — quadrillion — but it is rarely used outside of astronomy and national debt headlines, so this tool stops at trillion and says so plainly if you type a bigger scale. Within that range, every well-formed number word converts exactly, with no rounding anywhere.
Worked example
Convert "one thousand two hundred thirty-four" to digits.
Step 1: Read "one" — the current group is 1.
Step 2: Read "thousand" — multiply the group by 1,000 and move it to the total: total = 1,000, current group = 0.
Step 3: Read "two" — current group is 2. Read "hundred" — multiply by 100: current group = 200.
Step 4: Read "thirty" — add 30: current group = 230. Read "four" — add 4: current group = 234.
Step 5: End of input — add the current group to the total: 1,000 + 234 = 1,234.
So "one thousand two hundred thirty-four" is 1,234. Try it in the converter above, then try "three point one four" (3.14), "twenty-first" (21), and "negative five million" (-5,000,000) to see the other modes in action.
FAQ
How do you convert words to numbers?
Read the words in groups: ones, tens, hundreds, then the scale words thousand, million, billion, and trillion. For example, in "one thousand two hundred thirty-four", one thousand is 1,000, two hundred is 200, and thirty-four is 34, giving 1,234. This converter does the same grouping automatically — type the words and the digits appear instantly.
Can it convert ordinal words like twenty-first?
Yes. Ordinal words such as first, second, third, twenty-first, and one hundredth are converted to their numbers: 1, 2, 3, 21, and 100. Hyphenated ordinals work too — type "twenty-first" or "twenty first" and you get 21.
How are decimals written in words converted?
Use the word "point" and then name each digit after it one at a time. "Three point one four" becomes 3.14, because the digits after the point are 1 and 4. Saying "three point fourteen" would not work — after the point, every digit is named separately.
What is the largest number this converter can handle?
This converter handles numbers up to 999,999,999,999,999 — just under one quadrillion. It understands the scales thousand, million, billion, and trillion, so "nine hundred ninety-nine trillion" (999,000,000,000,000) converts exactly. Beyond that, English has no everyday scale word short of quadrillion, which this tool does not accept.
Does it handle negative numbers and the word "and"?
Yes. Start with "negative" or "minus" for a negative number, for example "negative forty-two" gives -42. The word "and" is ignored, so "one hundred and twenty-three" and "one hundred twenty-three" both give 123. The words "a" and "an" count as one, so "a hundred" gives 100.