How to Translate Morse Code to English (and English to Morse Code)
You have a string of dots and dashes in front of you — .... . .-.. .-.. --- — and you want to know what it says. Or it is the other way round: you have a word in your head and you want to write it in Morse code. Both directions use the same simple skill.
Here are both directions with the same word. Going from English to Morse code, HELLO becomes .... . .-.. .-.. ---. Going from Morse code to English, .... . .-.. .-.. --- reads as HELLO. You can check either direction instantly with our free Morse Code Translator.
This guide shows you both directions, step by step, with worked examples you can check yourself.
Translating Goes Both Ways
Morse code translation is a two-way street:
- English to Morse code — take each letter of a word and replace it with its dot-and-dash pattern. This is encoding.
- Morse code to English — take each group of dots and dashes and replace it with its letter. This is decoding.
A translator tool does both directions instantly, but doing it by hand teaches you how the code works — and it is the fastest way to start recognising letters without looking them up. Our free Morse Code Translator is there whenever you want to check your hand translation or handle a longer message.
English to Morse Code
To translate English to Morse code, replace each letter with its dot-and-dash pattern, put one space between letters, and use a slash (/) between words. For example, HELLO becomes .... . .-.. .-.. ---.
Morse Code to English
To translate Morse code to English, split the code into groups at the spaces — each group is one letter — look each group up, and start a new word at each slash (/). For example, .... . .-.. .-.. --- reads as HELLO.
How to Translate English to Morse Code
Step 1: Split the message into letters. Work one letter at a time, from left to right. Keep the spaces between words — they matter, and we will come back to them in a moment.
Step 2: Replace each letter with its pattern. The most common letters have the shortest patterns: E is a single dot (.), T is a single dash (-), I is two dots (..) and M is two dashes (--).
Step 3: Separate the letters with a space, and the words with a slash. In written Morse code, one space sits between letters and a slash (/) marks the gap between words — without those gaps, the message is one long unreadable string.
Worked example 1 — HELLO.
- H =
.... - E =
. - L =
.-.. - L =
.-.. - O =
---
Put it together: .... . .-.. .-.. ---
Worked example 2 — I LOVE YOU.
- I =
.. - LOVE =
.-.. --- ...- . - YOU =
-.-- --- ..-.
Put it together, with a slash between the words: .. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..-.
Worked example 3 — GOOD MORNING.
- GOOD =
--. --- --- -.. - MORNING =
-- --- .-. -. .. -. --.
Put it together: --. --- --- -.. / -- --- .-. -. .. -. --.
How to Translate Morse Code to English
Decoding is the same method in reverse — and it is usually easier, because every group is already separated for you.
Step 1: Split the code into groups. Each group of dots and dashes separated by a space is one letter. A slash (/) means a new word starts here.
Step 2: Look up each group. Match every group to its letter. The short ones are the easiest to learn first: . is E, - is T, .. is I, ... is S, --- is O, -- is M.
Step 3: Join the letters into words. Read the letters in order, and start a new word at each slash.
Worked example 1 — SOS.
... --- ... — three dots (S), three dashes (O), three dots (S). That is SOS, the international distress signal.
Worked example 2 — THANK YOU.
- .... .- -. -.- / -.-- --- ..-
- .... .- -. -.-spells THANK.-.-- --- ..-spells YOU.
Worked example 3 — WHAT IS THIS CODE.
.-- .... .- - / .. ... / - .... .. ... / -.-. --- -.. .
.-- .... .- -is WHAT... ...is IS.- .... .. ...is THIS.-.-. --- -.. .is CODE.
What About Morse Code Numbers?
Numbers use five signals each, which makes them easy to spot: if you see a group of five dots and dashes, it is a number, not a letter.
| Number | Morse code |
|---|---|
| 1 | .---- |
| 2 | ..--- |
| 3 | ...-- |
| 4 | ....- |
| 5 | ..... |
| 6 | -.... |
| 7 | --... |
| 8 | ---.. |
| 9 | ----. |
| 0 | ----- |
The pattern is simple: 1 to 5 start with dots and add dashes, 6 to 0 start with dashes and add dots.
Common Mistakes When Translating Morse Code
1. Ignoring the word gap. .... . .-.. .-.. --- .-- --- .-. .-.. -.. without a slash is one long nonsense word. With the slash — .... . .-.. .-.. --- / .-- --- .-. .-.. -.. — it is clearly HELLO WORLD. The slash is doing real work.
2. Mixing up dots and dashes. ... is S, but --- is O, and ..- is U while .-- is W. Count the signals in each group before you look it up.
3. Translating letter by letter without checking the whole word. If your decoded word looks like nonsense — “HELLP” instead of “HELP”, for example — one group is probably wrong. Check each group again before moving on.
4. Forgetting that numbers use five signals. A group like ..--- is the number 2. Letters never use more than four signals, so a five-signal group is always a number.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I translate Morse code to English?
Split the code into groups at the spaces — each group is one letter — look each group up, and join the letters into words, starting a new word at each slash.
How do I translate English to Morse code?
Replace each letter with its dot-and-dash pattern, put one space between letters and a slash between words. For example, HELLO becomes .... . .-.. .-.. ---.
What is I love you in Morse code?
.. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..-. — I is .., LOVE is .-.. --- ...- ., and YOU is -.-- --- ..-..
Is there a Morse code translator that works both ways?
Yes — our free Morse Code Translator converts text to code and code to text in the same box.
Try It Yourself
Pick a short word — your name is a good one — and translate it into Morse code by hand, then translate it back. If you want a famous example to practise on, read what SOS means in Morse code and why those three letters became the world’s distress call.