Numbers in Words

Numbers 1 to 100 in words

Learn one to twenty and the tens (twenty, thirty … ninety); every other number up to ninety-nine is a ten plus a unit joined by a hyphen.

1. 1 one
2. 2 two
3. 3 three
4. 4 four
5. 5 five
6. 6 six
7. 7 seven
8. 8 eight
9. 9 nine
10. 10 ten
11. 11 eleven
12. 12 twelve
13. 13 thirteen
14. 14 fourteen
15. 15 fifteen
16. 16 sixteen
17. 17 seventeen
18. 18 eighteen
19. 19 nineteen
20. 20 twenty
21. 21 twenty-one
22. 22 twenty-two
23. 23 twenty-three
24. 24 twenty-four
25. 25 twenty-five
26. 26 twenty-six
27. 27 twenty-seven
28. 28 twenty-eight
29. 29 twenty-nine
30. 30 thirty
31. 31 thirty-one
32. 32 thirty-two
33. 33 thirty-three
34. 34 thirty-four
35. 35 thirty-five
36. 36 thirty-six
37. 37 thirty-seven
38. 38 thirty-eight
39. 39 thirty-nine
40. 40 forty
41. 41 forty-one
42. 42 forty-two
43. 43 forty-three
44. 44 forty-four
45. 45 forty-five
46. 46 forty-six
47. 47 forty-seven
48. 48 forty-eight
49. 49 forty-nine
50. 50 fifty
51. 51 fifty-one
52. 52 fifty-two
53. 53 fifty-three
54. 54 fifty-four
55. 55 fifty-five
56. 56 fifty-six
57. 57 fifty-seven
58. 58 fifty-eight
59. 59 fifty-nine
60. 60 sixty
61. 61 sixty-one
62. 62 sixty-two
63. 63 sixty-three
64. 64 sixty-four
65. 65 sixty-five
66. 66 sixty-six
67. 67 sixty-seven
68. 68 sixty-eight
69. 69 sixty-nine
70. 70 seventy
71. 71 seventy-one
72. 72 seventy-two
73. 73 seventy-three
74. 74 seventy-four
75. 75 seventy-five
76. 76 seventy-six
77. 77 seventy-seven
78. 78 seventy-eight
79. 79 seventy-nine
80. 80 eighty
81. 81 eighty-one
82. 82 eighty-two
83. 83 eighty-three
84. 84 eighty-four
85. 85 eighty-five
86. 86 eighty-six
87. 87 eighty-seven
88. 88 eighty-eight
89. 89 eighty-nine
90. 90 ninety
91. 91 ninety-one
92. 92 ninety-two
93. 93 ninety-three
94. 94 ninety-four
95. 95 ninety-five
96. 96 ninety-six
97. 97 ninety-seven
98. 98 ninety-eight
99. 99 ninety-nine
100. 100 one hundred

Hundreds

Say the digit, then “hundred”, then the rest: 345 is three hundred (and) forty-five. “Hundred” stays singular after a number.

• 100 one hundred
• 200 two hundred
• 300 three hundred
• 400 four hundred
• 500 five hundred
• 600 six hundred
• 700 seven hundred
• 800 eight hundred
• 900 nine hundred

Thousands

Read the digits before the comma as a number up to 999, add “thousand”, then read the last three digits: 12,345 is twelve thousand three hundred (and) forty-five.

• 1,000 one thousand
• 1,500 one thousand five hundred
• 2,000 two thousand
• 2,500 two thousand five hundred
• 5,000 five thousand
• 10,000 ten thousand
• 12,000 twelve thousand
• 15,000 fifteen thousand
• 20,000 twenty thousand
• 25,000 twenty-five thousand
• 50,000 fifty thousand
• 99,999 ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine

Lakhs and crores vs millions and billions

India (and, in everyday speech, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) groups large numbers differently. After the first thousand, commas fall every two digits instead of every three: 1,00,000 rather than 100,000. A lakh is one hundred thousand and a crore is ten million (one hundred lakh).

Above 99 crore, amounts are counted in crores: one hundred crore, one thousand crore, one lakh crore. The older names “arab” (100 crore) and “kharab” (10,000 crore) are rarely used today.

Spelling rules worth knowing

• Hyphens: twenty-one to ninety-nine take a hyphen; nothing else does (three hundred, not three-hundred).
• Singular units: five hundred, two thousand, ten lakh, twelve crore, three million. No “s” after a number.
• “And”: British, Indian and most Commonwealth English write “one hundred and five”; US English usually writes “one hundred five”.
• Common misspellings: forty (not fourty), ninety, nineteen, twelve, eighteen (one “t”).
• Zero: on a cheque, a whole amount is often finished with “only” or, in the US and Canada, “and 00/100”.

Numbers in words on a cheque

On a cheque the spelling rules are the same, but the goal is to leave no room for changes: start at the far left, capitalise if you like, finish with “only” (or the cents as a fraction in North America), and draw a line through the space left over. In most countries, if the words and figures disagree, the words are legally the amount payable, which is why banks look at them closely.

Each country has its own conventions for the currency word, cents and crossing. See the guide for yours:

• Sri Lanka (LKR)
• UAE (AED)
• Hong Kong (HKD)
• Singapore (SGD)
• India (INR)
• Malaysia (MYR)
• Philippines (PHP)
• UK (GBP)
• United States (USD)
• Canada (CAD)
• Nigeria (NGN)