Reference

Look up a word

Type a word to see the keys that write it. Or tap any sound in the tables further down. The board lights up the keys to press. New to the notation? See how to read a chord.

The board

SKPTRRTPKSZGBDLLDBGZTH

AOEU

Sounds –

Look up a word, or tap a sound below.

How to read a chord

A chord lists the keys you press together, in the order they sit on the board.

Left hand first, then thumbs, then TH, then right hand. The thumb keys are A, O, E and U. Spaces only separate those groups. Every key in the chord goes down at once.
A hyphen marks the right hand. T is the left T key and -T is the right one. Without the hyphen you could not tell K -T from KT.
TH can look out of order. Chords are written in that fixed order, from the left hand across to the right, so TH comes after the thumb keys even when you say it first. You say thought as th-aw-t, but it is written OE TH -T. Think is the same: EU TH -TDK. The keys all go down together, so nothing is out of order on the board. It only shows in the written chord.
A slash starts the next stroke. A word of more than one syllable takes one chord for each, pressed one after another. Finish one chord, lift, then press the next.

K A -T writes cat. Left K, thumb A, right T. One stroke.
OE TH -T writes thought. Thumbs O and E, TH, right T, all together.
PR O -DSZ/E/K -TS writes projects. Three strokes: PR O -DSZ, then E, then K -TS.

Some words can be written two ways. Projects ends in the sounds k, t and s, and those can be spread across the two hands as K -TS or as KT -S. Both write the same word, so the search lists both.

Single keys

One key for each sound, on either hand.

Single keys
Sound	Left hand	Right hand
s
z
k
g
p
b
t
d
r
l
th		–

One finger, two keys

The top and bottom key of one column.

One finger, two keys
Sound	Left hand	Right hand
n
m
ng
sh

Two or three fingers

Sounds made with neighbouring fingers. QU is only used at the start of a word.

Two or three fingers
Sound	Left hand	Right hand
f
v
w
h
y
ch
j
zh
qu		–

N and M before a stop

These endings are pressed on the right hand, with the vowel.

N and M before a stop
Sound	Right hand
nt
nd
nk
mp
mb

Vowels

The four thumb keys, alone or in groups.

Vowels
Sound	Thumb keys
a
o
e
u
i
ah
ay
oh
ow
aw
ai
oy
ee
oo
uu

On their own

Pressed alone, these write a word, a mark, or an action.

On their own
Writes	Keys
and
the
of
comma
full stop
apostrophe
new line
undo
delete

Numbers and marks

Hold # and press the key you want. The table is on How it works.

Coming soon to iPhone and iPad How it works

What is in the list, and what isn’t

The list has more than ten thousand words, written for a southern British accent. It covers everyday English, contractions such as don’t and we’ll, and a few place names, days and months.

It leaves out what a list of common words would:

Names of people. John, Mary and Anne are not there.
Most places. London, England and a few countries are in. Paris and Manchester are not.
Brand and product names, such as Google or iPhone.
Newer words. Blog and tweet are in. Selfie and podcast are not.
Specialist words and words from other languages, unless they are common.

A missing word is not a dead end. The app shows its sounds instead, so Dave might appear as dayv. Add it under My words with the spelling you want, and the app uses your version from then on. If you think other people need it too, suggest it below.

Suggest a word

Tell us a word that is missing. The words people ask for most are the ones we look at first. We do not ask for your name or email, so we cannot reply, but every suggestion is read.

We keep the word, your note, and a hashed form of your IP address, which only slows down spam. Privacy