Morse Code Translator

Type a message and get dots and dashes, or paste Morse and get text back. The translator works out which way you're going on its own, handles letters, digits and common punctuation, and uses the usual conventions: spaces between letters and a slash between words. Good for practice, puzzles, scouting and anyone who wants to send SOS the traditional way.

How to use it

1. Type text, or Morse made of dots and dashes.
2. Leave the direction on automatic, or pick one if it guesses wrong.
3. Read the translation underneath.
4. Copy it out.

When it helps

• Learning Morse and checking your practice.
• Writing a Morse message for an event, escape room or gift.
• Decoding a string of dots and dashes you were given.
• Making themed text for a radio or scouting activity.

Good to know

• Write Morse with a space between letters and " / " between words, or the decoder will merge them.
• Dots and dashes can also be typed as the middle-dot or longer dash characters; they're normalised for you.
• Anything without a Morse equivalent becomes a question mark and is counted in the summary.

How Morse is structured

Morse code assigns each letter a pattern of short and long signals. The most common letters get the shortest patterns: E is a single dot and T is a single dash. Less common letters, such as Q and Z, have four signals. Digits always have five. That design came from counting letter frequencies in English to make messages faster to send.

In writing, a space separates letters and a slash separates words. In real signalling, the gap between letters is three dots long and the gap between words is seven, which is why timing matters so much when you are listening.

Worked example: SOS and a sentence

SOS is ... --- ..., which is the pattern three short, three long, three short. It isn't an abbreviation. It was chosen because it's easy to recognise. A longer example: "HELP ME" becomes .... . .-.. .--. / -- . with the slash marking the gap between the two words.

To decode, paste the dots and dashes with spaces between letters. If a group doesn't match any letter, the tool shows a question mark in its place and counts it, so you can find the broken symbol.

Practical tips for learning

Learn Morse by sound rather than by looking at dots and dashes. Many learners use the Koch method, which starts with just two characters at full speed and adds more as accuracy improves. A translator like this one is useful for checking your answers or for making practice text.

If you are making a gift, a bracelet or a poster, write the message in Morse here first, then count the symbols to plan the layout. Remember that punctuation has its own codes, but a few characters, such as the @ sign, were only added to the standard recently.

Questions