Rules for Writing Numbers in English Words
Writing numbers in words follows a small set of rules. Learn them once and you can spell any figure correctly.
1. Hyphenate 21 to 99
Compound numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine take a hyphen between tens and units: twenty-one, forty-two, ninety-nine. Round tens (twenty, thirty) and the numbers 1 to 20 do not.
21 → twenty-one | 1,234 → one thousand two hundred thirty-four2. The word “and”
American English normally omits “and” inside a whole number: one hundred five. British English, and many other English varieties, insert it after hundreds: one hundred and five. Both are correct. For a decimal point, “and” is used by both on cheque-style amounts (“fifty dollars and twenty cents”), which is another reason not to use it elsewhere in an American number.
Numbrate writes American style: 105 → one hundred five. For British style, insert “and” after each “hundred” that is followed by more words.
3. Do not pluralise hundred, thousand, million
After a number word they stay singular: three hundred, five thousand, two million. They take an “s” only when used as nouns: hundreds of people.
4. Large numbers use groups of three digits
Split the figure into groups of three from the right and read each group with its scale word: 1,234,567 is one million two hundred thirty-four thousand five hundred sixty-seven. A group of zeros is skipped, so 1,000,001 is “one million one”.
5. Years are different
Years are normally read in pairs: 1999 is “nineteen ninety-nine”, not “one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine”. Numbrate converts a number as a quantity, so for years use your own reading, or accept the quantity form where a formal document needs it (“one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine”).
6. Decimals
There are two common forms. Reading digits after the point (“three point one four”) is common in speech; the fraction form is used in formal writing. Numbrate uses the fraction form: 3.14 → three and fourteen hundredths, and 0.5 → five tenths.
7. Negative numbers
Negative numbers take “minus” (or “negative” in some styles): −7 → minus seven.
8. When to use words and when digits
Many style guides write numbers from zero to nine (or to ninety-nine) in words and larger numbers in figures in running text. In financial and legal documents, important amounts are written in both forms. Never start a sentence with a figure; spell the number or rewrite the sentence.
Frequently asked questions
Is it “one hundred and five” or “one hundred five”?
Both are correct. The version with “and” is standard in British English, the version without in American English.
How do you write 1,000,000 in words?
One million. In English, million is a short-scale word meaning 1,000,000 everywhere.
Do I hyphenate hundreds and thousands?
No. Only the compound numbers 21 to 99 take a hyphen, for example “two hundred forty-five”.