How to Read Morse Code
Start with the marks. Find the letter breaks. Then listen to a whole message, one pattern at a time.
Follow one message.
Each block is one letter. The space between blocks separates letters; the slash marks a new word. Listen for those same boundaries in the sound.
Check your reading.
Read a message in three steps.
Separate the letters.
Look for a space between groups of marks. In
-.-. .- -, the three groups are C, A and T. A letter can have between one and four marks in the English alphabet; digits have five.Match each whole group.
A dot is
.and a dash is-. Some pages draw them as·and−; they mean the same thing. Use the Morse code alphabet to look up a group, rather than combining all the marks into one long sequence.Keep the word boundaries.
On this site,
/marks the gap between words. For example,.-- . / --. ---reads WE GO. A missing letter space or word break can change the message, even when every dot and dash is correct.
Character patterns and timing checked against ITU-R M.1677-1, International Morse code.
In sound, silence does the separating.
A dot lasts one unit. A dash lasts three. The silence between marks inside one letter lasts one unit; between letters, three; between words, seven. The length of a unit changes with speed, while these standard ratios stay the same.
At 20 words per minute, a dot is 0.06 seconds. WPM uses the standard word PARIS to compare speeds. Beginners can keep a clear character rhythm while allowing longer gaps to think.
Read the timing explanation at Morse Code World ↗| Mark or gap | Dot units |
|---|---|
| Dot | 1 |
| Dash | 3 |
| Inside a letter | 1 |
| Between letters | 3 |
| Between words | 7 |
Reading a puzzle and learning by ear are different skills.
A chart helps you read a written message. For listening, practice recognizing the sound of the whole character. Trying to count each mark and look it up while a message continues quickly becomes difficult.
Start the Morse code trainer with a small set, repeat sounds you confuse, and widen the set when you can recognize them. Longer spacing gives you time to answer without slowing the marks themselves.
If a message will not decode
Check the spaces first. .- - is AT, while .-- is W. For editable dots and dashes, use the text translator. For a screenshot, use the image translator and review its detected groups.