Learning guide · Early years
Numbers in Words for Kids
Updated: June 2026
Learning to spell numbers is one of the first big writing wins for young children. The trick is to teach the pattern, not just the list: once a child sees how the teens and the tens are built, dozens of words click into place at once. Here is a simple order to follow, a clean chart, and easy ways to practise.
Type a number, see the word · Free · No upload
Step 1 — the first ten
Start with one to ten, because these words have to be learned by heart — there is no pattern to lean on yet. Practise them in order and out of order, matching each spoken word to its digit and then to its written word. Picture cards, finger counting and simple songs all help here. Once a child can read and write one through ten confidently, the rest of the journey is mostly pattern-spotting.
Step 2 — the teens (and two tricky ones)
Most teens are built the same way: take the ones word and add -teen. So six becomes sixteen, seven becomes seventeen, nine becomes nineteen. Point out the two oddballs that don’t follow the rule — eleven and twelve — and the two that change spelling: thirteen (from three) and fifteen (from five). Naming the pattern out loud (“the teens end in -teen!”) makes the group feel small and learnable instead of like fourteen separate words.
| # | Word | # | Word |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | one | 11 | eleven |
| 2 | two | 12 | twelve |
| 3 | three | 13 | thirteen |
| 4 | four | 14 | fourteen |
| 5 | five | 15 | fifteen |
| 6 | six | 16 | sixteen |
| 7 | seven | 17 | seventeen |
| 8 | eight | 18 | eighteen |
| 9 | nine | 19 | nineteen |
| 10 | ten | 20 | twenty |
Step 3 — counting by tens
Next come the tens: twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety. They mostly end in -ty, the cousin of -teen. Flag the spellings that catch everyone out — forty has no “u”, and fifty comes from five. Once a child knows the tens and the ones, every two-digit number is just the two joined with a hyphen: twenty-one, thirty-four, sixty-eight. That single idea unlocks all of 21 to 99.
Easy ways to practise
- Write a number on paper and have the child say and spell it, then check with the converter.
- Play “teens or tens?” — call out a word and have them point to the right column.
- Spell out house numbers, ages and scores from everyday life.
- Use the converter backwards: type a word and see the digit appear, turning spelling into a game.
Frequently asked questions
How do you teach kids to spell numbers?
Learn one to ten by heart, then teach the -teen and -ty patterns so the rest follow.
What should a child learn first?
One to ten, then eleven to twenty, then counting by tens to one hundred.
Why are eleven and twelve tricky?
They are the only teens without the -teen ending, so they’re learned as special words.
Can the tool help with practice?
Yes — type a number to see its word, or type a word to see the number, which makes a simple self-checking game.