Words to number converter
This tool takes a number written in English words and returns the digits — the inverse of a number-to-words converter. It is useful for transcribing cheques, invoices, legal contracts, and dictated meeting notes, and for automating the extraction of figures from text that was produced by a number-to-words routine.
How the parser works
The parser reads words left-to-right and accumulates a value in two layers: a current group and a running total. Small numbers (one through ninety-nine) and “hundred” build up the current group. When a large scale word appears (thousand, lakh, million, crore, and so on), the current group is multiplied by the scale factor and flushed into the running total.
For example, parsing “four hundred fifty-six thousand seven hundred eighty-nine”:
- “four hundred fifty-six” → current group = 456
- “thousand” → flush: running total = 456,000; group resets
- “seven hundred eighty-nine” → current group = 789
- End of input → final total = 456,000 + 789 = 456,789
Hyphens, commas, and filler words (“and”, “only”) are stripped before parsing. Any word the parser cannot recognise is reported explicitly rather than silently dropped, so a misspelling surfaces as an error rather than a wrong number.
Both Western and Indian scale systems
| Words | Digits |
|---|---|
| one hundred twenty-three thousand | 123,000 |
| three million four hundred thousand | 3,400,000 |
| one lakh fifty thousand | 150,000 |
| one crore | 10,000,000 |
| twenty-five arab | 2,500,000,000 |
The Western system (thousand → million → billion → trillion) is used in most English-speaking countries. The Indian system (lakh = 100,000; crore = 10,000,000; arab = 1,000,000,000; kharab = 100,000,000,000) is standard in South Asia and widely used in Indian English financial writing. Both systems are recognised, and they can coexist in the same input — “one lakh fifty thousand” and “one hundred fifty thousand” both give 150,000.
When to use this tool
Cheque and invoice transcription. Cheques write amounts in words to prevent fraud. This tool converts the written amount back to a digit to check it matches the numeric figure.
Legal and contract work. Contracts often spell out sums in words followed by figures in parentheses — “fifty thousand pounds (£50,000)”. If you receive a contract with only the words, this tool recovers the digit quickly.
Processing dictated or OCR text. Speech-to-text systems and OCR on old documents sometimes output numbers as words. This converter turns them back into digits for spreadsheets or databases.
Cross-checking number-to-words output. If you use a number-to-words tool to produce a written figure for a cheque or notice, paste the result here to confirm the round-trip gives back the original number exactly.
Edge cases and limitations
- Numbers with decimal parts (e.g., “one point five”) are not parsed — this tool handles whole numbers only
- Very large numbers (above the trillion range in Western scale) may exceed the parser’s vocabulary
- Ordinals (“first”, “twenty-third”) are not recognised as numbers
- Unusual English forms (e.g., “a hundred” instead of “one hundred”) may not parse; use the standard written-out form
All parsing happens locally in your browser — nothing leaves your device.