The column everyone leaves out: pronunciation
NATO alphabet tables give you the words. They omit the point: the ICAO also standardised how to say them, precisely because the table exists to be understood over a bad radio link or through a foreign accent.
So Quebec is KEH-BECK, not the French « kébec ». Oscar is OSS-CAH, with no final r. Victor becomes VIK-TAH. The digit 9 is NIN-ER, in two syllables, so it is never confused with German nein. Three is TREE and five is FIFE. This page shows that column and lets you hear the result.
Alfa and Juliett: why the odd spellings
They are not typos. Alfa is written with an f rather than « Alpha » because the « ph » group is not pronounced /f/ in every language. Juliett takes two t's so that French speakers do not drop the final one. These spellings are the official standard.
The tool still accepts the everyday forms — Alpha, Juliet, Xray as one word — when you read in the other direction, because that is how people actually write them.
Frequently asked questions
How do you spell digits in the NATO alphabet?
They have their own words: Zero, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine — pronounced TREE, FOWER, FIFE and NIN-ER for the most distorted ones.
What about accented letters?
They fold onto the base letter: é is spelled Echo. Radio does not carry accents, so the rule is to spell the bare letter.
Is this alphabet the same everywhere?
Yes for civil aviation, shipping and NATO, which have all used the ICAO table since 1956. National alphabets survive outside that context.
Who uses the NATO alphabet day to day?
Pilots and air traffic controllers, sailors, the military and emergency services — but also call centres and banks whenever a reference must be dictated without error.