Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Converting Numbers Into Words.

Converting Numbers Into Words

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 12, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365


15

There are times when it is beneficial, or even mandatory, to spell numbers out. For instance, you may want to spell out "1234" as "one thousand two hundred thirty four." The following macro, NumberToWords, does just that. It is rather long, but it has to do a lot of checking to put together the proper string. There are actually five macros in the set; the four besides NumberToWords are called by NumberToWords to do the actual conversion.

NumberToWords will convert any number between 0 and 999,999. To use it, simply select the cell (or cells) whose contents you want to convert, then run it. You should note that the cells must contain whole number values, not formulas that result in whole number values. The actual contents of the compliant cells are changed from the original number to a text representation of that number. In other words, this is not a format change, but a value change for those cells.

Sub NumberToWords()
    Dim rngSrc As Range
    Dim lMax As Long
    Dim lCtr As Long
    Dim bNCFlag As Boolean
    Dim sTitle As String, sMsg As String
    Dim vCVal As Variant
    Dim lNumber As Long, sWords As String

    Set rngSrc = ActiveSheet.Range(ActiveWindow.Selection.Address)
    lMax = rngSrc.Cells.Count

    bNCFlag = False
    For lCtr = 1 To lMax
        vCVal = rngSrc.Cells(lCtr).Value
        sWords = ""
        If IsNumeric(vCVal) Then
            If vCVal <> CLng(vCVal) Then
                bNCFlag = True
            Else
                lNumber = CLng(vCVal)
                Select Case lNumber
                Case 0
                    sWords = "Zero"
                Case 1 To 999999
                    sWords = SetThousands(lNumber)
                Case Else
                    bNCFlag = True
                End Select
            End If
        Else
            bNCFlag = True
        End If
        If sWords > "" Then
            rngSrc.Cells(lCtr) = sWords
        End If
    Next lCtr

    If bNCFlag Then
        sTitle = "lNumberToWords Macro"
        sMsg = "Not all cells converted. May not be whole number or may be too large."
        MsgBox sMsg, vbExclamation, sTitle
    End If
End Sub
Private Function SetOnes(ByVal lNumber As Integer) As String
Dim OnesArray(9) As String
    OnesArray(1) = "One"
    OnesArray(2) = "Two"
    OnesArray(3) = "Three"
    OnesArray(4) = "Four"
    OnesArray(5) = "Five"
    OnesArray(6) = "Six"
    OnesArray(7) = "Seven"
    OnesArray(8) = "Eight"
    OnesArray(9) = "Nine"
    SetOnes = OnesArray(lNumber)
End Function
Private Function SetTens(ByVal lNumber As Integer) As String
Dim TensArray(9) As String
    TensArray(1) = "Ten"
    TensArray(2) = "Twenty"
    TensArray(3) = "Thirty"
    TensArray(4) = "Fourty"
    TensArray(5) = "Fifty"
    TensArray(6) = "Sixty"
    TensArray(7) = "Seventy"
    TensArray(8) = "Eighty"
    TensArray(9) = "Ninety"
Dim TeensArray(9) As String
    TeensArray(1) = "Eleven"
    TeensArray(2) = "Twelve"
    TeensArray(3) = "Thirteen"
    TeensArray(4) = "Fourteen"
    TeensArray(5) = "Fifteen"
    TeensArray(6) = "Sixteen"
    TeensArray(7) = "Seventeen"
    TeensArray(8) = "Eighteen"
    TeensArray(9) = "Nineteen"
Dim iTemp1 As Integer
Dim iTemp2 As Integer
Dim sTemp As String
    iTemp1 = Int(lNumber / 10)
    iTemp2 = lNumber Mod 10
    sTemp = TensArray(iTemp1)
    If (iTemp1 = 1 And iTemp2 > 0) Then
        sTemp = TeensArray(iTemp2)
    Else
        If (iTemp1 > 1 And iTemp2 > 0) Then
            sTemp = sTemp + " " + SetOnes(iTemp2)
        End If
    End If
    SetTens = sTemp
End Function
Private Function SetHundreds(ByVal lNumber As Integer) As String
Dim iTemp1 As Integer
Dim iTemp2 As Integer
Dim sTemp As String
    iTemp1 = Int(lNumber / 100)
    iTemp2 = lNumber Mod 100
    If iTemp1 > 0 Then sTemp = SetOnes(iTemp1) + " Hundred"
    If iTemp2 > 0 Then
        If sTemp > "" Then sTemp = sTemp + " "
        If iTemp2 < 10 Then sTemp = sTemp + SetOnes(iTemp2)
        If iTemp2 > 9 Then sTemp = sTemp + SetTens(iTemp2)
    End If
    SetHundreds = sTemp
End Function
Private Function SetThousands(ByVal lNumber As Long) As String
Dim iTemp1 As Integer
Dim iTemp2 As Integer
Dim sTemp As String
    iTemp1 = Int(lNumber / 1000)
    iTemp2 = lNumber Mod 1000
    If iTemp1 > 0 Then sTemp = SetHundreds(iTemp1) + " Thousand"
    If iTemp2 > 0 Then
        If sTemp > "" Then sTemp = sTemp + " "
        sTemp = sTemp + SetHundreds(iTemp2)
    End If
    SetThousands = sTemp
End Function

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8351) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Converting Numbers Into Words.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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Comments

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What is five more than 8?

2022-03-25 12:26:41

kiwerry

Thanks, Peter 👍


2022-03-23 06:43:01

Peter

@Kiwerry: If you are interested in Word fields, look at http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm


2022-03-23 04:15:23

Kiwerry

@Mike: Thanks for the heads-up - this time it worked.


2022-03-22 04:24:54

Mike

@Kiwerry: It might be worth one more try - I just tested it and it was back.


2022-03-21 06:39:44

Kiwerry

@Peter: Thanks very much for the useful link to an interesting article😉 Some of the figures seem to be missing and the link to a PDF version didn't work but most of the important information is still there. I'll be trying that out.


2022-03-20 06:07:30

Peter

Coincidentally, today I discovered that Word can convert dollar amounts to words: { tfValue1 \*Dollartext \*FirstCap } (
from ttps://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-power-tricks-for-using-word-field-switches/)


2022-03-20 05:19:09

Kiwerry

@Mike: Thanks for the hint, but when I tried it the result was an error. I tried another browser, checked that I had not made a mistake selecting the text in your link, same. Tried removing everything after ".com" and took a look around the site and used its search. No success. My impression was that the source code has been removed and the functionality is now part of a package called kutools, which you have to buy.


2022-03-19 05:07:11

Mike

Another excellent version can be found here.

https://www.extendoffice.com/documents/excel/1446-excel-convert-change-numbers-to-words.html

Much longer than Willy Vanhaelen's version, but handles 15 digit precision, including decimals, so up to 999 Trillion and down to 0.000000000000001


2022-03-18 11:13:50

Sandeep Kothari

Woolley
thanks.


2022-03-18 10:30:19

J. Woolley

You can download an early version of "spell dollars" from Chapter 9 of John Walkenbach's "Excel 2013 Power Programming with VBA." It is easy to customize. See
https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Excel+2013+Power+Programming+with+VBA-p-9781118490396#downloads-section


2022-03-18 10:05:13

Sandeep Kothari

Kimberly, Pl share your code. my email id is sandeepkothari2010@gmail.com.
thanks.


2022-03-17 11:39:51

Willy Vanhaelen

Interesting macro that performs this very complex operation impeccably. It is a school book example of defining arrays and how to populate them but this makes it very long however.

Thinking that a user defined function (UDF) version would be more useful I decided to adapt it and while doing so I found that, especially the three functions, are prone to compaction. This can be achieved by using the Split method which makes the making of the arrays considerably shorter.

Declaring the sTemp, iTemp1 and iTemp2 variables in each function, assigning the result of a rather simple formula like "lNumber Mod 10" to them and then use it only a few times is rather cumbersome. In this case I prefer to put those formulas directly where they are needed. This also makes easier to understand the working of the function:
SetOnces(Nr Mod 10) is easier than SetOnes(iTemp2). What is it again what iTemp2 contains? :-)

Here is the result of my work (only half the size of the macro):

Function Number2Words(Nr)
If Not IsNumeric(Nr) Then GoTo wrong
If Nr <> CLng(Nr) Then GoTo wrong
Nr = CLng(Nr)
Select Case Nr
   Case 0:           Number2Words = "Zero"
   Case 1 To 999999: Number2Words = SetThousands(Nr)
   Case Else:        GoTo wrong
End Select
Exit Function
wrong:
Number2Words = "Argument must be a positive integer max. 999999"
End Function

Private Function SetOnes(ByVal Nr As Integer) As String
SetOnes = Split("0 One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine")(Nr)
End Function

Private Function SetTens(ByVal Nr As Integer) As String
If Nr > 10 And Nr < 20 Then
   SetTens = Split("0 Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen" _
      & " Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen")(Nr - 10)
Else
   SetTens=Split("0 Ten Twenty Thirty Fourty Fifty Sixty Seventy Eighty Ninety")(Nr\10)
   If Nr Mod 10 > 0 Then SetTens = SetTens & " " & SetOnes(Nr Mod 10)
End If
End Function

Private Function SetHundreds(ByVal Nr As Integer) As String
If Nr \ 100 Then SetHundreds = SetOnes(Nr \ 100) & " Hundred"
If Nr Mod 100 > 0 Then
   If SetHundreds > "" Then SetHundreds = SetHundreds & " "
   If Nr Mod 100 < 10 Then SetHundreds = SetHundreds & SetOnes(Nr Mod 100)
   If Nr Mod 100 > 9 Then SetHundreds = SetHundreds & SetTens(Nr Mod 100)
End If
End Function

Private Function SetThousands(ByVal Nr As Long) As String
If Nr \ 1000 > 0 Then SetThousands = SetHundreds(Nr \ 1000) & " Thousand"
If Nr Mod 1000 > 0 Then
   If SetThousands > "" Then SetThousands = SetThousands & " "
   SetThousands = SetThousands & SetHundreds(Nr Mod 1000)
End If
End Function

To use this UDF enter either =Number2Words(1234) in any cell or if cell A1 contains a number you can enter in cell B2 =Number2Words(A1).


2022-03-13 06:33:59

Kiwerry

@J Woolley: thanks for the pointer, I'll take a look.
Pity there seems to be no way to use User Defined Functions in Word as well.


2022-03-12 11:05:16

J. Woolley

My Excel Toolbox includes the following functions:
SpellDecimal(Amount)
SpellDollars(Amount)
SpellOrdinal(Amount)
Amount can have up to 15 significant digits.
Here are examples results for Amount=123.456:
One Hundred Twenty-Three point Four Five Six
One Hundred Twenty-Three & 46/100 Dollars
One Hundred Twenty-Third
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox/


2022-03-12 08:35:17

Kiwerry

Thanks for yet another useful tool, Allen

I did some tweaking so that it can handle numbers between -999999 and + 999999 (as is it doesn't translate negative numbers), and used your sub as the basis for a complementary function which may be used as a user-defined function.
I also added some coding to check the application language ID and add the word "and" for UK, South African, New Zealand, Australian and Irish installations. This so that, for example, 123 translates to "One Hundred and Twenty Three"

If anyone is interested in the code leave a comment here and I'll post it.


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