How many letters are in the Spanish alphabet?

The modern Spanish alphabet has 27 letters: the 26 of the basic Latin alphabet plus ñ. Since 2010 the Real Academia Española no longer counts ch and ll as separate letters, and the official name of v is uve.

Why is v called 'uve'?

To distinguish b and v, which sound the same in Spanish, the RAE standardised b as 'be' and v as 'uve'. The older names 'be larga/be corta' or 've' are still heard regionally but uve is the recommended name.

How do I type ñ and accented letters?

On a Spanish keyboard ñ has its own key. Elsewhere you can use OS shortcuts: on macOS Option+n then n gives ñ, and Option+e then a vowel gives the acute accent. On Windows use Alt codes (Alt+0241 for ñ) or the international keyboard.

Are ch, ll and rr letters?

They are digraphs (two letters representing one sound), not separate letters of the alphabet since the 2010 RAE reform. rr was never a standalone letter. They still matter for pronunciation but are filed under c, l and r.

Is anything uploaded?

No. The reference and the letter-name spelling are generated in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server.

What is the Spanish Alphabet Reference?

A reference for all 27 letters of the Spanish alphabet including ñ, with official RAE letter names (a, be, uve), IPA sounds, Unicode code points, and keyboard typing shortcuts for accented letters. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Spanish Alphabet Reference

Name: Spanish Alphabet Reference
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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The Spanish Alphabet Reference lists all 27 letters of the modern Spanish alphabet — the 26 basic Latin letters plus ñ — with their official Real Academia Española (RAE) names, IPA sounds, Unicode code points, and keyboard typing shortcuts for the accented characters. You can also type a Spanish word to have it spelled out by letter name.

The 27 letters and their official names

Since the 2010 RAE orthography reform, the Spanish alphabet has exactly 27 letters. The digraphs ch and ll are no longer counted as separate letters (they were removed in 1994 but it took until 2010 for the reform to be fully codified), and rr never was a standalone letter, though all three still represent distinct sounds.

The full sequence of official RAE letter names:

Letter	RAE name	Notes
a	a
b	be	Sounds identical to v
c	ce
d	de
e	e
f	efe
g	ge
h	hache	Always silent except in ch
i	i
j	jota
k	ka	Rare; mostly in loanwords
l	ele
m	eme
n	ene
ñ	eñe	Distinct 27th letter
o	o
p	pe
q	cu
r	erre
s	ese
t	te
u	u
v	uve	Official name since 1994; not ve
w	uve doble	Loanword letter
x	equis
y	ye	Formerly i griega
z	zeta

Key naming conventions to remember:

v is officially uve (not ve), to distinguish it from b (be), since the two are pronounced identically in all modern Spanish dialects.
y is now ye — the old name i griega was retired with the 2010 reform.
w is uve doble, sometimes heard as doble ve regionally.
ñ is eñe — the only letter whose name directly describes its diacritic.

Typing ñ and accented letters

Accented vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú) and ñ appear constantly in written Spanish and are required for correct spelling. Here are the main input methods:

macOS:

Acute accent: Option + e, then the vowel
ñ: Option + n, then n
Alternatively, hold a vowel key until the accent picker appears

Windows:

ñ: Alt + 0241 (numeric keypad)
á: Alt + 0225, é: Alt + 0233, í: Alt + 0237, ó: Alt + 0243, ú: Alt + 0250
Or switch to the Spanish keyboard layout (Win + Space)

Mobile: Hold the n key (or any vowel) for the accent picker — both iOS and Android show accented variants.

Spelling words by letter name

To spell a word in Spanish you read each letter by its RAE name. For example:

niño → ene, i, eñe, o
hola → hache, o, ele, a
España → e, ese, pe, a, eñe, a

This is the standard way a Spanish speaker would dictate a name over the phone or spell a word in a classroom.

Notes on diacritics and the alphabet

The accented vowels á, é, í, ó, ú and the diaeresis ü are not additional letters — they are the base vowels with diacritics and are filed under their plain forms in the alphabet. Only ñ is counted as a distinct letter. When sorting Spanish text alphabetically, ñ sorts between n and o. Everything runs locally in your browser — nothing you type is uploaded.