A cheque that says “Rs 25,500” in figures and “twenty-five thousand five hundred rupees only” in words leaves no room for a tampered digit. That is exactly why banks, exam boards and invoice templates still ask for numbers in words: figures are easy to alter, words are not. The rules are simple once you see them together — hyphens, the word “and”, decimals, and the two scale systems (thousand/million and lakh/crore) that cause most mistakes in Pakistan and India.
The five rules that cover almost everything
Try it now: Number to Words Converter — type a number, get it written out in words. Free, no sign-up, runs in your browser.
- Hyphenate compound numbers from 21 to 99. Twenty-one, thirty-four, ninety-nine. Never “twenty one” and never “twentyone”.
- Use “and” before the last two digits when a larger number is involved — in British-style handwriting, which Pakistan follows. One hundred and twenty-five, not “one hundred twenty-five”. For a round hundred, no “and” is needed: one hundred, two thousand. One honest difference to know: our own converter below uses the international style and drops the “and” (it gives “one hundred twenty-five”). For a hand-written Pakistani cheque, put the “and” back in — banks here read that form, and what matters is that the words you finally write match the figures.
- Capitalise the first word only, and keep the rest lower case unless the sentence starts there. “Twenty-five thousand five hundred rupees only.”
- Decimals are read digit by digit after the point. 12.75 is “twelve point seven five”, not “twelve point seventy-five”. On a cheque, decimals are usually written as a fraction instead — see below.
- End a cheque amount with “only”. It closes the amount so nothing can be added after it: “twenty-five thousand five hundred rupees only”.
Worked examples
| Figures | In words |
|---|---|
| 45 | forty-five |
| 100 | one hundred |
| 125 | one hundred and twenty-five |
| 1,050 | one thousand and fifty |
| 25,500 | twenty-five thousand five hundred |
| 100,000 | one hundred thousand |
| 1,250,000 | one million two hundred and fifty thousand |
On a cheque, 25,500 becomes: “Twenty-five thousand five hundred rupees only” — the figures box says 25,500, the words line carries the same amount, and the two must match exactly. If they disagree, the bank follows the words. (The converter gives the same words minus the “and”: “twenty-five thousand five hundred”. Add the “and” back for a hand-written cheque — “one thousand and fifty”, not “one thousand fifty”.)
Try it yourself: Number to Words Converter
Cheques: the three places people slip up
- Leaving a gap after the amount. Write “only” immediately after the last word, and draw a line through any empty space left on the words line, so nobody can add “thousand” afterwards.
- Writing the paisa as a decimal. The standard cheque form is “rupees” plus a fraction: 25,500.50 is written “twenty-five thousand five hundred rupees and fifty paisa only”. Some banks accept “and 50/100” for the paisa part — follow the format printed on your own chequebook.
- Mixing the scales. Do not write “25 lakh” in figures and “twenty-five thousand” in words. Pick one system for the whole cheque and use it in both places.
Lakh and crore vs thousand and million
Pakistan and India use lakh (100,000) and crore (10,000,000) in everyday speech, while international documents use thousand and million. The values are identical — only the grouping differs:
| Value | Lakh/crore | Thousand/million |
|---|---|---|
| 100,000 | one lakh | one hundred thousand |
| 1,000,000 | ten lakh | one million |
| 10,000,000 | one crore | ten million |
| 100,000,000 | ten crore | one hundred million |
For a bank cheque in Pakistan, either system is understood, but the words and the figures must use the same one. For an international invoice or an exam answer, use thousand/million unless the question asks for lakh/crore. When in doubt, write the figure in brackets after the words the first time: “one lakh (100,000)”.
Decimals, percentages and years
- Decimals: read each digit after the point separately — 3.14 is “three point one four”.
- Money with decimals: 99.99 is “ninety-nine rupees and ninety-nine paisa” on a cheque, or “ninety-nine point nine nine” in ordinary speech.
- Years: 2026 is normally spoken “twenty twenty-six”, not “two thousand and twenty-six” — but in formal written amounts, never abbreviate a year this way; write the full figure.
- Large round numbers: 5,000,000 is “five million”, not “five million zero hundred thousand”. Drop the empty places.
Invoices and exams: the same rules, different traps
On an invoice, the words line is a cross-check, not decoration: a buyer who disputes a total will compare the words against the figures, so write both from the same total and re-add the line items before you write either. In exams, the common lost marks are the hyphen (twenty five instead of twenty-five), the missing “and” (one hundred twenty-five), and a scale jump (writing “one lakh” as “one hundred thousand” is correct, but writing it as “one million” is a ten-times error). Slow down on exactly those three points and the rest is copying the pattern above.
Check your own number in seconds
Typing a long amount by hand is where the errors creep in, especially past six digits. Run it through the free number to words converter, read the words it gives back, and compare them digit group by digit group with what you wrote — that one comparison catches the hyphen and the scale mistakes before the cheque or invoice leaves your hands. Three things the tool does, exactly as it says on its page: it converts one number at a time (type one number, even if you paste several lines only the first is converted), it works instantly in your browser with nothing uploaded, and it has no currency option — so copy the result and add “rupees only” yourself for a cheque. It also drops the “and” in its international style, so add that back for a hand-written Pakistani cheque as noted above.
FAQ
Do I write “and” in American English too?
American style often drops it (“one hundred twenty-five”), but Pakistani banks, schools and exam boards follow British style, so keep the “and” for cheques, invoices and exams here. Our converter uses the international no-“and” style, so if you check a number with it, add the “and” back when you write the cheque by hand.
Is “rupees only” or “only” correct at the end?
Both appear on real cheques. The safest full form is “rupees only” after the amount, with the word “only” as the final word — nothing can be added after it.
What if the words and figures on my cheque disagree?
The bank treats the words as the amount. If you spot the mismatch before depositing, cancel that cheque and write a fresh one rather than correcting it — overwriting on a cheque is a reason for a bank to refuse it.
How do I write zero?
On its own, “zero”. Inside a larger amount, the place is simply skipped: 1,005 is “one thousand and five”, not “one thousand zero hundred and five”.