Word · Copy · Practice
Exclamation (!) in Morse Code
Copy the Morse code for Exclamation (!), hear it played back, or open it in the translator to edit it.
Letter by letter
How "Exclamation (!)" is built in Morse
Exclamation (!) is 1 character — 2 dots and 4 dashes in all. Here is each letter with its Morse code so you can send or write it one symbol at a time:
Sending Exclamation (!) by sound or light
Exclamation (!) is 19 Morse units long, counting a 1-unit gap inside each character. At a beginner's 5 words per minute that is 4.6 seconds of signal; an experienced operator at 25 WPM sends it in 0.9 seconds.
| Speed | 5 WPM | 13 WPM | 20 WPM | 25 WPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to send | 4.6 s | 1.8 s | 1.1 s | 0.9 s |
Easily confused with
One dot or dash separates Exclamation (!) from each of these. They are the likeliest misreadings when copying by ear.
- ; -.-.-. one symbol changed
What the standard says
Exclamation (!) is not in Recommendation ITU-R M.1677-1, the standard that defines International Morse code. -.-.-- is the widely listed extension, and it sounds exactly like the letters K and W sent without a gap. If the person receiving may not know it, spell the symbol out in words.
Compare every symbol on the punctuation chart.
How to read it
The format in one line
- Dot
- . one short signal (1 unit)
- Dash
- - one long signal (3 units)
- Letter gap
- a single space between letters (3 units)
- Word gap
- / with surrounding spaces (7 units)
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