How it works

1. Every digit becomes three or four letters

The standard keypad (ITU E.161) puts ABC on 2, DEF on 3, GHI on 4, JKL on 5, MNO on 6, PQRS on 7, TUV on 8 and WXYZ on 9. The number 225-5669 can therefore be written 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 4 = 2,916 different ways — and a ten-digit number can have over a million.

2. We look words up by their digits

Rather than generating every combination and checking it, DialKeypad indexes its dictionary by keypad digits: CALL is stored under 2255, FLOWERS under 3569377. For each stretch of your number that is three to ten digits long we can then find every matching word in a single lookup. That is why results appear as you type.

3. We build and rank complete phrases

Words are combined left to right with any leftover digits (0 and 1 have no letters) to cover the whole number. Each phrase is scored so that long words beat several short ones, everyday words beat obscure dictionary entries, and words at the end of the number — where vanity numbers usually put them — get a small bonus. The top 30 phrases are shown, along with every individual word found.

4. And back again

The Word → Number tool simply maps each letter to its key, so you can check what to dial for any vanity number you see.

The dictionary

Words come from the English Open Word List (EOWL) — about 128,000 English words of up to ten letters. Accented words and a short list of offensive words are removed. See the About page for credits.