Numbers & Spelling

Numbers and spelling dictation

Numbers, dates, prices and spelled names are where most learners lose easy points in listening tests and in real life. These focused exercises train you to catch times, phone numbers, flight numbers, prices, percentages, years and measurements at natural speed.

Common mistakes with numbers

• Confusing -teen and -ty: thirteen / thirty, fifteen / fifty. Listen for the stress: thir-TEEN vs THIR-ty.
• Phone numbers: "double five" means 55 and "oh" means 0 in British English.
• Dates: "the third of May" and "May third" are the same date.
• Years: 1998 is read "nineteen ninety-eight", 2005 is "two thousand and five".
• Prices and decimals: "four ninety-nine" means 4.99.

How to practise

Write numbers as digits and check the format in the correction. Pay attention to the letters that sound alike when spelled — B/V, M/N, A/E/I and G/J — a common trap in IELTS Part 1.

Related practice

Use these skills in context with IELTS Listening, TOEIC Listening and Travel English.

Frequently asked questions

Should I type numbers as words or digits?

Type them as digits, the way they appear in the transcript (6:30, $4.99, 1998). Digits are also what most tests expect for times, prices and phone numbers.

Why are numbers so hard to hear?

They carry no context — you cannot guess a phone number from the rest of the sentence. That is why short, focused practice works so well.