Number words can be tricky to spell, especially numbers after ten. How do you spell 14? Let’s take a look at how to spell the cardinal number word “fourteen.”
How to Spell 14
The number 14 is a compound word which combines the word “four” with the word “teen.” “Teen” denotes that it is a number after twelve. The correct spelling is f-o-u-r-t-e-e-n.
Fourteen is an easy “teen” word to spell because you don’t have to change the spelling of “four.” The ordinal number form is also easy to spell. Just add -th to the end to make “fourteenth.” The numerical form of the ordinal is “14th.”
When you don’t know how to spell numbers, you can use ProWritingAid’s free grammar checker to check your spelling.
When to Spell 14 and When to Use the Number
There are some basic rules to follow to know when to write fourteen in its word form vs as a numeral.
In general, we write numbers as words when they are under three digits, unless they are round numbers (e.g. fourteen thousand). This means, most of the time, you will spell out fourteen in sentences.
However, if fourteen is part of another number, write the number form. Examples of this might be if there is a decimal (1.14), or it’s a non-round number over one hundred (114).
The exception to this is when a number is at the beginning of a sentence. Always write numbers out if they start a sentence. Here are a few examples:
- There are 114 people at the conference.
- One hundred and fourteen people attended the conference.
Money can make number words confusing. How do you spell 14 dollars? If the amount is exactly fourteen dollars, spell it out in words.
If there is change, write it in numerals with the change after the decimal and the dollar sign in front of the amount, like this: $14.87.
Scientific writing and technical writing have a few exceptions.
If the number fourteen is part of a larger amount than a thousand, use the numeral 14 plus the word for millions, billions, etc.
This looks like: 14 million. In non-technical writing, you can write the number out completely: fourteen million.
Also, in scientific or technical writing, always use the number form if there is a unit of measurement (e.g. 14kg). You can spell it out as “fourteen kilograms” in non-technical writing.
Always defer to your style guide to double check these rules. Different style guides have slightly different requirements for writing numbers like fourteen.
Examples of the Number 14 Written in Sentences
Here are some examples of how to write 14 in sentences:
- My daughter has saved fourteen dollars to buy a new Barbie.
- The universe is roughly fourteen billion years old.
- Fourteen is a rough age.
- My dog weighs fourteen pounds.
- Where did you live when you were fourteen years old?
Now you know how to spell fourteen and when to use the spelling vs the numerals.