Hebrew Gematria Calculator
Type Hebrew directly and get all four classical methods at once — including the final-letter rule that makes Mispar Gadol differ from the standard count.
Hebrew gematria is the oldest continuous form of the practice, and the one the whole idea is named after. Every Hebrew letter carries a number because for most of the language’s history the letters were the numerals. This page covers the four counting methods the calculator supports, the complete letter table, and the final-letter rule that trips most people up.
The four classical methods
- Mispar Hechrachi (absolute value) — the standard system. א=1 through ת=400. Final letters keep their base value.
- Mispar Gadol (large value) — identical, except the five final forms take extended values from 500 to 900.
- Mispar Siduri (ordinal value) — the 22 letters simply numbered 1 to 22 by position.
- Mispar Katan (small value) — each letter reduced to a single digit.
How a Hebrew word is calculated
Hebrew is written right to left, but the arithmetic does not care about direction — addition is the same in any order. Take each letter, look up its value in the chosen method, add them together. The one genuine complication is the final forms.
Final (sofit) letters
Five Hebrew letters change shape at the end of a word. Whether that changed shape also changes the number depends entirely on which method you are using.
| Final letter | Mispar Hechrachi | Mispar Gadol |
|---|---|---|
| ך | 20 | 500 |
| ם | 40 | 600 |
| ן | 50 | 700 |
| ף | 80 | 800 |
| ץ | 90 | 900 |
This single rule is the reason a word ending in one of these letters produces two very different totals depending on the method.
Worked examples
All values below come from the calculator on this site.
שלום — shalom
Mispar Hechrachi: ש(300) + ל(30) + ו(6) + ם(40) = 376
Mispar Gadol: the same word, but final Mem now counts as 600 — 300 + 30 + 6 + 600 = 936
Mispar Siduri gives 52 and Mispar Katan gives 16.
חי — chai, “life”
ח(8) + י(10) = 18. This is the most socially embedded gematria value there is — it is why charitable gifts in Jewish practice are so often given in multiples of 18.
יהוה — the Tetragrammaton
י(10) + ה(5) + ו(6) + ה(5) = 26. No final letters, so Hechrachi and Gadol agree.
A correspondence the tradition notices
משיח (mashiach, messiah) totals 358, and נחש (nachash, serpent) also totals 358. Kabbalistic writing treats that equality as theologically significant. Whether you read it that way is interpretation; the arithmetic is just arithmetic.
Hebrew letter values
| Letter | Mispar Hechrachi | Mispar Gadol | Mispar Siduri | Mispar Katan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| א | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| ב | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| ג | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| ד | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| ה | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| ו | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| ז | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| ח | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| ט | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| י | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| כ | 20 | 20 | 11 | 2 |
| ל | 30 | 30 | 12 | 3 |
| מ | 40 | 40 | 13 | 4 |
| נ | 50 | 50 | 14 | 5 |
| ס | 60 | 60 | 15 | 6 |
| ע | 70 | 70 | 16 | 7 |
| פ | 80 | 80 | 17 | 8 |
| צ | 90 | 90 | 18 | 9 |
| ק | 100 | 100 | 19 | 1 |
| ר | 200 | 200 | 20 | 2 |
| ש | 300 | 300 | 21 | 3 |
| ת | 400 | 400 | 22 | 4 |
| ך | 20 | 500 | 11 | 2 |
| ם | 40 | 600 | 13 | 4 |
| ן | 50 | 700 | 14 | 5 |
| ף | 80 | 800 | 17 | 8 |
| ץ | 90 | 900 | 18 | 9 |
Why Hebrew differs from the English systems
Hebrew uses a place-value structure: units 1–9, then tens 10–90, then hundreds 100–400. English Ordinal is a flat 1–26 count with no such structure. That is why Hebrew totals run into the hundreds while English ordinal totals rarely pass 200, and why the two cannot be compared directly. The Jewish Gematria cipher is an English alphabet fitted to the Hebrew structure — a third thing again.
Common questions
What is Mispar Hechrachi?
Mispar Hechrachi, the absolute value, is the standard Hebrew method: Aleph is 1 through Tav is 400. Under this method the five final (sofit) letters keep the same value as their normal forms.
How are final letters counted?
It depends on the method. Mispar Hechrachi gives a final letter the same value as its ordinary form, so final Mem is 40. Mispar Gadol gives the five finals extended values from 500 to 900, so final Mem becomes 600.
Why does the same Hebrew word give several different totals?
Because Hebrew has several established counting methods. Shalom is 376 in Mispar Hechrachi and 936 in Mispar Gadol — the difference is entirely the final Mem, counted as 40 in one method and 600 in the other.
Can I type Hebrew without a Hebrew keyboard?
Yes. The calculator has a built-in Hebrew keyboard, including all five final forms. It switches the input to right-to-left automatically and, on a phone, does not open your device keyboard.
Does gematria prove anything about a Hebrew text?
No. It is a traditional interpretive technique with real standing in Jewish scholarship, but a shared value between two words is an observation to think about, not evidence of a hidden message.
Related guides
- Jewish Gematria Calculator — how the English-alphabet cipher relates to these methods
- Gematria Letter Values Chart — Hebrew, Greek and English tables side by side
- Greek Isopsephy Calculator — the Greek counterpart to Hebrew gematria
- Gematria Value Calculator — one input, every method at once
- Value charts on the main page — the same tables inside the calculator
Calculate your own Hebrew text
Use the built-in Hebrew keyboard, or paste Hebrew straight in. All four methods update as you type.