Use the free Strikethrough Text Generator below: your data never leaves your browser — all work happens on your device, and nothing is uploaded to any server.
What strikethrough text does
Strikethrough text draws a line through words, the digital version of crossing something out with a pen. Writers use it to show a correction, a change of mind, or a joke where the crossed-out words are still readable and still part of the humor. It says “I thought this, then I thought better” in a single glance.
The problem is that many apps have no strikethrough button: bios, comments, and plain-text fields accept only raw characters. This generator solves that with Unicode, adding a combining line through every character so the effect travels with the text itself.
How this generator works
Type your text and press Strike through text. The tool adds the combining strikethrough mark, U+0336, after every character except line breaks. Your device then draws the line through each letter, producing text that looks struck out in almost any app that displays Unicode.
Because the effect lives in the characters, not in formatting, it survives copying and pasting. Paste it into a bio, a comment, a chat message, or a document, and the line stays. Remove the marks and the original text returns unchanged, since the letters themselves are never altered.
When to use strikethrough
Strikethrough is perfect for visible corrections: show the old price crossed out next to the new one, or show an earlier plan replaced by a better one. It is also a favorite device in humor, where the crossed-out word reveals what the writer really thinks while the replacement says the polite version.
It works well for to-do lists too. Crossing out a completed item feels satisfying, and unlike deleting it, the record of what was done stays visible. For short lists shared as plain text, Unicode strikethrough is the simplest way to show progress.
Tips for clean results
Keep struck-through passages short. A whole paragraph with a line through every word is tiring to read, and the joke wears thin fast. One crossed-out word or phrase inside a normal sentence lands much harder than a wall of crossed-out text.
Be careful with very long lines on small screens: the combining line can look uneven if the app wraps text mid-word. Test the result where it will live, and break long struck passages into shorter lines when needed.
Accessibility and honest use
Screen readers may read struck-through text as normal text, or announce each character with its combining mark, so never rely on the line alone to convey meaning. If a correction matters, state it in words as well, such as “was 50, now 40”.
Also use strikethrough honestly: a crossed-out price should be a real former price, and a crossed-out claim should not be presented as still true. Used fairly, it is a clear, expressive tool for corrections, humor, and visible progress.
Strikethrough in editing and proofreading
Editors have used strikethrough for centuries: a line through a word means “remove this” while keeping it visible for the author to see. Word processors formalized it as track-changes markup, where deletions appear struck through until accepted. That history is why readers instantly understand the gesture, even in a casual post.
In plain-text places without track changes, Unicode strikethrough plays the same role. A writer can show an earlier draft, a corrected figure, or a rejected idea without deleting it, and the reader sees both the mistake and the fix. That transparency is useful in changelogs, price updates, and public corrections, where hiding the old version would look worse than showing it crossed out.
One last tip: pair strikethrough with a clear replacement right beside it, so readers never have to guess which version counts. The old text shows the history, the new text shows the decision, and together they tell the whole story in a single line.