Gematria assigns a number to each letter and adds them to give a word a total value. Different traditions use different letter tables, so the first step is always to say which system you are using. This guide covers the three most common ones.
How it works
In simple English gematria, A = 1 through Z = 26, and a word value is the sum of its letters. In Hebrew gematria, the first nine letters are 1 to 9, the next nine are 10 to 90, and the last four are 100 to 400, with final letter forms sometimes given extended values of 500 to 900 under an alternate convention. In reduced gematria, you add the digits of the total until one digit remains. Spaces and punctuation are ignored in all three systems.
Step by step
- Choose your system and write down its letter table before you start.
- Write the word letter by letter, ignoring spaces, punctuation, and vowel marks in Hebrew.
- Look up each letter value in your chosen table.
- Add all the values for the total.
- For reduced gematria, add the digits of the total repeatedly until one digit remains.
- Record the system beside every total, so totals from different systems are never mixed.
Worked example
Simple English: PEACE = 16 + 5 + 1 + 3 + 5 = 30. Reduced: 3 + 0 = 3. Hebrew: shalom is shin 300 + lamed 30 + vav 6 + mem 40 = 376. Reduced Hebrew: 3 + 7 + 6 = 16, then 1 + 6 = 7. Chai, meaning life, is chet 8 + yod 10 = 18, which is why multiples of 18 carry cultural significance in Jewish tradition.
Common mistakes
- Mixing letter tables mid-calculation, which gives a meaningless total.
- Counting spaces or punctuation as letters.
- Using extended final-letter values without saying so, which changes Hebrew totals.
- Treating matching totals as proof of a connection. Equal numbers are a starting point for interpretation, not evidence on their own.
Try it with the free tool
You can follow every step above by hand, but the free tool below does the same calculation instantly. Try your own numbers in it, then check one result by hand so you trust the method as well as the answer. Open the full tool here: open the tool.
Checklist before you finish
- Write down every input number first, with its unit, before you calculate anything.
- Work through the steps in order, and do not skip the unit conversions.
- Check the answer against the worked example above: is it the right size, and does the direction make sense?
- Round only at the end, and keep the unrounded figure for any follow-up calculation.
Practice with your own numbers
Pick three cases of your own and work each one by hand. First, try a simple round-number case you can check mentally. Second, try a realistic case with awkward numbers, the kind you will actually meet. Third, try an edge case, such as a very small or very large input, and confirm the answer still behaves sensibly. If any case gives a surprising result, re-check the units and the formula step by step before you trust it.
If your answer looks wrong
Most errors come from a small set of causes. Check that you used the same units throughout, that you divided where the formula divides and multiplied where it multiplies, and that you applied any percentage as a decimal. Check the order of operations: powers and brackets come before multiplication and division, which come before addition and subtraction. Finally, test the method on the worked example in this guide. If your method reproduces the example answer, the method is right and the inputs deserve a second look.
Quick tips
Keep the spelling fixed when comparing words. A different transliteration changes the letters and therefore the total, especially between Hebrew and English systems.