Arabic Letters That Look Alike: A Guide to the Dots

When you first learn to read the Quran, many Arabic letters look the same. ب ت ث have the same shape. So do ج ح خ. The only difference is the dots. Once you learn to look at the dots, reading becomes much easier.

This guide puts the similar letters side by side, so you can learn them in groups.

Why dots matter

Arabic has 28 letters, but many of them share a basic shape. The dots — their number and position (above or below) — tell you which letter it is. Getting the dots wrong changes the letter, and often the meaning of the word.

The letter groups

1. ب ت ث — one shape, three letters

Watch out: at the start or in the middle of a word, ن (noon, 1 dot above) and ي (ya, 2 dots below) look like this group too: بـ تـ ثـ نـ يـ. Look carefully at the dots.

2. ج ح خ — one shape, three letters

3. د ذ

4. ر ز

Watch out: ر and ز go below the line, while د and ذ sit on the line with a sharper corner.

5. س ش

6. ص ض

7. ط ظ

8. ع غ

9. ف ق

Watch out: ق has a deeper, rounder tail that goes below the line. In North and West African (Maghribi) Mushafs, used for the recitation of Warsh, the dots are different: ف has one dot below, and ق has one dot above.

10. Other look-alikes

• ه (ha) and ة (ta marbutah): ة looks like ه with 2 dots above. It is read as t when you continue, and h when you stop.
• ي (ya, 2 dots below) and ى (alif maqsurah, no dots): ى is read as a long a, as in عَلَىٰ (‘ala).
• و (waw) and ر (ra): both drop below the line, but و has a small round head.

A quick practice

Read these words slowly and say which letter each dot pattern shows:

• بَيْتٌ (baytun, a house): ب, ي, ت
• ثَابِتٌ (thabitun, firm): ث, ب, ت
• خَلَقَ (khalaqa, He created): خ, ق
• ذِكْرٌ (dhikrun, remembrance): ذ, ر
• شَمْسٌ (shamsun, sun): ش, س

Common mistakes

• Reading ت as ن in the middle of a word, or ي as ب.
• Missing the dot on خ, ذ, ز, ض, ظ, غ — and reading the letter without the dot instead.
• Mixing up ف and ق.
• Reading ة as h in the middle of reading. When you continue, it is a t: رَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ → rahmatullah.

Next steps

Once you can tell the letters apart, learn how to pronounce the hard ones correctly with our guides to the Arabic throat letters and the heavy and light letters. Then move on to the vowel marks. If you are starting from zero, read learning the Arabic letters as an adult, or start with a teacher in our Quran for beginners course.