How to use the printable letter stencils
- Choose What to print: your own text, the alphabet A to Z or the numbers 0 to 9. For your own text, type up to 60 letters or digits. Spaces are skipped.
- Pick how many letters per page: 1 gives the biggest letters, 2 stacks two on a page and 4 puts four in a grid.
- Choose a hollow outline to color, trace or cut around, or a solid shape to cut out and use as a template. Tick the label box to print the letter under each shape.
- Press Download PDF or Print at 100 percent or Actual size, so the letters keep their true size.
- Cut along the outline with scissors or a craft knife, or tape the pages together for a banner.
How the block letters are made
Each character is a pattern of squares on a grid five squares wide and seven tall, drawn for this tool. A letter is built from those squares, and the outline style draws only the edges between a filled square and an empty one, joined into straight runs. That is why every corner is square and why diagonals such as the strokes in K, X and V are stepped like a pixel display rather than smooth.
The size of a square is chosen so the letter fills the page. With one letter per page, a square is about 91 points, which makes the letter about 8.9 inches tall and 6.3 inches wide. With a label printed under it the letter is slightly smaller, and with two or four letters per page the squares are about 42 points, giving letters about 4.1 inches tall. All letters in one print are the same size, so the pages match.
Hollow outlines use a line about 4 percent of a square thick, which is enough to see clearly and to guide scissors. Solid shapes are filled with near-black ink, so use them for templates and think about printer ink if you print many pages. If you want to save ink, choose the outline style.
Ideas for using them
Large letters work for door signs, classroom name labels, birthday banners, bulletin boards and craft projects. Print a word one letter per page, cut out the shapes and glue them to colored paper, or trace the solid letters onto fabric or card and cut those instead. For a banner, print the letters at one per page and punch two holes at the top of each sheet to thread a string through.
The alphabet option prints all twenty-six letters at once, which is convenient for a classroom wall. Printing numbers 0 to 9 covers age signs and house numbers. Letters outside A to Z and 0 to 9, such as punctuation or accented letters, are not available, and the tool tells you which characters to remove.
Privacy and printing tips
The letters are drawn in your browser, and nothing is uploaded or downloaded other than the PDF you create. Printers need a margin, so each letter is kept inside a half inch border and a little further from the edge, which is why the biggest letter is not quite the full page. For lettering that you want to practice writing, the name tracing worksheet uses a handwriting style instead.
Assumptions and limits
- Letters are a block style on a 5 by 7 grid, so curves and diagonals are stepped. They are not a copy of any font.
- Only A to Z and 0 to 9 are available, and lowercase text prints as capitals. Spaces are skipped.
- The size is automatic: the biggest letter is about 8.9 inches tall with one per page and about 4.1 inches tall with two or four per page.
- Printed size is only exact at 100 percent. Printers may not reach the paper edge, so letters are kept inside a margin.
Frequently asked questions
How big are the letters?
With one letter per page, a letter is about 8.9 inches tall and 6.3 inches wide. With two or four per page each letter is about 4.1 inches tall. All letters in one print are the same size.
Can I use these as stencils for painting?
Print the solid style, cut out the shapes from card to make a template, and trace around it. Some letters such as O, A and B have enclosed areas that fall out when cut, so for painted stencils you would need to add bridges by hand.
Why do the letters look blocky?
Each one is built from squares on a five by seven grid, so corners are square and diagonals are stepped. That keeps every letter simple to cut and easy to recognize at a large size.
Can I print lowercase letters or punctuation?
No. Only capitals A to Z and the digits 0 to 9 are available. Lowercase text you type is printed as capitals, and other characters are flagged so you can remove them.
Does the tool upload my text?
No. The letters are drawn and the PDF is created in your browser, and nothing you type is sent anywhere.