Pigpen Cipher Translator
Type a message to write it in pigpen cipher, or tap the symbols you found to read them as letters. It starts on the classic Masonic key, and two other keys are in the Key menu.
Pigpen
17 symbolsThe key: Classic
A to I in a grid, J to R in a grid with dots, S to V in an X, W to Z in an X with dots.
Tap a letter to add it.
How to use
Type your message. The pigpen symbols draw as you type, and the key under the tool lights each letter as you type it.
Pick another key from the Key menu if your puzzle uses one.
Press PNG or SVG to download the message, Copy image to paste it, or Share link to send it.
To print, press Worksheet, set the title and paper, and press Print worksheet. Print key prints the key alone.
To read a message, switch to Pigpen to text and tap each shape on the symbol keyboard, with Space between words.
Copy the letters. If they read as nonsense, change the key: the symbols stay and the letters change.
What it does
One pigpen cipher converter for both directions: an encoder that writes text as symbols, and a decoder that reads the symbols you tap.
Text to pigpen.
A pigpen cipher generator for notes, invitations and escape-room clues, sharp at any size.
Pigpen to text.
The pigpen cipher decoder is a keyboard laid out as the key itself, so you find a symbol by where it sits. Turn off Show letters to test yourself.
Three keys.
Classic, Grid-X-grid-X and Alternating. Changing the key redraws your text, or re-reads the symbols you tapped.
The key chart.
The pigpen cipher alphabet as drawn on paper. It lights each letter as you go, and Print key makes it a one-page chart.
Downloads.
A double-resolution PNG, transparent or white, and an SVG that scales without blur, both in black ink.
Printable worksheet.
The symbols with a line under each for the answer, a name line, a key strip and an answer key page, on A4 or US Letter. Save as PDF from the print dialog.
Share link.
Holds the message (up to 500 characters), the key and the direction.
How it works
The grid rule
The pigpen cipher swaps each letter for a shape cut from a grid. Draw two tic-tac-toe grids and two large X’s. Write A to I in the first grid, left to right and top to bottom, and J to R in the second, with a dot in each cell. Put S to V in the first X and W to Z in the second, with dots. That is the classic key, as the Boy Scouts of America and Wikipedia give it. In Wikipedia’s key, S sits at the top of the first X, T on the left, U on the right and V at the bottom, and W to Z take the same places in the second.
Each letter is the lines around its place:
A grid letter draws the inside edges of its cell. A, top left, is a line down the right and one along the bottom. B is a box open at the top; E, the centre, a closed box.
An X letter draws the two lines that meet at the centre: S is a V, T an angle open to the left, U open to the right, V an upside-down V.
A letter from the second grid or X adds a dot inside.
The translator draws every symbol from this rule, not from a font, so the screen, files and printouts match.
Other keys
In the translator’s other two keys, the 26 shapes stay the same and only the letters move.
Grid-X-grid-X:
A to I in the grid, J to M in the X, N to V in the dotted grid, W to Z in the dotted X (dCode’s variant #2).
Alternating:
letters in pairs, A in a cell and B in the same cell with a dot, and so on. Crypto Corner and planetcalc name it as the key in the game Assassin’s Creed II.
Rosicrucian:
one grid of nine cells with three letters in each (Y and Z share the last), and the dot’s place, left, centre or right, picks the letter. Cornelius Agrippa described an early form in 1531. This translator does not draw it.
Where it comes from
Its true origin is unknown. Freemasons used it in the 18th century to keep their records private, which is why it is also called the Masonic cipher. It turns up on gravestones too. Thomas Brierley’s, carved with the Masonic compasses, appears to read that he “made his ingress July 16th 1785”, thought to mean the day he joined. One of the earliest stones in New York’s Trinity Church Cemetery reads “Remember death”. In the American Civil War, Union prisoners in Confederate prisons wrote in it. Today Cub Scouts learn it as a Wolf activity.
Examples
HELLO in the classic key, to check against the chart:
| Letter | Where it sits | Lines drawn | Dot |
|---|---|---|---|
| H | First grid, bottom middle | Top, left, right | No |
| E | First grid, centre | All four sides | No |
| L | Second grid, top right | Left, bottom | Yes |
| L | Second grid, top right | Left, bottom | Yes |
| O | Second grid, middle right | Top, left, bottom | Yes |
Tap those five shapes in Pigpen to text and they read HELLO. Switch the key to Alternating and the same symbols read OIFFL.
Type Meet at 3:30, OK? and the letters become symbols while “3:30,” and “?” stay as plain characters, with one notice.
Frequently asked questions
About the pigpen cipher
Match each shape to its place in the key. A box or corner comes from a grid, a V or angle from an X, and a dot means the second grid or X. Here, switch to Pigpen to text and tap each shape. If the letters make no sense, try another key: the symbols are re-read at once.
Two tic-tac-toe grids and two X’s: A to I and J to R in the grids, S to V and W to Z in the X’s, with dots in the second of each. Each letter is the lines around its place. The chart under the translator draws it, and Print key puts it on one page.
The letters sit in the cells like animals in pens; dCode says the shapes look like pens and the dots like small pigs. It is called the Masonic or Freemason’s cipher because Freemasons used it so much in the 18th century to keep their records private. Cub Scouts know it as the pigpen code.
Not in the classic key. It has symbols for the 26 letters only, as dCode notes. Variants with digits exist, but this translator doesn’t draw them. It keeps digits and punctuation in place as plain characters in lighter text and shows one notice, so nothing disappears. If a puzzle needs numbers, spell them out: THREE instead of 3.
Not as text. Unicode has no pigpen characters, so the symbols some sites let you copy are look-alikes; dCode calls its own set approximate. Use Copy image, download a PNG or SVG for a document or slide, or press Share link to send the page with your message in it.
No. Each letter always becomes the same symbol, and anyone who knows the key reads it as easily as the person it was meant for; Wikipedia notes it offers little security. For a puzzle that takes longer, use the Grid-X-grid-X or Alternating key and tell only your reader which.
Trust and limits
The pigpen cipher translator runs in your browser and uploads nothing. A share link carries the message after the # in the address, which never reaches our server.
Messages are cut at 2,000 characters (or 2,000 symbols on the keyboard), and a share link holds 500. Digits and punctuation stay as plain characters; é is written as E; other alphabets and emoji show as a ? box, and a notice counts them. Swap carries only letters and word gaps into the keyboard. There is no Rosicrucian key, numbers key or photo decoding, and a message you found may use a key not listed here. Maintained by Translate Morse Code, an independent site; last updated October 2026.