Check if a word or phrase is a palindrome online — free, instant, no login required. Type or paste any text and this tool immediately tells you whether it reads the same forwards and backwards, with spaces and punctuation ignored.
What this checker does
- Instantly checks any word, phrase, sentence, or number for palindrome symmetry
- Ignores spaces, punctuation, and capitalisation when comparing
- Shows the cleaned version of your text used for the comparison
- Includes a set of famous palindromes to try with one click
- Works entirely in your browser — nothing is sent to a server
What is a palindrome?
A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or sequence that reads the same forwards and backwards. The word comes from the Greek "palin dromos" meaning "running back again." Simple word palindromes include "racecar," "level," "madam," "kayak," and "civic." Phrase palindromes ignore spaces and punctuation, such as "A man a plan a canal Panama" or "Was it a car or a cat I saw."
How this checker works
This tool converts your input to lowercase and strips all non-alphanumeric characters (spaces, punctuation, special characters). It then compares the cleaned string with its reverse. If they match, the text is a palindrome. For example, "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!" becomes "amanaplanacanalpanama" when cleaned — which is identical forwards and backwards.
Famous palindromes
- Words: racecar, level, madam, kayak, civic, radar, refer, noon, deified, rotator
- Phrases: "Never odd or even" · "Do geese see God?" · "Step on no pets" · "No lemon, no melon"
- Sentences: "Was it a car or a cat I saw?" · "A man a plan a canal Panama"
- Names: Anna, Bob, Elle, Hannah, Otto
- Numbers: 12321, 1001, 111 — any number whose digits read the same both ways
Types of palindromes
Beyond simple word and phrase palindromes, there are several interesting variants. Semordnilaps (palindromes spelled backwards) are words that form a different word when reversed — like "dog" → "god" or "desserts" → "stressed". Ambigrams read the same when rotated 180 degrees. Numeric palindromes are numbers that read the same both ways. Palindromic poems (palindromes by line, not letter) are an advanced literary form.