Hyphen vs Dash: When to Use a Hyphen, En Dash or Em Dash (With Keyboard Shortcuts)

A hyphen (-) joins words or word parts: well-known author, twenty-one. An en dash (–) shows a range or connection: pages 10–15, London–Paris. An em dash (—) marks a break or aside inside a sentence. They are three different marks, not three sizes of one mark. US style closes up the em dash; many UK publishers use a spaced en dash instead.

The short answer

English has three horizontal marks that look alike and do different jobs:

• Hyphen (-) joins. It builds compound words and compound modifiers: a long-term plan, mother-in-law, twenty-one.
• En dash (–) connects. It stands for "to" or "through" in ranges and links two equal things: 2024–2026, pages 10–15, the London–Paris train.
• Em dash (—) interrupts. It marks a sudden break, an aside or an emphasis: The plan worked—eventually.

If you remember one rule, remember this: use the hyphen inside a word group, the en dash between two values, and the em dash between parts of a sentence. The en dash and em dash are named after the width of the letters n and m in traditional typesetting. The hyphen is the shortest of the three.

The three marks side by side

A hyphen is not a short dash, and a dash is not a long hyphen. Typing a hyphen where an en dash or em dash belongs is the most common punctuation slip in student and workplace writing. Most readers will not stop at it, but editors, examiners and journal submission checks notice it.

When to use a hyphen

1. Compound modifiers before a noun

When two or more words work together as one adjective before a noun, hyphenate them so the reader sees them as a unit.

The hyphen can change the meaning, which is the reason the rule exists. Compare a small-business owner (an owner of a small business) with a small business owner (a business owner who is small). Compare twenty-odd students with twenty odd students, and re-sign (sign again) with resign (quit).

Exceptions to remember:

• Do not hyphenate an adverb ending in -ly with the word it modifies: a highly regarded teacher, a newly built library. The adverb already tells the reader what it modifies.
• Do not hyphenate when the first word is a proper noun made of two parts that already work as a unit in many styles: a New York restaurant (some editors prefer an en dash here; see below).
• When the compound is in a dictionary as one word or as a fixed open phrase, follow the dictionary. Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary are the usual referees.

2. Numbers and fractions

Hyphenate compound numbers from 21 to 99 when you spell them out: twenty-one, ninety-nine. Hyphenate fractions used as modifiers: a two-thirds majority. As nouns, many style guides prefer the open form: two thirds of the budget.

3. Prefixes and suffixes

Most prefixes close up without a hyphen (cooperate, preschool, multimedia), but a hyphen helps in these cases:

• Before a proper noun or number: anti-Soviet, post-2020, pre-1900.
• To avoid confusion: re-cover (cover again) vs recover (get better); co-op vs coop.
• With self-, ex- (meaning former) and all-: self-aware, ex-president, all-inclusive.
• With -elect, -in-law and similar: president-elect, sister-in-law.

Dictionaries differ on some prefixed words, such as coordinate versus co-ordinate. Check your target dictionary and keep to one spelling throughout. Our guide to British vs American spelling covers other patterns that differ by region, and compound words explains when two words become one.

4. Suspended hyphens

When two compounds share a base word, you can leave the shared part out the first time:

• short- and long-term goals (not short and long-term goals)
• first-, second- and third-year students

The hyphen after short "hangs" to show that term is understood.

5. Line breaks

Hyphens mark where a word may break at the end of a line. Word processors and web browsers usually handle this for you. Do not type a hyphen by hand to break a word in the middle of a paragraph; it will stay in the text when the layout changes.

When to use an en dash

The en dash is the least known mark of the three, and it has fairly narrow jobs.

1. Ranges of numbers, dates and times

Read the dash as "to" or "through":

• pages 45–52
• 2024–2026
• Monday–Friday
• 9:00–17:00
• Chapters 3–5

Do not use an en dash if you have already written from or between. Write from 2024 to 2026 or between 2024 and 2026, never from 2024–2026 or between 2024–2026. Also avoid it when a range includes a negative number, where –5 to –2 is clearer than –5–2.

APA and Chicago use the en dash for page ranges and date ranges. MLA examples typically use a hyphen in page ranges (pp. 45-52). When you follow a citation style, follow its examples exactly. The Citation Generator formats APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago, Harvard and IEEE entries, but it does not know the rules of your department, so check the final line against your handbook.

2. Connections between equal things

Use an en dash for a relationship between two items that carry equal weight:

• the Paris–Lyon high-speed line
• the Federer–Nadal rivalry
• a teacher–student ratio
• the US–Mexico border (a connection between two separate entities)

3. Compounds where one part is already open or hyphenated

Chicago style uses an en dash instead of a hyphen when a compound modifier contains an open compound or a hyphenated one: post–World War II policy, the New York–London flight. Many writers use a plain hyphen here, and that is the common practice in everyday writing. If your publisher follows Chicago, use the en dash.

4. Spaced en dash as a sentence break (UK habit)

Many British publishers use a spaced en dash where Americans use an em dash: The plan – despite objections – went ahead. This is covered next.

When to use an em dash

The em dash is the strongest mark. It can do the work of commas, parentheses or a colon, with more force.

• Aside: My neighbor—a retired pilot—grows tomatoes on the roof.
• Emphasis: She had one goal—to finish.
• Sudden turn: We expected a refund—or at least a reply.
• Dialogue interruption: "But I thought—" "Not now."

Use it with care. One or two per paragraph is enough, and in formal academic writing commas and parentheses are usually the safer choice. Our full guide on the em dash covers how to type it, how much to use it and why it has become tied to talk about AI writing, so this page does not repeat that discussion.

US vs UK spacing conventions around dashes

Spacing is where regional habits differ most. None of these is wrong, but each document should use one convention only.

The pattern: the US tends to prefer the closed em dash (AP is the main exception), and British usage often prefers the spaced en dash for the same job. Ranges are closed up everywhere. When you write for a university, journal, employer or client, look for a style sheet and follow it. If there is none, choose a convention and apply it everywhere. The mix that annoys editors most is a closed em dash in one paragraph and a spaced en dash in the next.

How to type each mark

Notes:

• The Windows Alt codes need a keyboard with a numeric keypad. On a laptop without one, open the emoji and symbol picker with the Windows key plus the period key, or copy the character from this page.
• Phone keyboards change between versions and languages. If the long-press menu does not show the dashes, switch to the symbols page of your keyboard and look there.
• Word processors can turn two hyphens into an em dash and a spaced hyphen into an en dash automatically. That is useful, but it can also surprise you. Check the result before you submit.

Before and after: fixing dash mistakes

Draft: The 2024-2026 plan - which covers pages 10-15 - was delayed by a three-week strike - our well known supplier.

Problems:

1. A hyphen in the year range.
2. A hyphen in the page range.
3. Spaced hyphens used as dashes.
4. Well known before a noun needs a hyphen.
5. Two dash pairs in one sentence blur the structure.

Revised (US, Chicago): The 2024–2026 plan, which covers pages 10–15, was delayed by a three-week strike at our well-known supplier.

Revised (UK, spaced en dash): The 2024–2026 plan – which covers pages 10–15 – was delayed by a three-week strike at our well-known supplier.

Both revisions fix every mark. The first replaces the aside dashes with commas, which is often the cleanest choice.

Common mistakes checklist

Use this before you hand in an essay, report or application:

• ☐ Ranges of numbers and dates use an en dash (or the hyphen your citation style asks for).
• ☐ No from … – or between … – constructions.
• ☐ Compound modifiers before a noun have a hyphen (a high-risk project), and the same words after the noun do not (the project is high risk).
• ☐ No hyphen after an -ly adverb (a carefully written letter).
• ☐ Spaced hyphens (" - ") are replaced by a real em dash or en dash.
• ☐ One dash style (closed em dash or spaced en dash) is used throughout.
• ☐ Dashes are not stacked three or four times in a paragraph.
• ☐ Hyphenated words follow the same dictionary (US or UK) as the rest of the spelling.

Using AdeptWrite to check your punctuation

The Grammar Checker flags many punctuation problems and shows each change so you can accept or reject it. The Spell Checker checks American or British English word lists, which helps with words that differ between the two, though it does not decide for you whether a particular compound needs a hyphen. The Text Cleaner removes double spaces and hidden formatting from pasted text, which often fixes odd gaps around dashes. As of 2026-11-01 each tool handles up to 6,000 characters per run.

None of these tools knows your style sheet. A hyphen or dash question is partly a house-style decision, so the final choice is yours. For the wider set of marks, see our guide to punctuation marks and our note on when a semicolon is the better choice than a dash.

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