Guides › Typography › Dashes

Hyphen, en dash, em dash

By Lukas · updated 28 October 2026

English has three dashes of different lengths, and a manuscript typed in a hurry usually has one: the hyphen, sometimes doubled. In a printed book each has its own job. The spacing differs between American and British books, too.

The hyphen (-)

The short one on your keyboard. It joins words into one (well-known, mother-in-law, a 300-page book) and splits a word at the end of a line, which the typesetting program does for you. It never has spaces around it.

The en dash (–)

About the width of a letter n. It stands for “to” in ranges, with no spaces: pages 12–15, 1914–1918, the London–Paris train. If you write “from”, write “to” as well: from 9 to 5, not from 9–5. It also joins a prefix to an open compound, as in pre–Civil War, though many editors just rephrase that.

British books use a spaced en dash where American books use an em dash, for a break in the sentence: She opened the door – and stopped.

The em dash (—)

The width of an M. American books set it closed up, with no spaces, for a break or an aside:

She opened the door—and stopped.
The letter—it had been on the table for weeks—was still sealed.

In dialogue it shows that someone was cut off: “I only wanted—” “Don’t.” When a speaker trails off on their own, an ellipsis fits better.

Which style for your book?

Closed em dashes (Chicago style) are the norm in US publishing; spaced en dashes are common in British books. Both are correct. What looks wrong is a mix of the two, or a hyphen standing in for either, so pick one and search the manuscript for the other before you export.

How to type them

On Windows, hold Alt and type the digits on the numeric keypad. In Word, Ctrl with the keypad minus gives an en dash and Ctrl Alt with the keypad minus an em dash. The Mac keys are for the US layout. On Linux you need a Compose key set up first.

In Word

With AutoFormat As You Type on, Word turns two hyphens between words (word--word) into an em dash as you type, and a hyphen with spaces around it into an en dash. That catches most of them while you write, but not in text you paste in. For a blurb or a newsletter, the quote and dash fixer does it in one go: number ranges get an en dash, and double or spaced hyphens become a closed em dash. Kernsetzer does the same when it sets your book, that is, it follows the American style; if your book is British, set the spaced en dashes yourself.

Not at the start of a line

A spaced dash should end a line, not begin the next one. A no-break space before it keeps it with the word in front. A range like 1914–1918 shouldn’t break at all.