How to say and correct an email address in English

The British Council's email-address lesson teaches "at" for @, "dot" for . and "underscore" for _. Woodward English's lesson also distinguishes an underscore from a hyphen, which can be called a dash.

Written symbol	Say it as	Practice fragment
@	at	reed at example
.	dot	mina dot reed
-	hyphen or dash	mina hyphen reed
_	underscore	mina underscore reed

In this exercise, use "hyphen" consistently for -. That gives you one label to rehearse; it does not mean someone saying "dash" is wrong.

Do not replace one symbol with another because it looks neater. Read what is written in the address you intend to give. Likewise, do not add punctuation between two names unless it is actually there.

Take this fictional example: mina.reed_27@example.com.

First say: "Mina dot Reed underscore two seven, at example dot com." Pause briefly before "at" so the listener can finish the first part. A pause helps them write; it is not an instruction to insert a space.

If they need the names spelled, give those letters separately: "M I N A, dot, R E E D, underscore, two seven." Here the spaces separate spoken letter names in the explanation, not characters in the email address.

You can then say the part after @: "example dot com." If the listener needs it spelled too, do that rather than assuming it is familiar. Follow the actual ending in front of you instead of supplying a common ending from memory.

For trouble with individual letter names, use the phone name-spelling practice guide. This article's extra task is preserving the symbols and where they occur.

"You've got my email?" can produce a yes without exposing an error. A more useful request is: "Could you read the whole address back, including the dots and underscore?"

Listen for the characters on both sides of @. Someone might correctly repeat your name but have written the wrong ending. Or they may know the ending and have changed an underscore into a hyphen in the first part.

If they repeat "Mina Reed" without naming the punctuation, ask about that part: "What do you have between Mina and Reed?" You are checking the written result, not asking them to judge how clearly you spoke.

On a real call, confirm the version the person has entered or written down. Your own correct repetition does not establish that their record changed.

Here is an original example exchange. The intended practice address is mina.reed_27@example.com.

Listener: "Mina hyphen Reed underscore two seven at example dot com?"

Speaker: "One change: a dot between Mina and Reed, not a hyphen. The underscore before two seven is right."

Listener: "Mina dot Reed underscore two seven at example dot com."

Speaker: "Yes, that matches."

Notice that the speaker kept the correct underscore in place while fixing the other symbol. "No, underscore" would have been ambiguous because the address contains more than one separator.

Useful correction openings include "Before the at sign...", "After Reed..." and "At the end..." Follow the location with the actual change, then let the listener repeat the corrected version. If several parts are wrong, start again in sections rather than stacking several corrections into one fast sentence.

Work with a partner. The speaker sees the target, while the listener starts with one of these deliberately incorrect versions. These are only practice strings.

Target: mina.reed_27@example.com

Listener's starting version	Difference to resolve
mina-reed_27@example.com	The separator after mina is a hyphen instead of a dot.
mina.reed-27@example.com	The separator before 27 is a hyphen instead of an underscore.
mina.reed_72@example.com	The two digits are in the wrong order.
mina.reed_27@example.net	The ending differs from the target.

The listener reads their version aloud without showing it. The speaker locates the difference, gives a correction and asks for a second read-back. Only then compare the written strings.

Swap roles and create another fictional example. Keep each round to one deliberate difference until both people can explain precisely what changed. The check is whether the two written strings match, not whether either person sounds like a native speaker.

If repeated attempts still leave uncertainty, ask whether there is an agreed way to provide the address in writing. Do not keep guessing to end the call faster.

For a message that needs a later response, the voicemail callback guide covers making the requested action clear. Giving contact details and explaining what you want the listener to do are separate parts of a useful message.