Simple Gematria

By GematriaPlus · Updated 2026-10-26

Simple gematria is the easiest English cipher: each letter is worth its position in the alphabet, so A = 1, B = 2 and Z = 26. The value of a word is the sum of its letters.

Most beginners start here. Simple gematria needs nothing but the order of the alphabet, so you can check any result with pen and paper.

The simple gematria table

Step-by-step examples

• Love: L (12) + O (15) + V (22) + E (5) = 54
• Truth: T (20) + R (18) + U (21) + T (20) + H (8) = 87
• Gematria: G (7) + E (5) + M (13) + A (1) + T (20) + R (18) + I (9) + A (1) = 74

Quick checks

• Add the simple value and the reverse ordinal value (Z = 1 to A = 26). The sum is always 27 times the number of letters. For Love: 54 + 54 = 108, and 27 × 4 = 108.
• The Sumerian value is exactly six times the simple value. Love: 54 × 6 = 324.

Simple gematria and Hebrew

The Hebrew method that numbers letters 1 to 22 by position is called Mispar Siduri, and simple gematria is its English counterpart. Because the English alphabet has 26 letters, simple totals are generally larger than Hebrew ordinal totals for words of the same length. See Hebrew gematria for the Hebrew methods.