How to Read Cursive: A Beginner's Guide

In print, every letter is separate, so the eye can see where one ends and the next begins. In cursive the letters are joined, so the boundaries are connecting strokes, and each writer forms those connections a little differently. Several cursive letters also look similar to each other, such as n and u, or r and s.

The good news is that cursive uses a small, regular set of shapes. Once you can recognize the shapes, and you read whole words instead of one letter at a time, most handwriting becomes readable.

1. Read the whole line once, quickly, without stopping. Mark only the words you cannot read; do not try to decode them yet.
2. Find the easy letters first. Tall loops (l, h, b, k), descenders (g, y, j) and capitals stand out and give each word a shape.
3. Count the strokes. A word with three humps in a row is probably m or a combination such as ni or in; a word with a run of cups is probably u or w.
4. Use the context. A sentence about a recipe is unlikely to contain a word about a train. If two readings are possible, choose the one that makes sense.
5. Check by writing it. Copy the word slowly in pencil. If it does not read right when you write it, try the next reading.

• n and u: the n arches over like a hill; the u dips like a cup. Look at the connecting stroke: it goes up into an n and runs on from a u.
• m and w: the m has two humps and the w has two cups. If the word begins with a pointed bottom, it is probably a w.
• a and o: both start with an oval. The a has a stem on the right; the o closes at the top and leaves across the midline.
• e, i and l: the e is a small loop, the l is a tall loop, and the i is a short upstroke with a dot (that may be missing or drifted away).
• r and s: the r has a flat shoulder; the s rises to a point and closes at the baseline.
• t and l: the t is shorter and has a crossbar; the l reaches the top line and has none.
• g, y, j and q: all have descender loops. Look at the top of the letter, which shows which one it is: g and q start with an oval, y with a cup, j with a dot.

Compare these with the letter pages, which show the strokes in order, and the common mistakes guide, which explains why writers confuse them.

Capitals look much more different from their print forms than small letters, and school models vary. A cursive Q can look like a numeral 2, and a cursive G or S can look like a different letter if the writer's loops are generous. The same capital may appear in different forms in different decades.

If you cannot read a capital, look at what follows. Names and places are common after a capital, so look at the rest of the word and guess. The uppercase letters page has each capital grouped by shape, which is easier to learn than going through them in alphabetical order.

Some writers write a 1 with a long flag that makes it look like a 7, or a 7 with a crossbar that makes it look like a 1 or a 4. Dates and amounts are better checked twice. The cursive numbers page shows the common forms.

• Learn to write it. People who can write cursive read it faster, because they know how the strokes are made. Use the tracing pads on the letter pages or the worksheets.
• Copy short samples. Copy a few lines of cursive you can already read, slowly, to learn the connections.
• Read with a pencil. Write each word you decode above it, so you can compare when the same word appears again.
• Build a key. In a longer document, keep a small chart of how this writer forms each letter. A writer is usually consistent with themselves, even when unusual.

If you want to start from the beginning, the beginner guide and the 30-day plan teach the letters in a sensible order.

Older handwriting adds more difficulty: faded ink, unusual spelling and letter forms that are no longer taught. Some tips:

• Start with the clearest page, and learn how the writer forms common letters before trying a hard word.
• Look for the long s, which resembles an f without a full crossbar and appears in the middle of words in many eighteenth-century texts.
• Expect abbreviations, such as a raised letter or a squiggle that replaces a few letters.
• Make a copy and work in pencil on the copy, not on the original.
• Do not rely only on software. Automatic handwriting recognition can produce confident but wrong text, especially for cursive, so check every word.

The history of cursive explains why older scripts look different, which makes them easier to understand.

Leave the word, finish the sentence and come back. Look for the same letter shape elsewhere on the page, where it may be clearer. Ask someone else to read it: a second reader often sees the word right away. And remember that one unreadable word is normal. The goal is to understand the text, not to decode every stroke.