The Systems Compared
A word does not have a value. It has one value per system, and the single most useful skill in this subject is working out which system a published number came from.
Why One Word Has Many Values
Each cipher is a different mapping from letters to numbers. English Ordinal says A is 1. English Reverse says A is 26. Jewish Gematria says A is 1 but W is 900. None of these is wrong; they are simply different functions applied to the same input.
The mistake is not using several systems. It is comparing across them. If one word is calculated in Ordinal and another in Sumerian, a match between the two figures means nothing whatsoever, and this is by far the most common flaw in gematria claims circulating online.
The Hebrew Methods
Mispar Hechrachi
Standard absolute value. The default, and what an unlabelled figure usually means.
Mispar Gadol
Finals extended to 500-900. Totals jump sharply for words ending in a sofit letter.
Mispar Siduri
Ordinal position, 1 to 22. Totals stay small.
Mispar Katan
Every value reduced to a single digit.
The English Ciphers
These are modern and none has an ancient pedigree. Ordinal (A=1 to Z=26) is the baseline. Reverse runs it backwards. Pythagorean reduces each letter to 1-9 and is the basis of name numerology. Sumerian is Ordinal times six, despite having nothing to do with Sumer. Jewish Gematria borrows the Hebrew ladder, which is why its totals are on a completely different scale from the rest.
Identifying an Unlabelled Number
Suppose a source claims a six letter English word equals 396 and does not say which cipher it used. Work through the constraints. Ordinal cannot exceed 156 for six letters, so it is out. Pythagorean cannot exceed 54, so it is out. Sumerian could reach 396 and, since 396 divides evenly by six, it is a live candidate: 396 divided by 6 is 66, so the Ordinal value would have to be 66. Jewish Gematria could also reach it. Two candidates, both checkable in seconds.
This procedure turns an unverifiable assertion into a testable one, and it is the reason this site shows every system at once instead of choosing for you.
The Scale Problem
Systems with a wider range produce more impressive looking coincidences, purely as arithmetic. Jewish Gematria reaches 900 on a single letter, so its totals spread across thousands of possible values. English Ordinal on a short word occupies a range of about a hundred. A match found in the wider system is, if anything, more surprising, but a match found within the narrow one is close to guaranteed given enough attempts.
When you see a striking equality, the first question is not what it means. It is how many words were tried before that one was found, and how large the range was.
Try Them Together
The English calculator runs all seven ciphers at once, the Hebrew calculator all four methods, and the charts give the full mappings so you can reproduce anything by hand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which system should I use?
Whichever your source used. If you are starting fresh, English Ordinal and Hebrew Mispar Hechrachi are the conventional defaults.
Is Jewish Gematria the same as Hebrew gematria?
No. Jewish Gematria is an English cipher that maps Latin letters onto the Hebrew ladder. Hebrew gematria works on actual Hebrew letters.
Why does Sumerian gematria exist?
It is Ordinal multiplied by six, a modern variant that spreads totals over a wider range. The name is decorative and implies no connection to ancient Sumer.
Continue Reading
What Is Gematria?
Where the practice came from, what it actually does, and what it was never meant to do.
How to Calculate by Hand
The three steps every system shares, worked slowly on a short word.
The Hebrew Alphabet
Twenty two letters, three ranks of value, and the five that change shape at the end.
See all lessons or go straight to the gematria calculator.