Umlaut and Diaeresis Letters (ä ë ï ö ü ÿ): Copy and Type

Umlaut letters are vowels with two dots on top: ä ë ï ö ü ÿ. Click any letter above to copy it. To type one, hold Alt and type 0252 for ü on Windows, or press Option + U, then the vowel on a Mac.

The same two dots have two different names and two different jobs. In German they are an umlaut and change the vowel sound. In French, Spanish and English they are a diaeresis and tell you to say a vowel on its own.

Umlaut vs diaeresis

Unicode treats both as the same mark (the combining diaeresis, U+0308), and the precomposed letters are identical. The difference is only in what the dots mean.

The German umlaut

In German, ä, ö and ü are different vowels from a, o and u. Changing the letter changes the word: schon means "already" while schön means "beautiful". If you cannot type the dots, German allows ae, oe and ue instead, as in Mueller for Müller. The German accent letters page covers this rule and the ß.

The diaeresis in French

French puts a diaeresis on the second of two vowels to show they are said separately. Noël is "no-el", not one sound. Other examples are naïve, maïs (corn) and Haïti. The rare ÿ appears in a few place names, such as L'Haÿ-les-Roses.

The diaeresis in Spanish

Spanish uses ü only after g in the groups güe and güi. It tells you to pronounce the u: pingüino (penguin), vergüenza (shame), bilingüe. Without the dots, the u would be silent as in guerra.

The diaeresis in English and Dutch

English borrowed words like naïve and names like Zoë and Brontë. Some publications still write coöperate and reëlect to show the vowels are split, though most writers now drop the dots. Dutch uses the diaeresis often: België, ideeën, ruïne.

How to type letters with two dots

Shorter Alt codes

Some letters also have a 3-digit code from the old code page 437. These work on most Windows PCs too.

Both types of code need the number pad with Num Lock on. If they do nothing, see the full Alt codes table or the Windows accent guide for other methods.

Other ways to type umlauts

• US International keyboard (Windows): type " (Shift + '), then the vowel. " then u gives ü. Press Space after " to type a plain quote mark.
• Mac press and hold: hold the vowel key and pick the dotted version from the menu.
• Microsoft Word: hold Ctrl and Shift, press the colon key, release all three, then type the vowel. Full details are in the Word accent guide.
• Phones: press and hold the vowel on the iPhone keyboard, Gboard or Samsung Keyboard.

Crossword clue: German accent mark, 6 letters

The answer is UMLAUT. A related clue, "two dots over a vowel", can also be DIAERESIS (9 letters) or TREMA (5 letters), so count the squares. For more answers like this, see our list of accent mark crossword clues.

Related marks

Two dots are easy to confuse with the double acute on Hungarian ő and ű, which uses two slanted strokes instead. For a quick guide to every mark, see accent mark names, or go straight to the u with accent page for every form of u.