Cursive Alphabet: Printable A–Z Chart

How to make it

1. Choose which lettersPick Aa Bb pairs, capitals only or lowercase only, and set From letter and To letter if you only want part of the alphabet.
2. Choose the style and sizeUS traditional cursive at 1/2 in is preselected. Pick modern cursive or another country's style, and a size that suits the reader.
3. Print the chartPress Print at Actual size, or download the PDF. Untick the chart option for one row per letter, then tick One page per letter for a full page of each.

A reference chart and a tracing sheet in one

Whole alphabet on one page (chart) is ticked when the page opens. The sheet sets the pairs seven to a line, Aa to Gg on the first, so A to Z takes four lines. Each line is written once as a solid dark example with a dashed row to trace beneath it, and at the preset 1/2 in the whole chart fits on a single page, ready to pin above a desk or slip into a homework folder.

For practice rather than reference, untick the chart option. Each letter then gets its own line, its pair repeated across the row as a dark example and a tracing row, and A to Z runs to about six pages at 1/2 in; raise the tracing rows and add an empty row or two for writing each letter alone. Larger sizes spread the chart over more pages, two at 5/8 in. Older students and adults who only want a quick reminder of a forgotten capital usually prefer 3/8 in.

Letters that surprise people

Readers who learned print first tend to stumble on the same handful of cursive forms. Lowercase r and s change shape almost completely, lowercase f gains a lower loop, and lowercase z in traditional styles often dips below the baseline. Among the capitals, many traditional alphabets give Q a form that looks rather like a numeral 2, make I and J begin with a large curve from the left, and write G, S and L with flourishes that hardly resemble the printed letter.

These are the letters to put on their own page first. Untick the chart, set From letter and To letter to the same letter, tick One page per letter, and the sheet fills a page with that letter alone. A child who keeps writing a printed r in the middle of joined words gets a whole page of the cursive form rather than one line.

It also helps to show readers where a cursive letter hides inside a word. Children who can form every letter on the chart still misread joined writing at first, because the lead-in strokes blur where one letter ends. Reading a few lines of cursive aloud together, then finding each letter on the chart, builds the reading side of the skill alongside the writing side.

Capitals, lowercase or both

The Letters menu has three options. Aa Bb Cc pairs put each capital next to its lowercase letter, which is the usual layout for a wall chart and helps a reader connect the two. A B C capitals prints the capitals only, useful for name initials and the start of sentences, which children often meet later than lowercase. a b c lowercase is the set most teachers start with, since nearly every word is made from it.

Any range is possible, so a week on the first six lowercase letters is simply a to f. With the chart unticked and One page per letter on, a to z lowercase becomes a 26-page booklet: one letter a day for a month of school mornings, or a weekend's practice for an adult relearning the alphabet.

From single letters to joins

A cursive letter on its own already carries its lead-in and exit strokes, which is where the joins will come from. Most lowercase letters leave from the baseline and connect upward into the next letter. Four of them, b, o, v and w, end high, so the letter after them is reached by a short bridge near the midline instead. Pointing this out on the chart saves a lot of confusion when words begin.

In the pairs layout you will see whether the style joins a capital to the lowercase letter after it; some do for most capitals, others leave capitals standing alone. Once the shapes are familiar, move from the alphabet to real words with cursive practice from your own words, where the same fonts join whatever you type.

Traditional, modern and other national alphabets

US cursive, traditional (looped) is preselected: the alphabet with loops on tall and hanging letters that many American schools have long taught. US cursive, modern (fewer loops) keeps the joined structure with plainer capitals. The same menu holds styles modeled on those used elsewhere, from the joined-up alphabet many UK schools teach to Canadian-style cursive, Australian, New Zealand, Irish and South African styles.

All of them come from the Playwrite family of open-license school fonts, which you can read about in the guide to the free Playwrite school fonts. They are modeled on each style, not taken from any department or publisher. Because they are fonts, the tracing is a dashed outline without stroke arrows; for a print alphabet with arrows, numbered strokes and start dots, use print alphabet tracing instead.

Getting a clean print

Print with Actual size or 100% scale and headers and footers off, so the letter size on paper matches the size you picked. US Letter or A4 is chosen from your browser settings and can be changed in the Paper menu; margins are 0.5 in either way. A chart printed on card stock lasts longer on a desk, and a sheet in a plastic sleeve can be traced with a dry-erase marker day after day.

For a mixed group, print two versions: pairs at 5/8 in for students meeting cursive for the first time and lowercase only at 3/8 in for those who need a quick refresher. Both come from the same settings with one menu changed, and Copy link keeps each version so the next term's class gets the identical chart.