Five Hundred Million in Numbers

How to write 500,000,000 in words

The number 500,000,000 is written “five hundred million” in British English.

Because 500,000,000 is below one thousand it is a single group: name the hundreds and stop. That gives “five hundred million”.

In running text the number is normally lowercase: “the fee is five hundred million pounds”. At the start of a sentence, in a heading, or on a legal document it takes capitals: Five Hundred Million. Formal documents often give both forms together, for example “five hundred million (500,000,000)”, so that a reader can check one against the other.

3 words · 18 letters · 500,000,000 = 500 × 1,000,000 (one million)

Five Hundred Million in figures

To turn “five hundred million” back into digits, work group by group. Each group word (billion, million, thousand) marks a block of three digits. The result is 500,000,000, or 500000000 without separators.

Commas go after every third digit counting from the right: 500,000,000. In Britain and the United States this is the standard grouping; in much of Europe the same number appears as 500.000.000, and international scientific style uses spaces: 500 000 000.

How to write 500,000,000 on a cheque

Banks read the amount in words as the legal amount, so it must be exact. Write the pounds in words, add the word pounds, and finish with only so that nothing can be added afterwards.

• With pence: add the pence after the pounds – “Five hundred million pounds and fifty pence only” for £500,000,000.50 – or write the pence as a fraction, “Five hundred million pounds 50/100”.
• US check: “Five hundred million and 00/100 dollars”. American cheques drop the “and” after the hundreds and put it before the cents.
• Bangladesh, India and Pakistan: the currency word comes first and the amount is counted in lakh and crore – “Taka fifty crore only”, with the figure written Tk. 50,00,00,000/=.

Read the full guide to writing a UK cheque or the guide to writing a cheque in Bangladesh for the layout, the date, and what to do if the words and figures disagree.

500,000,000 in British and American English

500,000,000 is spelled exactly the same way – “five hundred million” – in British and American English. The two varieties only differ when a number contains hundreds followed by tens or units, where British English adds “and”. Read more in our guide to British vs American English numbers.

500,000,000 in lakh and crore (India, Bangladesh and Pakistan)

In India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, large numbers are grouped differently. After the first thousand the digits are grouped in twos, and the units are lakh (100,000) and crore (10,000,000). So 500,000,000 becomes 50,00,00,000, read as “fifty crore” – or simply 50 crore.

On an Indian cheque or invoice the amount reads “Rupees fifty crore only”; in Bangladesh it is “Taka fifty crore only”. Our lakh and crore conversion guide explains the system in full.

Common mistakes when writing 500,000,000

• Pluralising the group words. It is hundred, million, never “hundreds”, “thousands” or “millions” after a number.
• Using shorthand in formal documents. 500M is fine in a message, but a cheque or contract needs five hundred million or 500,000,000.
• Miscounting the zeros. 500,000,000 has 9 digits. Check the commas: every group between commas should have exactly three digits.

Other ways to write 500,000,000

Half of 500,000,000 is 250,000,000 (two hundred and fifty million). Double 500,000,000 is 1,000,000,000 (one billion).