Letter 3 of 26
The letter C in braille
C is dots 1 and 4.
Dots 1-4
Unicode ⠉ — U+2809
How to recognise it
Dots 1 and 4 make a horizontal pair across the top. c and b are the same two dots rotated, which is why beginners mix them up; the direction of the pair is the whole distinction.
How this cell is built
C is one of the ten base shapes of decade 1, built from dots 1, 2, 4 and 5 only. Every letter from k onwards is one of these ten with extra dots added.
Easily confused with
These letters differ from C by a single dot, which is where reading errors actually happen. Drill them against each other rather than in alphabetical order.
Practice words
Each word below starts with C, written in Grade 1 so every letter has its own cell.
cat
come
cold
Standing alone, C means “can”. Inside a longer word it is just the letter c. See the contraction reference for the full list.