Skip to content
Cursive Alphabet

Every letter, A to Z

Cursive Alphabet

How to write all 26 letters in cursive — uppercase and lowercase, each drawn on ruled paper with its pen path and written steps — with a printable alphabet chart and free practice sheets for every letter.

  • 26 letter guides
  • Stroke-by-stroke animations
  • Free printable worksheets
  • No sign-up
Cursive A and a being written

Cursive A · Downcurve (oval) · Short — stays under the midline

The cursive alphabet chart

All 52 letters on the three lines every school worksheet uses: the top line, the dashed midline and the red baseline. Tap any letter to see how it is written.

Printable chart →

Capital letters

Lowercase letters

Learn the letters by stroke, not by alphabet

Cursive letters are built from a handful of strokes. Learn a stroke once and you have the entry to every letter in its family — which is why teachers introduce the letters in groups instead of A to Z. The three families below cover the 26 lowercase letters; what turns them into handwriting is the join between one letter and the next.

Undercurve letters examples

Undercurve letters

These letters begin with a stroke that swings up from the baseline: i, u, w, t, j, p, r, s, e, l, b, h, k and f. Learn i and u first — every other letter in the group is built on that same entry stroke.

Downcurve (oval) letters examples

Downcurve (oval) letters

These letters begin at the midline with a counter-clockwise curve that rounds down and back up: a, d, g, o and q close the oval, c leaves it open. Master that curve once and you have six letters.

Overcurve letters examples

Overcurve letters

These letters begin with an arch that comes over the top from the left: m, n, v, x, y and z. The hump is the whole skill — keep it round, not pointed.

Tall letters

Loop up to the top line.

Tall cursive letters

t and d also rise, but stop just below the top line and do not loop.

Descender letters

Drop below the baseline.

Cursive letters with descenders

g, j, y and z loop to the left; f and q loop to the right; p is a straight retrace.

Bridge letters

Finish at the midline and join with a short level stroke.

Cursive bridge letters

The letter after b, o, v or w starts from the midline instead of the baseline.

Free cursive practice sheets

Every ready-made sheet prints on one US Letter page straight from your browser, and the generator tells you the page count before you print. No sign-up, no watermark, no PDF to hunt for.

What a practice row looks like

A solid model letter, grey letters to write over, then dotted outlines to trace — the same three stages on every sheet. Beyond single letters there are sheets of cursive words and full cursive sentences.

Which cursive is this?

American looped cursive: the connected, looped style that US school handwriting programs (Palmer, Zaner-Bloser and their descendants) are built on — every lowercase letter starts and ends with a joining stroke, tall letters loop at the top line, and f, g, j, p, q, y and z drop below the baseline.

Handwriting programs differ in small details — how much slant, whether the capital Q looks like a 2, whether the lowercase r has a shoulder — but the strokes underneath are the same. If your school uses a slightly different model, the stroke order on each letter page still applies.

How to write in cursive walks through the four basic strokes, how letters join, and a practice order that works.

The four strokes

Undercurve stroke examples: i u w

Undercurve

Rises from the baseline like a bowl.

Overcurve stroke examples: n m v

Overcurve

Arches over the top like a hill.

Downcurve stroke examples: a c o

Downcurve

Counter-clockwise from the midline.

Slant stroke examples: l t d

Slant

A straight stroke down to the baseline.

Cursive alphabet questions

What is the cursive alphabet?

The cursive alphabet is the same 26 letters as print, written in a connected style where the pen stays on the paper through a word. Each lowercase letter begins and ends with a joining stroke, and most capitals are drawn with loops instead of corners. The style shown here is American looped cursive, the connected, looped family that US school handwriting programs are built on; the exact shapes come from an open-licence script typeface, so a few capitals differ from any one classroom model.

What order should I learn the cursive letters in?

Learn by stroke family rather than A to Z. Start with i, u, w and t (the undercurve group), then a, c, d, g, o and q (the oval group), then n, m, v, x, y and z (the overcurve group), and finish with the tall loops b, f, h, k and l. Capitals come last, once the lowercase joins are automatic.

Which cursive letters are the hardest?

Lowercase r, s and z surprise most beginners because they look nothing like their printed forms, and f is the only letter with a loop above and below the line. Among capitals, G, Q, S and Z take the most practice. Every one of them has its own page here with the strokes broken down.

Which cursive capital letters do not connect to the next letter?

In looped cursive you lift the pen after B, D, F, I, O, P, S, T, V, W, X. All other capitals end with an exit stroke and join straight into the lowercase letter that follows.

Are the alphabet chart and worksheets really free?

Yes. Every chart and practice sheet on this site prints from your browser with no sign-up, and the worksheet generator makes sheets from your own words for free. Use your browser's print dialog and choose Save as PDF if you want a file instead of paper.

What size should cursive letters be?

Short letters like a, e and n fill the space from the baseline to the midline. Tall letters like b, h and l loop up to the top line, and t and d stop a little below it. Descender letters — f, g, j, p, q, y and z — drop about one midline-space below the baseline. The ruled lines on every drawing here show those heights.