Numbers
Reviewed conventions, examples, and the sources behind them.
The checks below catch specific patterns in your text. They support your review; passing them does not verify every part of a convention.
Spell numbers out
Number spelling (opens in a new tab) Spell out numbers with exceptions. Verified 2026-08-12. Numbers are spelled out rather than written as digits, and a multiple of 100 is spelled as it is pronounced — a hundred, or hunnid where that is what is sung.
I got 5 of them waiting on me
I got five of them waiting on me
Exceptions and context
The linter reviews only small standalone digits outside its known digit contexts; everything larger, and every exemption call, is the transcriber's.
What LyricLint checks
A digit where the word is sung
Flagged example [Verse] I need 5 reasons
This small standalone number is outside the reviewed time, money, percentage, date, and compound-number exceptions. Delivery or naming can still matter, so the edit requires preview.
Accepted by this check [Verse] I need five reasons
Some numbers stay digits
Number spelling (opens in a new tab) Spell out numbers with exceptions. Verified 2026-08-12. Digits are kept for proper nouns that carry them, model numbers including firearm and ammunition names, years, phone numbers, terms conventionally written in digits like 24/7, numerical slang for the police (5-0, 12), counts shortened with K that are not multiples of 100 (24K), and times.
Grinding 24/7 like it pays
Exceptions and context
A decade is one of the digit-kept forms, and the linter checks its written shape: the apostrophe stands in for the century before the digits — '90s — never after them.
What LyricLint checks
An apostrophe on the wrong side of a decade
Flagged example [Verse] Back in the 90's we had it all
An apostrophe stands in for the dropped century, so it goes before the numerals ('90s); an age range or a plain plural takes none (90s). An apostrophe after the numerals reads as a possessive, which a line can genuinely mean, so check the reading before replacing.
Accepted by this check [Verse] Party like it's the '90s
Write times in digits
Number spelling (opens in a new tab) Spell out numbers with exceptions. Verified 2026-08-12. A time is written in digits: a whole number on the hour (8 a.m.), a colon only where minutes are named (7:45 p.m.), and a digit before o'clock (6 o'clock); ante and post meridiem abbreviate to lowercase a.m. and p.m. with periods.
Meet me at 8:00 A.M. sharp
Meet me at 8 a.m. sharp