01/26/2026
Why do some symbols look the same? 🤔
A single braille cell can contain up to six dots, resulting in only 63 possible combinations to represent all letters, numbers, punctuation, and contractions. So, some symbols work double (or even triple) duty! What they represent is determined by their position within or relative to a word or sentence.
Note that the following examples use contracted (or "shorthand") braille.
Example 1️⃣: Dots 2, 3, and 6
🟢 At the beginning of a word: Opening quotation mark
🟢 At the end of a word: Question mark
🟢 Standing alone: Contraction of "his"
Example 2️⃣: Dots 2 and 5
🟡 At the end of a word: Colon
🟡 At the start of a word: Contraction of "con"
🟡 Inside of a word: Contraction of "cc"
Example 3️⃣: Dots 2 and 3
🔵 At the end of a word: Semicolon
🔵 Standing alone: Contraction of "be"
🔵 Inside of a word: Contraction of "bb"
