How to Make Mirror Text and Backwards Text | Reversing Letter Order vs Flipping Left to Right

There are three kinds of “flipped” text

When the tools you find do not do what you want, it is usually because the type of flip has been mixed up. First decide which one you actually need.

The decisive difference is the last column. Reversing the order does not change the characters themselves, only their sequence, so you can copy the result and paste it into a message. Mirror text and upside-down text change the shape of the letters, which ordinary characters cannot represent. You need to make an image, or flip the display.

Reversing the order of letters (backwards text)

If you only want to reverse the order, type the text and the result appears instantly. The backwards text tool shows the reversed text as you type and can read it aloud. It is quicker than flipping words in your head, and you can hear how they sound.

1. 1

   Type the words you want to reverse

   As you type in the input box, the result below updates in real time. You can also tap the voice input button and speak.

2. 2

   Listen to the result

   Press Play audio and the reversed string is read aloud as it is. Even when the letters look like nonsense, hearing them tells you whether they work as a word.

3. 3

   Check whether it is a palindrome

   If the input and result are exactly the same, it is a palindrome — like racecar, which reads the same forwards and backwards.

• Each letter keeps its own shape and only its position changes: school becomes loohcs, and capital letters stay capital wherever they end up.
• Spaces and punctuation are reversed too, so a sentence palindrome such as “Was it a car or a cat I saw?” only matches if you ignore spaces, capitals and the question mark.
• Emoji and some special characters are made of several code points combined, so simply reversing them can break them apart. Testing with plain letters is the reliable way.
• The same game works in other languages. Chinese has 上海自来水来自海上 and Korean has 기러기 and 토마토 — words and phrases that read the same in both directions.

Making mirror text (horizontal flip)

Mirror text flips the shape of the letters themselves, so it cannot be represented as character codes. There are two ways to make it: turn the text into an image and flip that, or flip it at display time.

1. 1

   Turn the text into an image

   Type the text in an image editor or presentation app and export it as an image. Even apps that cannot flip text can flip an image.

2. 2

   Flip it horizontally

   Use the editor's Flip Horizontal or Mirror command. If you only need it on a web page, you can also use CSS transform to set the horizontal scale to -1.

3. 3

   Export for the job

   For printing, keep a white background and save as PNG; for a T-shirt transfer sheet, export without cropping the margins. If you need transparency, choose PNG, which also keeps clean edges when layered over a photo.

When printing needs a flip

Printing is where forgetting to flip most often goes wrong. In any process that uses a transfer or a printing block, prepare the artwork on the assumption that it will be flipped once at the end.

• Iron-on transfer sheets are pressed face down onto the fabric, so flip the design horizontally when printing. If you forget, the text comes out as mirror writing.
• Some printer drivers have a Mirror or Flip Horizontal setting. If you flip both the image and the driver, it flips back, so use only one of them.
• Stickers applied to the inside of a window also need flipping if they are to be read from outside. Decide based on which side of the glass they go on.
• Rubber stamps and woodcuts print the carved face mirrored onto paper. Flipping at the sketch stage saves recarving.
• Before the real thing, do a test print on plain paper to check the direction. Transfer sheets often come in small packs, so a redo is costly.

Playing with reversed text

Reversing is a ready-made word game, good for a party or a spare few minutes in class.

• Backwards challenge: race to say a given word backwards within a time limit. Start with three letters, then go up to five and seven.
• Palindrome hunt: look for words whose input and result match. Try names and place names — you may find surprising palindromes.
• Listening quiz: play a reversed string with the read-aloud feature and have others guess the original word. The trick is to ask by sound only, without showing the letters.
• Back slang: like the old market-trader slang where yob came from boy, flip words to make your own code words.
• Mirror quiz: write a word in mirror writing on paper and have someone read it with a hand mirror. It shows how the flip works and is fun with children too.

Because reversed text can be copied and sent as it is, it suits messaging apps too. If the other person cannot read it, running it through the same tool again restores it. Reversing twice gets you back to the original — a handy way to check.

FAQ

Are mirror text and backwards text the same thing?

No. Mirror text flips the shape of each letter left to right, so it looks like a reflection. Backwards text only reverses the order of the letters; their shapes do not change. The first has to be handled as an image, while the second can be copied and used as text.

Can I copy and paste mirror text?

Not as it is, because ordinary characters cannot represent it. Make it as an image, or flip the display with CSS on a web page. You can line up special characters that look flipped, but they become garbled in some environments, so they are not suitable for handouts or work documents.

Why are iron-on transfers printed mirrored?

Because the printed side of the transfer sheet is pressed onto the fabric, so left and right swap as it transfers. Printing it mirrored in advance means it ends up the right way round. If your printer also has a mirror setting, be careful not to flip in both the image and the driver.

What if the reversed word is hard to read?

Play it aloud and listen. Even a sequence that makes no sense on screen can turn out to be pronounceable when you hear it. Reversed words often start with awkward clusters of consonants, so when playing it is normal to tweak the result a little to make it sound right.