A strikethrough text generator crosses out words by adding one invisible combining character — U+0336 COMBINING LONG STROKE OVERLAY — after every letter, so s̶t̶r̶i̶k̶e̶ stays crossed out when you paste it into Instagram, TikTok, X or a chat. Underlined text works the same way with U+0332. Type above, tap a style, paste.
The box at the top is the shared FontFancy generator, opened on its line styles; the other tabs still hold every style. Below: twelve line marks compared, crossed-out phrases and price cuts to copy, names with a line through or under them, and the reason a struck word counts double.
Twelve line marks compared
Every line style is the same trick with a different mark. Unicode has a family of combining marks that draw over, under or above the letter before them; the generator repeats one of them after each character. The table names each mark so you can recognise it in text you find elsewhere, and the tiles below let you copy the word strike in each.
| Mark | Unicode name | Code point | Where the line sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| A̶a̶ | Combining Long Stroke Overlay | U+0336 | through the middle |
| A̵a̵ | Combining Short Stroke Overlay | U+0335 | through the middle, shorter |
| A̷a̷ | Combining Short Solidus Overlay | U+0337 | diagonal, short |
| A̸a̸ | Combining Long Solidus Overlay | U+0338 | diagonal, full height |
| A̴a̴ | Combining Tilde Overlay | U+0334 | wavy line through |
| A̲a̲ | Combining Low Line | U+0332 | under the letter |
| A̳a̳ | Combining Double Low Line | U+0333 | two lines under |
| A̅a̅ | Combining Overline | U+0305 | above the letter |
| A̿a̿ | Combining Double Overline | U+033F | two lines above |
| A̰a̰ | Combining Tilde Below | U+0330 | wavy line under |
| A͇a͇ | Combining Equals Sign Below | U+0347 | short double dash under |
| A͓a͓ | Combining X Below | U+0353 | small x under |
The word “strike” with each mark (12)
The long stroke (U+0336) is the one most generators call “strikethrough”, and the one to use if you want the line to look continuous. The short stroke leaves small gaps between letters, and the slash marks read as “cancelled” rather than “crossed out”.
Crossed-out phrases people post
Strikethrough in a caption is usually a joke about changing your mind: the crossed-out word is what you were supposed to say, the plain word after it is what you mean. These are ready to paste; the second set already includes the replacement.
Crossed out on their own (20)
Underlined bio lines (10)
Before → after swaps (12)
Price cuts and quick edits
Shops and resellers use struck prices because the old number stays readable. In a plain-text post — a WhatsApp catalogue message, an Instagram caption, a marketplace listing — Unicode strikethrough is the only way to show it.
Tip: strike the number, not the currency sign. A stroke on ₹ or $ often lands off-centre because those symbols are wider than a digit.
Names with a line
A line under a name reads as emphasis; a line through it is usually an in-joke (“ex”, “former admin”) or an aesthetic choice. Each example shows the mark and, where used, the letter style underneath — combine them in the generator by styling your name first, then adding a line style from this page.
Apps with a real strikethrough button
If the app has its own strikethrough, use it for messages: the letters stay normal characters, so the text can still be searched and read aloud. Unicode strikethrough is for places without formatting — bios, display names, captions and comments.
| Where you are typing | Real strikethrough? | How |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp message | Yes | Wrap the text in tildes: ~text~ (more in our WhatsApp fonts guide) |
| Discord message | Yes | Two tildes each side: ~~text~~ |
| Telegram message | Yes | Select the text, open the formatting menu and choose Strikethrough |
| Google Docs | Yes | Alt + Shift + 5 on Windows and ChromeOS, ⌘ + Shift + X on Mac |
| Microsoft Word | Yes | The ab strikethrough button on the Home tab |
| Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook posts | No formatting | Unicode strikethrough from the generator above |
Discord’s double-tilde syntax does not work inside a Discord nickname, and WhatsApp’s tildes do nothing in your profile name — both of those are plain-text fields, which is where the pasted version earns its place.
Why a struck word counts double
A crossed-out word is twice as long as it looks because every letter carries its own combining mark. “sale” is four characters; s̶a̶l̶e̶ is eight. Fields with a character limit count the marks too, so a struck bio line runs out of room twice as fast.
| Text | Characters (code points) | UTF-16 units | UTF-8 bytes |
|---|---|---|---|
| sale (plain) | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| s̶a̶l̶e̶ | 8 | 8 | 12 |
| 𝐬̶𝐚̶𝐥̶𝐞̶ (bold + strike) | 8 | 12 | 24 |
| P̲r̲i̲y̲a̲ S̲h̲a̲r̲m̲a̲ | 23 | 23 | 34 |
Three more side effects follow from the same design:
- Emoji and spaces break the line. A mark after an emoji often floats to one side, and generators skip spaces, so a phrase shows small gaps between words. That is why the strike on “plan A” above has a break.
- Search may not match. Unlike bold letters, the marks are not removed by Unicode NFKC normalisation — s̶a̶l̶e̶ stays s̶a̶l̶e̶ — so a search box only finds “sale” if it separately ignores accents and marks. The letters themselves are still the ordinary ones.
- Screen readers ignore the line. Most read the letters and drop the marks, so a listener hears “not today” with no hint it was crossed out. Do not use strikethrough to carry meaning someone must not miss.
Stacking several marks on each letter is how glitchy Zalgo text is made; our zalgo text generator covers what happens when you push that too far.
Underline: what changes
Underline uses U+0332 COMBINING LOW LINE below each letter. It looks cleanest on capitals and on letters without tails; on g, j, p, q and y the line runs through the descender. The double low line (U+0333) is easier to see on small screens but crowds a short name.
Two cautions specific to underlines. On the web an underlined word looks like a link, so readers may try to tap it. And unlike bold or small caps, an underline cannot be applied to a whole word as one piece — it is still one mark per letter, so the same doubling of length applies.
For a look that reads as code rather than a correction, pair a struck word with the monospace text generator; for a joke that needs the reader to turn their phone, flipped text does the job better than a line.
Dividers, kaomoji and emoji to pair
Line characters make natural companions for struck text — a divider above a crossed-out to-do list, an “oops” face after a corrected word.
Line dividers (46)
Oops and nope kaomoji (18)
Emoji for edits and sales (18)
Using strikethrough in a server? Our Discord fonts guide explains which fields take markdown and which need pasted text.
Questions about crossed-out text
How do you type strikethrough text?
In apps with formatting, use their syntax: ~text~ in WhatsApp, ~~text~~ in Discord, or the strikethrough option in Telegram, Google Docs and Word. Everywhere else, type your words into a strikethrough text generator, copy the result and paste it — each letter then carries a Unicode stroke.
How do I strike a letter in WhatsApp?
Put a tilde directly before and after the text in a message, like ~this~. It works in chats but not in your profile name or About line; there, paste Unicode strikethrough instead.
How do I get strikethrough text on Instagram?
Instagram has no strikethrough button. Generate the crossed-out text on this page, copy it, and paste it into your bio, caption or comment. It counts as twice as many characters, so keep an eye on the 150-character bio limit.
How do I strikethrough text in Word?
Select the text and click the ab strikethrough button on the Home tab. That is real formatting; if you copy it into a social app it disappears, so use Unicode strikethrough for anything you will paste online.
Why is the line broken between words?
Generators add the stroke only to letters, not to spaces, and each stroke is drawn per character. A small gap between words is normal and cannot be closed without adding extra visible characters.
Checked on 14 September 2026: mark names and character counts verified with the Unicode Character Database; WhatsApp, Discord, Telegram and Google Docs methods checked against their published help and formatting guides.
