Look-Alike Characters Explained (Homoglyphs in Unicode)

Explainers · 3 min read · Published October 25, 2026

Quick answer: Unicode contains many characters that look identical or almost identical but are different code points. Examples are Latin A and Cyrillic А, the hyphen - and the minus sign −, and the micro sign µ and Greek μ. People can't tell them apart, but computers can, so they break search, sorting, passwords and code. To identify one, check its code point.

Quick reference: every method

Every Alt code below is verified against the real Windows code pages — where none exists we say so, rather than list one that won’t work.

Common look-alike pairs

A mixed-up pair can even matter on a Mac keyboard: Option+J types the increment sign ∆, not the Greek letter Δ, and Option+M types the micro sign µ, not Greek μ (Mac keys).

Where they cause trouble

• Search and Find: searching for Ω (U+03A9) won't find Ω (U+2126).
• Spreadsheets: numbers typed with − (U+2212) instead of - are treated as text, so sums return wrong results.
• Code: a pasted Cyrillic "а" in a variable name produces errors that are invisible on screen.
• Security: fake domains and usernames use letters from other scripts to imitate real ones (homograph attacks). Browsers often show suspicious domains in punycode form starting with xn--.
• File names: look-alikes of forbidden characters can be used on purpose, with their own risks (filename characters).

How to identify a character

• Word: place the cursor right after the character and press Alt+X. It turns into its hex code (press Alt+X again to turn it back). See symbols in Word.
• Excel and Google Sheets: =UNICODE(A1) returns the decimal code of the first character.
• Programming: in Python, unicodedata.name(ch) gives the official name, for example "CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER A".
• This site: each symbol page shows the code point and name; compare with what you have (what is Unicode).

Does normalization help?

Unicode normalization merges only a few of these. NFC (the most common form) turns the ohm sign into Ω, the kelvin sign into K, the ångström sign into Å and the Greek question mark into a semicolon. NFKC also turns the micro sign µ into μ. Cyrillic and Greek letters, the minus sign, the division slash and ∑ stay as they are. Detecting look-alikes reliably needs Unicode's "confusables" data, which security tools use.

Related: invisible characters, Greek letters and symbols and screen readers.

Frequently asked questions