Most homework in our house ends up happening at the dining table. Not because we planned it that way. It just slowly became the place where everyone lands in the evening.
School bag on one chair. Water bottle somewhere nearby. One open notebook in the middle.
That day she was working through a Maths worksheet where the instruction was simple enough. Write numbers in words.
15 was done quickly.
18 was done quickly too.
Then she reached 23.
She stopped.
Not dramatically. Just the kind of pause where the pencil stays in the air for a few seconds while the brain catches up.
After a moment she turned the notebook toward me and said, “Amma… how do I write this?”
On the page was the number 23.
Two digits. Nothing complicated. But when children have to actually write 23 in words, something about the process slows them down.
I didn’t answer immediately. I’ve realised that if I jump in too fast, she simply copies what I say and moves on. Later she won’t remember it.
So instead I asked, “What do you think it might be?”
She studied the number again and said carefully, “Two three?”
The guess wasn’t careless. She was simply reading the digits exactly as they appeared.
Two.
Three.
And that’s when I realised she wasn’t really stuck on spelling yet. She was still trying to figure out how numbers combine when we say them aloud.
So What Is 23 in Words?
Before going further, let me just say the answer clearly because sometimes children are waiting with the pencil in the air.
23 in words is written as twenty three.
That’s the correct 23 in words spelling teachers usually expect in school notebooks.
So if a worksheet asks how to write 23 in words, the answer is simply:
twenty three.
That’s the number twenty three written out properly.
But the interesting part is not the answer itself. What usually takes a moment is understanding why those words match the number.
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What Was Happening in Her Head
When she first said “two three,” I could see what had happened in her mind.
She wasn’t really wrong. She was just reading the digits one by one.
Two.
Three.
Children do this quite naturally when they’re still getting comfortable with numbers. They see the digits first and read them the way they appear.
So instead of hearing number twenty three, the brain simply reads the two pieces separately.
I asked her to say the number again, but slowly.
She looked at it for another second and then said, “Twenty… three?”
This time it sounded different.
Not like guessing. More like she had recognised the pattern.
Breaking the Number Down
To make it clearer, I wrote two smaller numbers under it.
20
3
Then I asked her to read them.
“Twenty.”
“Three.”
Now I asked her to say them together.
She said it almost immediately.
“Twenty three.”
That was the moment the number made sense.
Because 23 in words isn’t something random to memorise.
It’s simply twenty plus three.
That’s why the number twenty three becomes twenty three when we write it in words.
Once children see that structure, remembering the 23 in words spelling becomes much easier.
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Writing It Down
She went back to the worksheet.
This time the pencil moved slowly but confidently.
Twenty three.
Halfway through the word “twenty,” she paused briefly and glanced at the number again. Then she finished writing.
She didn’t ask if it was correct.
She just continued to the next question.
That’s usually the moment I look for as a parent. When children stop checking with you after every step.
It means the number has started making sense to them.
Why This Number Can Confuse Children
You might think a number like 23 is too small to cause confusion.
But when children are learning to convert numbers into words, the brain sometimes treats digits individually.
So instead of thinking about number twenty three, they read each digit.
Two.
Three.
That’s why questions like how to write 23 in words appear so often in early Maths worksheets.
Once children hear the number spoken properly and see how it is written, the connection becomes much easier.
The correct 23 in words spelling begins to feel familiar instead of confusing.
Read More – Importance of Math in Everyday Life
A Small Test Later
Later that evening she was counting stickers on the table.
She suddenly said, “I think there are twenty three.”
I asked casually, “How would you write that?”
She answered without even looking at the notebook.
“Twenty three.”
That was enough for me.
When children start using the number twenty three naturally like that, you know the idea has settled somewhere in their mind.
Something I’ve Noticed About Numbers
Children usually don’t get scared of numbers in the beginning. What slows them down is that strange moment when the number on the page and the way we say it don’t seem to match.
Take 23 for example. On paper it looks like two separate digits sitting next to each other. But when we read it out loud, we don’t say “two three.” We say number twenty three.
That small adjustment is what children are trying to figure out.
Once that clicks, something changes. Writing 23 in words stops feeling like something they have to memorise for a test. It just starts sounding familiar, the same way the number does when they say it aloud.
The Notebook Test
Later that night I flipped through her notebook again while clearing the table.
23 was written neatly.
Twenty three.
No heavy erasing marks. No scratched-out attempts around it.
That’s my quiet way of checking whether something has clicked.
If the page looks calm, the child probably understood the idea.
If the page looks like it survived a small eraser storm, they’re still figuring it out.
That day the page looked peaceful.
Where This Usually Begins
I’ve noticed something with children and numbers. They seem to understand them better when they’ve heard them in normal life, not only on a worksheet.
Sometimes it’s while counting crayons. Sometimes while sharing biscuits or toys. Numbers just come up in conversation.
In many preschools like EuroKids, children do a lot of this while playing. They count things together and say the numbers aloud. Parents exploring Eurokids Preschool Admission often appreciate this play-based approach because it helps children build confidence with numbers naturally.
And if 23 turns up in your child’s homework tonight and they pause for a second, just sit with them and say it slowly.
Twenty three.
Usually that’s enough.
