What’s the difference between an em dash and an en dash?

An en dash (–) is shorter and is used to indicate number ranges (e.g., “1958–1985”) or as a substitute for the word “to” in phrases like “the Albuquerque–Los Angeles flight.”

An em dash (—) is longer and is used like parentheses or commas to set off extra information or like a colon or semicolon to indicate a break in a sentence. For example: “My brother—well, technically my half-brother—is coming to visit this weekend.”

In British English, en dashes are used like em dashes. In this case, they have a space on either side. For example: “My brother – well, technically my half-brother – is coming to visit this weekend.”

A QuillBot Grammar Check can help you ensure you use dashes correctly.

What’s the difference between an em dash and an en dash?: Punctuation

How do I type an em dash on a Mac?: To type an em dash (—) on a Mac computer, hold down option + shift and press the hyphen key (to the right of the 0).

Alternatively, for many programs and applications, you can type an em dash by typing two or three hyphens (-) in a row. The program will automatically convert this to an em dash.
How do I type an em dash in Word?: In Microsoft Word, there are several ways to type an em dash (—):

While typing a sentence, you can type two hyphens (-) where you want the em dash to be. As you continue typing, Word will automatically convert this to an em dash.

On a Mac computer, you can hold down option + shift and press the hyphen key (to the right of the 0).

On a Windows computer, you can hold down Alt and type 0151 on the numeric keypad.

If you don’t have a numeric keypad, you can press the Windows button + period (.) to bring up the symbols menu.

You can navigate to “Symbols” under the “Insert” menu to manually add an em dash.
Should there be spaces around an em dash?: Typically, there is no space around an em dash (e.g., “The flight—which had already been delayed three times—was canceled”).

One notable exception is that Associated Press (AP) style requires spaces around an em dash, so you may see this in news articles (e.g., “The flight — which had already been delayed three times — was canceled”).

Consult your style guide to see what is preferred. All of the major academic style guides (APA, MLA, and Chicago) recommend not putting spaces around em dashes.

QuillBot’s Grammar Checker can help you make sure you are using em dashes correctly.