Asterisk (*): Rules and Examples

An asterisk (*) is a small, star-shaped symbol used to draw attention to additional information or indicate something specific about the text beside it.

You might see one after a sentence:

The exhibition opens to the public on Monday.*

The asterisk tells you to look for a related note.

But on a registration form, the same symbol might appear beside Email address to show that the field is required.

The meaning depends on where the asterisk appears. It might introduce a footnote, identify a special condition, correct a message, or serve a technical purpose.

Asterisk is singular, and asterisks is plural. Although it’s often discussed alongside punctuation marks, the asterisk is primarily a reference or typographic symbol rather than ordinary sentence punctuation.

Using an Asterisk for Footnotes and Additional Information

One of the most established uses of an asterisk is to connect a statement with a note elsewhere on the page.

The note might provide background, explain a term, or identify information that would interrupt the main sentence if included there.

Connecting Text to a Footnote

Imagine a local history museum publishing an article about a newly restored collection.

The article says:

The collection includes several maps that were previously held in private archives.*

At the bottom of the page, readers find:

* Three of the maps were donated to the museum in 2024.

The asterisk after archives directs readers to the corresponding note.

The note provides background without interrupting the sentence.

The same symbol appears in both places. The first marks the reference in the main text, and the second identifies its explanation.

Asterisks can work well when a document contains only a few notes. In longer academic papers and books, numbered footnotes are often more practical because each number clearly identifies its corresponding note.

Where Does the Asterisk Go?

When an asterisk refers to a note about a complete sentence, a common editorial convention places it immediately after the sentence-ending punctuation.

For example:

Usual placement for a sentence-level note:

The survey results were released in September.*

Not the usual placement for that purpose:

The survey results were released in September*.

The period completes the sentence, and the asterisk follows it without a space.

The same general convention can apply after a question mark or exclamation point.

Were the revised guidelines approved?*

Here, the question mark belongs to the sentence. The asterisk directs readers to a separate explanation.

But what if the note applies to a particular word rather than the whole sentence?

Consider:

The researchers used dendrochronology* to estimate the timber’s age.

The accompanying note says:

* Dendrochronology is a method of dating wood using tree-ring patterns.

In this example, the asterisk is attached to the term being explained.

This is a different situation from a note referring to an entire sentence.

A reference mark’s placement depends partly on what it refers to and the editorial style being followed.

Some publications use different conventions around quotations, dashes, and other punctuation. In formal documents, follow the required style rather than assuming every asterisk must appear after a period.

Using More Than One Reference Mark

A document may need several notes.

Some publications distinguish them using repeated asterisks:

• First note: *
• Second note: **
• Third note: ***

Others use different symbols in sequence, such as an asterisk (*), dagger (†), and double dagger (‡).

There’s no universal sequence that every publication follows.

The choice depends on the document type and its editorial style.

If you’re working with several notes, numbered references may be easier for readers to follow than a growing collection of symbols.

Whichever convention is used, the reference marks and their corresponding notes must match.

Asterisks in Forms, Offers, and Tables

An asterisk doesn’t always introduce a traditional footnote.

In forms, advertisements, and reports, it often identifies a requirement, a qualification, or information that readers need to interpret an item correctly.

Marking Required Fields

You’ve probably seen an asterisk beside a field on an online form.

For example:

Full name *

Email address *

Apartment number

A note near the form might say:

* Required fields

In this example, the asterisk indicates that the full name and email address must be provided.

The apartment number has no asterisk and may be optional.

However, the symbol’s meaning should be made clear rather than assumed.

An alternative is to label the field directly:

Email address (required)

Some organizations prefer marking optional fields instead, particularly when most form fields are mandatory.

Accessibility matters here too. A visible asterisk might not communicate the requirement adequately to someone using a screen reader.

For an accessible online form, the requirement should also be conveyed through the field’s accessible labeling or appropriate form attributes, not just the visual symbol.

An asterisk is a familiar way to identify required information, but the requirement itself needs to be understandable.

Adding Conditions to Offers

An asterisk frequently appears beside promotional claims.

Consider this fictional announcement:

Every visitor receives a free workshop kit.*

The note says:

* Available to the first 40 visitors who check in.

The asterisk correctly directs readers to a condition, but the original statement makes the offer sound more generous than it is.

Someone reading quickly might expect a kit regardless of when they arrive.

A clearer announcement would be:

The first 40 visitors who check in will receive a free workshop kit.

Now the eligibility condition is part of the main message.

This doesn’t mean every promotional asterisk is inappropriate.

A short note can be useful for genuine supplementary details, such as explaining where an item can be collected or identifying a participating location.

The distinction is whether the note adds background or changes an important expectation created by the main statement.

When a condition determines whether someone qualifies for an offer, making it clear in the main wording is often more helpful than relying on a small reference mark.

Asterisks in Tables and Reports

In tables, an asterisk may identify a special condition attached to a particular value.

Imagine a school publishing this fictional enrollment table:

Below the table, a note says:

* Four places are reserved for students returning from the previous term.

The number 12 represents the total available places, but the note explains that not all those places are available to new applicants.

Without the note, readers could misunderstand what the number means for them.

Asterisks can also have specialized meanings in statistical reports.

Some statistical tables use one, two, or three asterisks beside results to indicate that particular statistical significance thresholds have been met.

For instance, one commonly used reporting convention is:

These are illustrative thresholds, not universal meanings of the symbols.

A report should define its notation in the accompanying note or legend. Statistical interpretation also depends on the underlying analysis, including what was compared and how the result was calculated.

An asterisk doesn’t independently tell readers what comparison was made or whether a result is practically important.

Check the legend or explanatory note before interpreting a marked value.

Other Common Uses of the Asterisk

Asterisks also appear in informal messages, partially concealed words, and grammar references.

These uses are quite different from a reference mark pointing to a footnote.

Correcting a Text Message

In casual messaging, people sometimes use an asterisk to correct something they sent earlier.

Imagine someone sends:

The supplier confirmed delivery for Wednesday.

A moment later, they realize the correct day is Thursday and send:

*Thursday

The second message corrects Wednesday in the earlier one.

The asterisk signals an informal correction.

You might also see the corrected word followed by an asterisk:

Thursday*

Neither placement is a universal grammar rule. The convention relies on people understanding the correction from the conversation.

That works for minor mistakes, but it may be less helpful when important details are involved.

If someone needs to arrange staff or prepare for a delivery, a complete correction is clearer:

Correction: The supplier confirmed delivery for Thursday, not Wednesday.

The asterisk is convenient shorthand, but a full sentence can prevent someone from acting on outdated information.

Replacing Letters in Words

Asterisks are sometimes used to conceal letters in words that a writer doesn’t want to reproduce in full.

For example, a report discussing a fictional insulting message might quote the word as:

st*p*d

The asterisks replace some of the original letters.

This is commonly called censoring or masking a word.

There’s no single rule specifying which letters must be hidden or how many asterisks to use.

Some writers conceal one letter. Others replace several letters or nearly the entire expression.

Masking can allow a reader to recognize the word without displaying its complete spelling.

However, replacing letters doesn’t necessarily remove the harmful or offensive meaning. Readers may still identify the expression from the remaining letters.

If the exact wording isn’t important, describing the language used may be clearer and more appropriate than reproducing a partially censored version.

Marking Ungrammatical Examples

In linguistics and some grammar references, an asterisk has a specialized meaning.

Placed before a sentence or expression, it can indicate that the construction is considered ungrammatical under the grammatical system being discussed.

For example:

Marked as ungrammatical in standard English:

*She are preparing the annual report.

Grammatical version:

She is preparing the annual report.

The issue is subject-verb agreement.

In this context, she takes is, not are.

The leading asterisk doesn’t point to a footnote or indicate a missing word. It identifies the grammatical status of the example.

Now consider another pair:

Marked as ungrammatical in standard English:

*Where you have placed the documents?

Grammatical version:

Where have you placed the documents?

In a standard English direct question of this type, the auxiliary verb have comes before the subject you.

But notice something important.

The word order from the first example could appear naturally inside a larger sentence:

I remember where you have placed the documents.

Here, where you have placed the documents is an embedded interrogative clause rather than a direct question. Its word order is appropriate.

A grammatical judgment depends on the construction and the context, not simply on the presence of particular words.

Linguists may also be describing a specific variety of English or a particular theoretical framework.

A construction judged ungrammatical in one variety isn’t necessarily unacceptable in every variety.

You may encounter other notation, including a question mark before an example, to indicate marginal or uncertain acceptability.

An asterisk in a grammar reference therefore has a specialized purpose: it helps readers distinguish constructions being judged acceptable from those being marked as ungrammatical.

Asterisks in Mathematics and Digital Writing

The asterisk also has technical uses determined by the software or notation involved.

In many programming languages and calculator-style expressions, it represents multiplication.

For example:

8 * 6 = 48

In some software tools, an asterisk acts as a wildcard that can stand for a sequence of characters.

A pattern such as:

report*

might match filenames beginning with report, depending on the application’s search rules.

In Markdown, a plain-text markup system, asterisks can indicate formatting.

For example:

*important*

is commonly rendered as italic text.

Two asterisks on each side:

**important**

are commonly used to indicate bold text.

These functions depend on the system.

Not every search tool treats an asterisk as a wildcard, and not every text editor interprets asterisks as formatting instructions.

When you’re reading technical text, the surrounding software or notation determines the meaning of the symbol.

Practice: Understand and Use Asterisks

These exercises test reference-mark placement, contextual meaning, and practical editing decisions.

Some have a definite answer. Others ask you to determine whether an asterisk provides enough information for the reader.

Exercise 1: Place the Reference Mark

A historical society is preparing a report about a restored railway carriage.

The sentence reads:

The carriage returned to public display in October*.

The asterisk refers to a note explaining that the original seats were replaced during restoration.

Where should the asterisk go under the usual convention for a sentence-level note?

Answer

The carriage returned to public display in October.*

The period completes the sentence, and the reference mark follows it.

The corresponding note might read:

* The original seats were replaced with reproductions based on archival photographs.

The asterisk sits immediately after the period, without a space.

If the report follows a particular editorial style, its reference-mark conventions should be checked before publication.

Exercise 2: One Symbol, Two Different Uses

A university website contains these two examples.

A. Application form

Student ID *

A note nearby reads:

* Required fields

B. Course handbook

The handbook contains this example:

*They has submitted the proposal.

Do both asterisks mean that something is required?

Answer

No.

A marks a required form field. The applicant must provide a student ID.

B marks a sentence as ungrammatical in standard English.

The standard English version is:

They have submitted the proposal.

The same symbol has two different meanings because it appears in two different contexts.

Exercise 3: Which Note Belongs in the Main Statement?

A botanical garden is preparing two visitor announcements.

Announcement A

Guided tours begin at 10 a.m.*

The note says:

* Tours meet beside the east entrance.

Announcement B

Children receive free admission on weekends.*

The note says:

* Free admission is available only to children under six.

Both announcements use asterisks correctly as reference marks.

But should the information in both notes remain separate from the main statement?

Suggested answer

Announcement A: The note supplies a meeting location. It doesn’t change when the guided tours begin.

Keeping that information in a separate note may be reasonable, although the garden could also include it in the main announcement for convenience.

Announcement B: The note changes who qualifies for free admission.

The original statement suggests that all children receive free admission, but the offer applies only to those under six.

A clearer version would be:

Children under six receive free admission on weekends.

The difference is important. A note that adds helpful background isn’t the same as one that restricts the main claim.

Exercise 4: Interpret an Asterisk in a Report

A fictional research summary contains this table:

No legend explains the asterisk beside 82.

A reader concludes:

Group B’s result must be statistically significant.

Is that conclusion justified? What information would the report need to provide?

Answer

No. The asterisk’s meaning hasn’t been defined.

It might indicate statistical significance, a special testing condition, or something else.

The report should explain the symbol. If it represents statistical significance, the note should identify the comparison and reporting threshold.

Without that information, readers cannot reliably interpret the mark.

Exercise 5: Identify the Intended Correction

A colleague sends two messages while discussing a conference schedule.

First message:

Rohan will present the revised budget to Meera on Friday.

Second message:

*Monday

What has been corrected? Is the intended meaning completely clear?

Suggested answer

The colleague probably means that the presentation will take place on Monday instead of Friday.

However, the correction doesn’t explicitly identify which part of the earlier message it replaces.

If the conversation also involved other Monday activities, readers might be unsure what the correction refers to.

A complete message would resolve that uncertainty:

Correction: Rohan will present the revised budget to Meera on Monday, not Friday.

A short asterisk correction works best when there’s only one obvious interpretation.

When the earlier message contains several important details, spelling out the correction is more reliable.

An asterisk can be easy to overlook, but the information connected to it may matter. Sometimes it adds a small detail. Other times it marks a requirement, changes how you should interpret a claim, or carries a specialized meaning. When you use one, make sure readers can tell what it refers to and understand the information it represents.

First English Grade Editorial

The First English Grade Editorial creates simple English grammar, vocabulary, and language guides for students, beginners, and everyday learners.