diff --git a/bdfparse/bdfparse.py b/bdfparse/bdfparse.py
index 0d92899..ed70d1f 100644
--- a/bdfparse/bdfparse.py
+++ b/bdfparse/bdfparse.py
@@ -8,6 +8,31 @@ class Font:
         self.cols = self.properties["FONTBOUNDINGBOX"][0]
         self.rows = self.properties["FONTBOUNDINGBOX"][1]
         self.shape = (self.rows, self.cols)
+        self.charNames = {
+            " ": "space",
+            "1": "one",
+            "2": "two",
+            "3": "three",
+            "4": "four",
+            "5": "five",
+            "6": "six",
+            "7": "seven",
+            "8": "eight",
+            "9": "nine",
+            "!": "exclam",
+            "@": "at",
+            "#": "numbersign",
+            "$": "dollar",
+            "%": "percent",
+            "&": "ampersand",
+            "*": "asterisk",
+            "(": "parenleft",
+            ")": "parenright",
+            ",": "comma",
+            ".": "period",
+            "/": "lslash",
+            "?": "question",
+        }
 
     def parse_properties(self, bdfFile):
 
@@ -193,16 +218,8 @@ class Font:
     def word(self, word: str):
         matrix = np.zeros(self.shape)
         for char in word:
-            if char is " ":
-                arr = np.zeros(self.shape)
-            elif char is "!":
-                arr = self.chars["exclam"]
-            elif char is "%":
-                arr = self.chars["percent"]
-            elif char is ",":
-                arr = self.chars["comma"]
-            elif char is ".":
-                arr = self.chars["period"]
+            if char in self.charNames.keys():
+                arr = self.chars[self.charNames[char]]
             else:
                 arr = self.chars[char]
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 5e94b9c..208514b 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ with open("README.md", "r") as fh:
 
 setuptools.setup(
     name="bdfparse",
-    version="2019.6",
+    version="2019.7",
     author="Anson Biggs",
     author_email="anson@ansonbiggs.com",
     description="A package for reading .bdf files into NumPy arrays.",