When a number has an odd count of digits, what do you do with the leftover digit?

Encode the lone digit with a single-digit peg (or pad with a leading zero) — don't leave it dangling.

Chunk from the left in pairs; the final odd digit becomes a one-sound peg:

• 12345 → 12 · 34 · 5 → tuna · mower · owl (5 = /l/).

Alternatively, some people pad a leading zero so everything pairs up (5 → 05 = "soil"), but keep one rule and stick to it so you never mis-split. The leftover is a real part of the number — dropping it silently loses a digit.