How to Solve Cryptograms: A Beginner's Guide

A cryptogram is a short saying with every letter swapped for another, the same swap all the way through. If G stands for E once, it stands for E everywhere in that puzzle. Your job is to break the code. Here's how.

Start with the little words

One-letter words are almost always A or I. The most common two-letter words are OF, TO, IN, IT, and IS. Three-letter words are very often THE or AND. Pencil these in first and watch the puzzle open up.

Hunt for patterns

• A letter that repeats a lot is probably E, T, A, O, or N, the most common letters in English.
• A double letter is often LL, EE, SS, OO, or TT.
• An apostrophe followed by one letter is usually ’S or ’T; followed by two is often ’RE or ’LL.
• Short words ending in the same letter as THE hint at more THEs and THEMs.

Use every letter you place

Each correct guess reveals that letter everywhere, so work back and forth across the whole saying. If a partly-filled word can only be one thing, fill it and follow the new letters wherever they lead.

Give yourself a head start

Our large print cryptograms give you one letter free on every puzzle and plenty of room to write, a gentle way to build your skills. Every answer is in the back if you get stuck.