How to Solve the Anagram Cipher

No key is given. Detective days hand you the ciphertext and nothing else, so the work is finding the key — or proving which cipher it is — before you can read a word of it.

Free tool Have one to decode right now? Use the Anagram Solver tool →

How to recognise it

If the card says "key unknown" or names no method at all, it's a detective day. Look at what the text keeps: word lengths, letter frequencies, which characters appear.

Anagram Every word has had its letters shuffled. The words themselves are still in the right order, so let the sentence tell you which one fits.

A worked example

No key was given, so the first job was finding one. Word lengths and letter patterns were the evidence. This one is Anagram. The key: words scrambled. Every word has had its letters shuffled. The words themselves are still in the right order, so let the sentence tell you which one fits. Unscramble the first word, ETUAESRR, and it gives TREASURE. The answer was TREASURE MAP.

Working one out from scratch

Narrow it down before you decode. Count the letters, look for the one-letter words, and test the likeliest cipher first. Short words and common letters will give you the first foothold, and one correct letter usually leads to the next.