Every letter of a well-known saying has been swapped for a different letter. Type your guesses under the code letters and the same guess fills in everywhere that code letter appears. Use letter patterns, short words and the frequency helper to crack the code.
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Letter frequency helper
How often each code letter appears in this puzzle, most common first. Click one to jump to it.
Most common English letters: E T A O I N S H R D L U
Letters you have used
Faded letters are already assigned. A letter shown in red has been used for two different code letters.
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How to use the Cryptogram Puzzle
Pick the daily puzzle or a random one. For random puzzles choose Easy, Medium or Hard.
Click a box under a code letter and type the letter you think it stands for. Every box with the same code letter is filled at once.
Start with short words and patterns: one-letter words are usually A or I, and a common three-letter word is often THE or AND.
Use the helpers. The frequency bars show which code letters appear most (often E, T, A or O). Letters in red have been used twice.
Stuck? Press Check letters to see wrong guesses or Reveal a letter. When every letter is right, the full quote and its author appear.
Patterns that crack cryptograms
Clue in the code
Likely answer
Why
One-letter word
A or I
The only common one-letter words in English
Letter after an apostrophe
S, T, D, M, LL, RE or VE
Possessives and contractions: IT'S, DON'T, I'D, I'M, YOU'LL, THEY'RE, I'VE
Most frequent three-letter word
THE, then AND
THE is the most common word in English text
Two-letter words
OF, TO, IN, IS, IT, BE, AS, AT, SO, WE, HE, BY, OR, ON, DO, IF, ME, MY, UP, AN, GO, NO, US, AM
A short list to try
Double letters
LL, EE, SS, OO, TT, FF
The most common doubled letters
Last letter of many words
E, S, D, T
Common word endings
English letter frequency
In ordinary English text the letters appear roughly in this order, from most to least common: E T A O I N S H R D L C U M W F G Y P B V K J X Q Z. In a short quote the order is less reliable, so treat the frequency helper as a starting suggestion rather than a rule. The most common code letter is very often E, T or A, and a code letter that never starts a word may be a vowel.
A worked start
Suppose a puzzle contains the code word KGXXGD. It has a double letter in the middle (XX), and its 2nd and 5th letters are the same (G). Very few English words fit that shape: BETTER and LETTER are the usual suspects. If the frequency helper also shows that G is one of the most common code letters, G = E is a strong guess, and X = T. Type those in, see whether the other words still look possible, and use Check letters if you want confirmation before going further.
Frequently asked questions
What is a cryptogram?
A cryptogram is a short text encrypted with a simple substitution cipher: every letter of the alphabet is replaced by another letter, and the same replacement is used throughout. To solve it you work out which letter each code letter stands for. Spaces and punctuation are left as they are, which gives you word lengths to work with.
Can a letter stand for itself?
No. In these cryptograms no letter is ever encoded as itself, so if the code letter is X the answer is never X. That is a standard rule for cryptogram puzzles and a useful clue.
How do I solve a cryptogram?
Look for one-letter words (A or I), apostrophes (often followed by S or T), and common short words like THE, AND, YOU and THAT. Repeated letter patterns help too: a code word like XYZZY has a double letter. Then use letter frequency: E, T, A, O, I and N are the most common letters in English.
What does the Daily puzzle mean?
Everyone gets the same medium cryptogram on the same day, based on your local date. It changes at midnight. Solving it on consecutive days builds your daily streak, which is stored only in this browser.
What are the difficulty levels?
Easy gives you four letters for free and uses shorter sayings. Medium gives two letters and uses medium-length quotes. Hard gives no letters and uses the longest quotes, so you must start from patterns and frequency alone.
Where do the quotes come from?
The puzzles use traditional proverbs and quotations from writers whose work is in the public domain, such as Benjamin Franklin, William Shakespeare, Henry David Thoreau and Mark Twain. The source is shown after you solve each puzzle.
Is a cryptogram the same as a cryptoquote?
A cryptoquote is a cryptogram whose hidden text is a quotation, usually with the author's name. Since every puzzle here hides a quote or proverb, they are cryptoquotes as well.
Are all the tools on FreeToolCabin tested for quality and accuracy?
Yes! Every tool on our site undergoes automated Q/A testing in real browser environments to ensure high precision, correct output, and zero errors. If you happen to spot a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will review it right away.