Counting every letter across our full dictionary, E is the most common letter in English by a wide margin at roughly 11.5% of all letters used, followed by S, I, A, R, N, T, and O. That's a noticeably different order than the classic ETAOIN SHRDLU sequence taught in typography and cryptography, which is closer to letter frequency in running English text than in the dictionary's list of distinct words.
Our actual counted results
| Letter | Share of all letters |
|---|---|
| E | 11.54% |
| S | 9.48% |
| I | 8.90% |
| A | 7.60% |
| R | 7.10% |
| N | 6.79% |
| T | 6.61% |
| O | 6.52% |
| L | 5.32% |
| C | 4.06% |
| D | 3.46% |
| U | 3.29% |
Why this differs from ETAOIN SHRDLU
The famous ETAOIN SHRDLU ordering comes from counting letters across ordinary written English text, sentences, articles, books, where short, extremely common words like THE and AND get counted over and over. Our count instead looks at the dictionary itself, every distinct word once, which shifts the ranking: S climbs higher, mostly thanks to how often it appears as a plural ending, and I edges up too.
Why this matters for word games
Letter frequency is exactly why Scrabble and Words with Friends assign low point values to E, S, I, A, R, N, T, and O and high values to J, Q, X, and Z. The common letters are common because they combine into far more words, so games balance their scoring to compensate.
See it for yourself
Curious how often a specific letter shows up, or want to find words that make heavy use of a rare one? Our Word Unscrambler and Check Dictionary tools both draw on this same dictionary.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common letter in English?
E, by a wide margin. Counting our full dictionary, it accounts for roughly 11.5% of all letters used across every word.
Is ETAOIN SHRDLU accurate?
It's a reasonable approximation for running text, sentences and articles, where common short words repeat constantly. Counting distinct dictionary words instead, as we did, shifts the order somewhat, particularly pushing S higher.
Why is S so common in a dictionary count specifically?
Plural and verb endings account for a huge share of it. Counting distinct words means every plural gets its own count, which running-text frequency counts don't weight the same way.
What are the least common letters in English?
J, Q, X and Z, all under half a percent of total letter usage in our count, which lines up with why word games assign them the highest point values.
Does letter frequency affect Scrabble scoring?
Directly. Common, easy to use letters like E and A are worth one point, while rare, hard to place letters like Q and Z are worth ten, a deliberate balance against how often each letter actually shows up.
Related reading
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ScrabbleThe Highest Scoring Scrabble Words, By The Numbers
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ScrabbleEvery Two Letter Scrabble Word: The Complete List
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