Word Wheel guide
How to solve anagrams: seven methods that work
To solve an anagram, stop reading the letters in the order you were given them. Write them in a circle, set aside a likely ending such as ‑ING, ‑ED or ‑ER, pair up letters that often go together (TH, CH, ST), and try the rare letters first. The remaining letters then usually suggest the rest of the word.
Why anagrams are hard
An anagram is a word made by rearranging the letters of another: LISTEN and SILENT, HEART and EARTH. Solving one is hard for a simple reason. Once you have read a jumble of letters, your brain keeps reading them in that order, and the order is exactly what is wrong. Every method below is a way of breaking that first reading.
The other thing working against you is numbers. Five letters can be arranged 120 ways; seven letters, 5,040 ways; nine letters, 362,880 ways. Nobody tries them all. Good solvers cut the possibilities down with what they know about how English words are built.
Seven methods
- Write the letters in a circle. A circle has no start and no end, so there is no "wrong order" to get stuck in. This is why word wheel puzzles look the way they do.
- Set aside an ending. If you can see ‑ING, ‑ED, ‑ER, ‑EST, ‑LY, ‑TION, ‑NESS or ‑MENT, take those letters away. What is left is a shorter, easier anagram.
- Set aside a beginning. The same works at the front: RE‑, UN‑, DIS‑, PRE‑, OVER‑, OUT‑.
- Pair up letters that travel together. TH, CH, SH, PH, CK, QU, ST, NG and double letters are often next to each other in the answer.
- Place the awkward letters first. A Q nearly always needs a U; a J, V, X or Z has few comfortable positions. Fix them and the rest follows.
- Alternate vowels and consonants. Most English words do, roughly. Try laying the letters out as consonant, vowel, consonant, vowel and see what you can read.
- Find a small word and grow it. Spot any short word in the letters, then add the remaining letters one at a time at either end.
Worked examples
Five letters: A, E, C, R, T
Lay them consonant, vowel, consonant, vowel: C‑A‑R‑E‑T gives CARET. Swap the consonants around and keep the pattern: T‑R‑A‑C‑E gives TRACE, R‑E‑A‑C‑T gives REACT, C‑A‑T‑E‑R gives CATER, C‑R‑A‑T‑E gives CRATE. One set of letters, five words. Short anagrams often have several answers; in a puzzle, a crossing letter or the clue decides.
Seven letters: G, N, I, A, R, T, S
There is an I, an N and a G: set aside ‑ING. Left are A, R, S, T, which make STAR, RATS, ARTS and TSAR. Put each in front of ING: STAR + ING gives STARING. Now try it the other way: RAT + ING gives RATING, and the spare S makes RATINGS. Setting aside the ending turned a seven-letter jumble into a four-letter one, and found two answers.
Nine letters: O, R, C, H, E, S, T, R, A
Pair up first: there is a C and an H (CH), an S and a T (ST). The letters also hold ‑ER, ‑EST and ‑RA. Try CH with a vowel after it: CHE, CHO, CHA. With ORCH‑ at the front, the letters E, S, T, R, A are left, and ‑ESTRA is a word ending you may know from ORCHESTRA. Better still, the same nine letters also spell CARTHORSE: a reminder that a long anagram can have more than one answer.
Long anagrams (seven letters and up)
Long anagrams feel hopeless at first and become easier once you know that most long words are built from parts. Look for these, in this order:
| Look for | Letters | Examples of words built this way |
|---|---|---|
| Noun endings | ‑TION, ‑SION, ‑MENT, ‑NESS, ‑URE | CREATION, SIGNATURE |
| Adjective endings | ‑OUS, ‑ABLE, ‑IBLE, ‑FUL, ‑IVE | DANGEROUS, AGREEABLE |
| Verb endings | ‑ING, ‑ED, ‑ISE, ‑ATE | GARDENING, SEPARATE |
| People | ‑ER, ‑OR, ‑IST, ‑ANT | CARPENTER, FLORIST |
| Beginnings | RE‑, UN‑, DIS‑, INTER‑, OVER‑ | RECOUNTED, OVERTAKEN |
Take DANGEROUS as practice: the letters D, A, N, G, E, R, O, U, S hold ‑OUS. Set it aside and D, A, N, G, E, R are left, which spell DANGER. DANGER + OUS. Our word wheel solver tips walk through the same idea for the nine-letter word in a wheel, step by step.
How to get better at anagrams
- Do one a day. A daily word wheel is nine letters to rearrange, from short words up to the nine-letter one. Regular practice is what makes common endings jump out.
- Collect word parts, not words. Each time you solve a long anagram, notice the ending or beginning that unlocked it.
- Work out loud. Saying the letter groups ("ST, ING, A, R") uses a different route through your memory than staring.
- Look for the second answer. Many letter sets spell more than one word. Hunting for a second teaches you to rearrange more freely.
- Practise with a grid. In Crossings, five to seven letters fill a small crossword, so the grid's lengths and crossings narrow down each anagram. Our guide to word connect game tips covers that kind of puzzle.
Questions
What is the fastest way to solve an anagram?
Look for an ending such as ‑ING, ‑ED, ‑ER or ‑TION and set those letters aside, then rearrange what is left. Writing the letters in a circle and placing rare letters like Q, J, X or Z first also cuts down the possibilities quickly.
Can an anagram have more than one answer?
Yes, often. A, E, C, R and T spell CRATE, TRACE, REACT, CATER and CARET, and even nine letters can make two words, such as ORCHESTRA and CARTHORSE. In a puzzle, the clue or a crossing letter decides.
Why is it easier to see words when letters are in a circle?
A row of letters suggests a reading order, and your brain keeps going back to it. A circle has no start or end, so it is easier to try letters in new orders.
Is using an anagram solver cheating?
In your own practice it is up to you, but you learn far more by trying the methods first. Word Wheel shows yesterday's answers and offers hints that give a word's first two letters, which keeps most of the solving yours.