Letter Frequency in Word Puzzles: Which Letters Go Where
By We G Kings · October 3, 2026 · 4 min read
Every word puzzle in Cipher Siege is a game of letter odds. Which letters show up most, and where in the word do they sit? We counted every answer the game can draw for Knight and Paladin puzzles and broke the results down by word length and by position. Use these tables to choose better guesses in Cipher Core, spot hidden words in Grid Control, and fill gaps in a cryptogram.
Most common letters by word length
The percentage is the share of answers that contain the letter at least once.
| Rank | 4 letters | 5 letters | 6 letters | 7 letters | 8 letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | E 35.8% | S 48.8% | E 64.8% | E 69% | E 69.5% |
| #2 | S 34.2% | E 46.8% | S 45.6% | S 52.2% | S 57.5% |
| #3 | A 33.5% | A 37.6% | R 40.2% | I 47.2% | I 56.4% |
| #4 | O 26.2% | R 30.8% | A 40.1% | R 46.2% | R 50.5% |
| #5 | L 22.1% | O 28.5% | I 34.4% | A 43.5% | A 47.6% |
| #6 | I 21.3% | I 26.6% | T 30.1% | N 38.7% | N 46.6% |
| #7 | T 21.3% | L 25.9% | N 29.7% | T 36.1% | T 43.7% |
| #8 | R 21% | T 25.6% | L 29.4% | L 33.5% | L 36.8% |
E rises from about a third of 4-letter answers to 69.5% of 8-letter answers. Short words lean on A and O, because they are often single-syllable words like “boat” and “cart”. Longer words pick up I, N and T from endings like -ING, -ION and -TION.
Which letter goes where
The most common letter in each position, with the share of answers that have it there.
4-letter words
| Position | Most common | Second |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | S (9.7%) | B (7.2%) |
| 2 | A (18.7%) | O (18.5%) |
| 3 | E (9.4%) | A (9.1%) |
| 4 | S (20.7%) | E (14.4%) |
5-letter words
| Position | Most common | Second |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | S (13.6%) | C (8.2%) |
| 2 | A (16.4%) | O (15.3%) |
| 3 | A (11.5%) | I (9.6%) |
| 4 | E (22%) | T (7.9%) |
| 5 | S (32.9%) | E (10.9%) |
6-letter words
| Position | Most common | Second |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | S (13.2%) | C (8.5%) |
| 2 | A (17%) | E (13.9%) |
| 3 | R (9.7%) | A (9.3%) |
| 4 | I (13%) | E (9.4%) |
| 5 | E (35.6%) | N (8.5%) |
| 6 | S (27.2%) | D (16.3%) |
7-letter words
| Position | Most common | Second |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | S (12.7%) | C (9.2%) |
| 2 | A (16.2%) | E (15%) |
| 3 | A (10.1%) | R (9.8%) |
| 4 | T (9.6%) | I (7.1%) |
| 5 | I (24%) | E (13.8%) |
| 6 | E (34%) | N (16.1%) |
| 7 | S (29.9%) | D (15%) |
8-letter words
| Position | Most common | Second |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | S (14%) | C (9.8%) |
| 2 | E (14.4%) | A (14%) |
| 3 | R (10%) | A (9.5%) |
| 4 | E (10%) | T (8.6%) |
| 5 | I (10.2%) | T (8.6%) |
| 6 | I (26.5%) | E (14.9%) |
| 7 | E (28.9%) | N (18.1%) |
| 8 | S (31.3%) | D (13.5%) |
Three patterns worth remembering
1. Words start with S and C, and end with S
S is the most common first letter at every length, with C close behind. S is also the most common last letter, reaching 31.3% of 8-letter answers, because plurals and verb forms (“tiles”, “cracks”) are real answers. If you have an S and don’t know where it goes, try the end first.
2. The second letter is usually a vowel
A, O and E dominate position 2. Consonant clusters like “STR” and “CHR” exist, but most words follow a consonant-vowel start. When position 2 is still open late in a puzzle, a vowel there is the safest bet.
3. Endings do a lot of work
| Length | Most common endings (share of answers) |
|---|---|
| 4 letters | -ES 2.1% · -TS 2.1% · -LL 2% · -PS 1.9% |
| 5 letters | -ES 7.3% · -ED 6.2% · -ER 4.3% · -TS 4.3% |
| 6 letters | -ED 14.4% · -ER 8.7% · -ES 7.5% · -NG 4.2% |
| 7 letters | -ED 13.5% · -NG 11.2% · -ES 9.7% · -ER 8.3% |
| 8 letters | -NG 13.3% · -ED 11.9% · -ES 9.9% · -ER 5.4% |
From 6 letters up, -ED, -ER, -ES and -NG cover a large share of answers, and -ING alone ends 13.2% of 8-letter words. Once you see an I, N and G light up, check whether they belong at the end before trying anything clever.
Repeated letters are common in long words
| Length | Answers with a repeated letter |
|---|---|
| 4 letters | 19% |
| 5 letters | 33% |
| 6 letters | 51.6% |
| 7 letters | 66.9% |
| 8 letters | 79.4% |
This is the trap that catches most players. Only 19% of 4-letter answers repeat a letter, but 79.4% of 8-letter answers do. If you are stuck on a long puzzle with every common letter accounted for, the missing letter is probably one you have already found, used twice.
How we measured: all numbers come from the word list Cipher Siege uses for Knight and Paladin puzzles (33,632 words of 4–8 letters, proper nouns and offensive words removed). For the opener rankings we scored each candidate against every possible answer of that length and measured how many answers, on average, are still possible after its feedback. Lower is better.