Letter Sorting
Put the letters of a word into alphabetical order. Two words that sort to the same string are anagrams of each other, which is the quickest way to check a pair.
How to use this tool
- 1Type or paste a word, a phrase or a whole line.
- 2Choose whether each word is sorted on its own or all the letters run together.
- 3Pick A to Z or Z to A.
- 4Copy the result.
The sorted form of a word
Sorting a word’s letters produces what is sometimes called its signature. Every anagram of that word has the same signature, and nothing else does — which is why anagram dictionaries are built by sorting every word once and grouping the matches, rather than by comparing pairs.
Word games
For a letter game, sorting your rack next to the sorted board word shows immediately which letters you are missing. It is quicker than reading the letters one at a time, because you are comparing two ordered strings rather than searching an unordered one.
Frequently asked questions
How does this check an anagram?
Sort both words and compare. “Listen” and “silent” both sort to “eilnst”, so they are anagrams. Anything that sorts differently is not, however close the letters look.
What happens to punctuation and spaces?
They stay where they are. Only runs of letters and digits are sorted, so “Hello, world!” keeps its comma and its exclamation mark exactly where you put them.
Why would I run all the letters together?
To compare whole phrases rather than single words. Two phrases are anagrams of each other only when every letter in both, ignoring spaces, sorts to the same string.
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