How to Solve Cryptograms Part 4C - Frequently Used Words With Letter Patterns

Some encrypted words that appear frequently in "quotation" cryptograms have patterns that give them away. One of my favorites is the word "P E O P L E". It has not only two different repeating letters but it gives away 2 frequently used vowels, E" and "O", that help in the overall solution to the cryptogram.

When encrypted this word has a distinct pattern "P E * P * E".

Another great pattern word is another 6 letter word, "L I T T L E". Note that the word has 2 repeat letters but in different positions.

The word "BE T T E R" also has 6 letters but note that the repeating letters form a "symmetrical pattern. If you see a 6 letter word in a puzzle, keep in mind it could also be "B U T T E R" or "B I T T E R", but the word better is the more likely of the 3 to be found in a famous quotation.

The word "BECAUSE" has another repeating letter pattern.

More 6 letter "pattern words" are "BECAME, BECOME, AND BEFORE, and you may have noticed that these words also contain whole shorter words within them. This is also helpful to identify them.

Some other great pattern words are "B E T W E E N", N E C E S S A R Y, S U C C E S S. I'm sure there are many more, but these are the ones that come to my mind at present.