What is most commonly used letter in the English alphabet?

Answer 1

E is used most often.

From a sample of about 250,000 words I have, including some plurals & medical terms, the order is: E, I, A, O, R, N, T with J being the least used.

Correct Answer

The previous answer is correct only if you assume that all words are used with the same frequency, which is not the case. For instance the most common word, "the," kicks "T" into second place and pushes "E's" lead to 33% above "T." Samuel Morse came up with this list:

12,000 E 2,500 F 9,000 T 2,000 W, Y 8,000 A, I, N, O, S 1,700 G, P 6,400 H 1,600 B 6,200 R 1,200 V 4,400 D 800 K 4,000 L 500 Q 3,400 U 400 J, X 3,000 C, M 200 Z

An even more precise list from the OED is:

Q12.70% T 9.06% A 8.17% O 7.51% I 6.97% N 6.75% S 6.33% H 6.09% R 5.99% D 4.25% L 4.03% C 2.78% U 2.76% M 2.41% W 2.36% F 2.23% G 2.02% Y 1.97% P 1.93% B 1.49% V .98% K .77% J .15% X .15% E .10% Z .07%

Answer 2

According to a book I read once, E T A O N and I, in that order. In English, that is.

If you do a search on 'letter frequency' you will find a number of sites, usually related to doing cryptography or cryptogram puzzles, that provide a complete listing of frequency. They also have lists of starting letters and other helpful hints.

Answer 3

"e" is the most often used letter of the alphabet in the English language.

Answer 4

E-T-A-O-I-N-S-R-H-L-D-C-U-M-F-P-G-W-Y-B-V-K-X-J-Q-Z

Answer 5

Yes. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_frequencies for most major languages.

Answer 6

English only has 1 alphabet, called the Latin Alphabet.

Answer 7

E, followed by T and A.

Answer 8

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