Count how often each letter appears in your text.
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How do you count letter frequency in text?
Each letter is counted case-insensitively, and its frequency is its count divided by the total number of letters, shown as a percentage; spaces, digits and punctuation are ignored. For example, in "hello" the letter L appears twice and H, E and O once each. Letter frequency analysis is the classic technique for breaking simple ciphers, since E, T and A are most common in English.
Understanding your result
Letter frequency analysis is the classic technique for breaking simple ciphers, because each language has a typical distribution — in English, E, T and A are the most common letters.
Formula and method
Each letter is counted case-insensitively; its frequency is its count divided by the total number of letters, as a percentage. Spaces, digits and punctuation are ignored.
Assumptions and limitations
This counter tallies letters only, case-insensitively, so uppercase and lowercase are combined into a single count. Spaces, digits and punctuation are ignored entirely. It analyses the alphabet rather than accented or non-Latin characters, so texts in other scripts or with heavy diacritics may not be counted as you expect.
Worked example
In “hello”, the letter L appears twice and H, E and O once each.
How to use this tool
- Paste or type your text.
- Read the per-letter counts and percentages.
- See which letters are most common.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Expecting numbers or symbols to be counted — only letters are.
- Forgetting that counting is case-insensitive.
About the Letter Frequency Counter
The Letter Frequency Counter tallies how many times each letter appears in your text and shows the counts and percentages, sorted from most to least common.
Who should use this tool
Puzzle solvers, code-breakers, writers and students analysing text.
Benefits
- Counts every letter A–Z, ignoring case.
- Counts and percentages for each letter.
- A chart of the most common letters.
- Private — text never leaves your browser.
Practical use cases
- Cracking a substitution cipher or cryptogram.
- Analysing letter distribution in writing.
- Checking letter usage for word games.
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Frequently asked questions
Which characters are counted?
Only the letters A–Z, treated case-insensitively. Spaces, digits and punctuation are ignored.
What is the most common letter in English?
E is the most frequent letter in typical English text, followed by T and A.
Does it treat uppercase and lowercase letters separately?
No. Counting is case-insensitive, so an uppercase A and a lowercase a add to the same tally. This gives a true picture of how often each letter appears regardless of capitalisation, which is exactly what letter-frequency analysis needs when comparing against a language's typical distribution.