Letter Drop Strategy: Guess Letters in Order

The order of letters that works

With no letters revealed, the best guesses are the letters that appear in the most words. For English the usual frequency order starts E, T, A, O, I, N, S, H, R, D, L, U. But Letter Drop words are single words rather than running text, so the useful order shifts slightly toward the letters common inside words: E, A, R, I, O, T, N, S, L, C, U, D.

In practice, guess the vowels first (E, A, then I or O, then U) and then the common consonants R, S, T, N, L. By then most words are half revealed and the pattern tells you the rest.

Read the pattern after every reveal

Once a few letters are in, stop guessing by frequency and start guessing by shape. The revealed letters and the blanks between them are a fill-in-the-blank clue:

• A word ending _ N G is almost certainly -ING: guess I.
• A word ending E _ is often -ED or -ER: guess D, then R.
• _ _ A _ E and _ _ I _ E shapes invite consonant pairs at the front: BL, BR, CR, SH, ST, TR.
• A Q anywhere means a U follows it (the only common exception is at the very end of a few borrowed words).
• A revealed H in position 2 suggests C, S, T or W in position 1.
• Two of the same letter in a row (_ _ L L _) narrows the field quickly: think about which vowels fit before a double.

Length matters too. Short words (four or five letters) are mostly one vowel and strong consonants; long words (eight and up) are usually built from a root plus an ending, so guess the ending's letters (I, N, G, E, D, R) early.

Spend the lamps on purpose

You have six misses. The first two or three guesses are the riskiest, because with nothing revealed any letter can miss, so spend them on the letters most likely to hit (E, A, R). After that, every guess should be either a letter that fits the pattern in many candidate words or, when down to two candidates, a letter that is in one and not the other. Never guess a rare letter (Z, X, Q, J) unless the pattern specifically demands it: they are in few words, so they usually miss.

Vowels versus consonants

A common question is whether to guess all five vowels first. Not quite. E and A are worth guessing blind. After that, if the revealed vowels leave obvious gaps (for example _ E _ _ E _ with blanks between), the consonants R, S, T, N and L will do more to reveal the shape than I, O and U will. If the word is short and two vowels have missed, the third vowel is now more likely, so guess it.

Words with few common letters

Occasionally a word uses mostly uncommon letters (RHYTHM, LYMPH, SPHINX). The sign is that E, A and O have all missed. At that point switch to Y as the vowel and the consonants that go with it: H, M, N, P, R, S, T. Do not keep guessing vowels into a word that has told you it has none.

Common mistakes

1. Guessing rare letters early. Z, X, Q and J miss most of the time.
2. Ignoring the pattern. Once three letters show, stop using the frequency list and read the shape.
3. Guessing the word's first letter first. The first letter is the hardest to predict; endings are easier.
4. Forgetting double letters. A revealed letter fills every copy at once, so a single E in a seven-letter word tells you the word has exactly one E.
5. Not counting the lamps. With one lamp left, only guess a letter you are nearly certain of; two candidates sharing a letter? guess that letter.

Glossary

• Lamp: one of the six misses you are allowed.
• Miss: a guessed letter that is not in the word.
• Pattern: the revealed letters and blanks, read as a shape.
• Letter frequency: how common each letter is in words of a given kind or length.