How to Become an Expert at Unscrambling Words

Have you ever found yourself trying to unscramble an anagram and realized you were just moving the letters around at random? Learning how to get better at unscrambling words in a specific amount of time can be incredibly useful in any number of situations. You can use it to help with crosswords, sudokus, or even next year’s Scrabble or Words with Friends tournament! It’s hard to know where to start, though, and that’s where we come in. Here are our quick tips & tricks to take your unscrambling words to the next level.

The Anatomy of the Words

In order to make word patterns easier to follow, one must first understand how words are built. Words are composed of vowels and consonants, with the vowels as the foundational structure. But this is not always true. Placing vowels on one side of a space and consonants on the other can help you unscramble and form words by adding a guideline to all the other letters. 

You may want to experiment with different consonants before placing them first in your collection of vowels and consonants, to see if any patterns arise, even if you don’t have the same number of vowels as consonants. Even if you have a bunch of consonants and few vowels, this might help you make words with those consonants and a vowel sandwiched between them,

Isolate the Letters Into Consonants and Vowels

Take apart each word into its individual consonants and vowels. Our brains often see words that have been jumbled up as coherent words themselves. Once the letters are written on a piece of paper or similar, your brain can more easily decipher possible words in anagram form instead of a scrambled word. If you’re still struggling to figure out what the word is, try looking for other common words with those same letters. Another strategy is to think about how a word would sound if it was spelt correctly before trying to figure out what it could be in anagram form.

Also study common letter combinations, such as th, qu, and ly, which you can use to form a word.

Pair up the Letters

Search through the letters for letters that commonly appear together in words. Pair letters that appear together frequently. Jot down key components of the final word on a piece of scrap paper, such as “ch,” “sh,” “qu,” and “ph.”

Practice

Practice unscrambling as often as possible. The more often you work on unscrambling, the easier it will be for you. With enough practice, your brain will adjust and allow you to find the words you’re looking for with less effort.

It’s best to take a more deliberate pace in order to allow your brain time to think and process what it sees. When you go quickly, your brain won’t think too much and may only pay attention to the order that is printed on the page. 

Search For Help

We encourage you to turn to friends and family when you’re feeling frustrated. While figuring out a word from a jumbled set of letters can sometimes be difficult, the feeling you get when you’re finally able to decipher it makes the task worth it. 

As a last resort, you can always find help online at Dictionary.com or use a word unscrambler like Unscrambled Words. This is also an excellent way to expand your word knowledge. 

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