Which letters are used most frequently in English?

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One letter is used more than any other in the English language - and by a surprising distance.

The most frequently used letter in the English language is E has 12.49% of the total. This is followed by T (9.28%) and a (8.4%).


Why these letters?

  • The gold (E) and bronze (A) medals are perhaps predictable. Every standard English word has a vowel - only 'psst' appears in the OED and 'psst' would not be in most lists of standard words!
  • T is the most popular consonant - but its silent form is increasingly used in spoken English - and not just in the standard silent form. (e.g. butter becomes budda etc (though spell check sternly corrects this in written form 
  • E is the champion in other languages, too. George Perec famously wrote a detective novel in French without it  La Disparition (1969). This was then translated into English by Gilbert Adair as A Void.
More on this topic here.