Cryptograms is a free online word puzzle where a famous quote has been encrypted with a simple letter-substitution cipher, and your job is to crack the code. Every A might really be a T, every B an E — you work it out from patterns and context. Play in your browser with no download and no sign-up.
It is a satisfying blend of word play and detective work that rewards a good eye for language. Easy, Medium and Hard puzzles use longer quotes and offer fewer starting hints, so the codebreaking gets progressively trickier.
Codebreaking is one of humanity's oldest intellectual games. Julius Caesar protected military messages with a simple shift cipher over two thousand years ago, and in the 9th century the Arab scholar Al-Kindi described frequency analysis — the exact technique you use to crack these puzzles. Cryptograms became popular entertainment in the 19th century thanks largely to Edgar Allan Poe, whose 1843 story The Gold-Bug turned cipher-solving into a national pastime and challenged readers to send him ciphers he would crack in print.
Modern hobbyists have kept the tradition alive: the American Cryptogram Association has published substitution puzzles for enthusiasts since 1929. What makes the cryptogram endure is that it needs no special knowledge — just patience and pattern spotting. Every solved letter cascades through the whole quote, so the puzzle accelerates as you go: the first three letters are the hardest, and the last ten practically solve themselves.
Decode the entire encrypted quote by working out which letter each cipher letter stands for, until the original sentence reads correctly.
Click or tap a letter in the puzzle and type the letter you think it represents; every matching cipher letter updates at once. Use the keyboard to fill in your guesses and correct them as new clues appear. Some puzzles offer a hint button to reveal one letter.
There is no point score — the puzzle is solved when the full quote is correctly decoded. Faster solves and using fewer hints make for a more impressive crack, but the real reward is the revealed quotation.
Start with the short words: single letters are almost always A or I, and common three-letter words are often THE or AND. Look for apostrophes followed by a single letter (usually S or T), and use letter frequency — E, T and A are the most common letters in English — to seed your first guesses.
What is a cryptogram?
It is a short piece of text encrypted with a letter-substitution cipher that you decode by deduction.
Are there hints?
Yes, you can reveal a letter when you are stuck, and easier levels start you off with more clues.
Is it free?
Yes, play unlimited cryptograms free in your browser with no download or sign-up.
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