Anagram Checker
Check whether two words or phrases are anagrams — with a breakdown of exactly which letters differ.
They're anagrams!
Both use exactly the same letters, the same number of times.
First, letters sorted
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Second, letters sorted
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Spaces, punctuation and capitalisation are ignored, so “dormitory” and “dirty room” correctly register as anagrams. Sorting both sets of letters is the classic way to test: identical sorted strings mean an anagram.
About this tool
An anagram rearranges all the letters of one word or phrase to form another — listen and silent, dormitory and dirty room, astronomer and moon starer. This checker settles whether any two texts qualify, and when they don't, shows you exactly which letters are out of balance.
The rules it applies are the conventional ones: spaces, punctuation and capitalisation are all ignored, so multi-word phrases work properly — "dormitory" and "dirty room" register as anagrams despite the differing spaces, and "The eyes" matches "They see". Both texts are reduced to their letters, counted, and compared. The tool shows both letter sets sorted, which is the classic proof: two texts are anagrams if and only if their sorted letters are identical.
When they aren't anagrams, the difference table is the useful part — it lists each letter whose count differs and how many appear on each side, so you can see whether you're one letter short or several letters off. That's genuinely handy when you're constructing an anagram yourself and need to know what to adjust. Useful for word games, puzzles, crosswords, Scrabble disputes, and coding-interview practice, where anagram detection is a classic exercise.
How to use the Anagram Checker
- 1Type or paste two words or phrases.
- 2The verdict appears instantly — spaces, punctuation and case are ignored.
- 3Compare the sorted letter strings: identical means anagram.
- 4If they don't match, the difference table shows which letters are unbalanced.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly counts as an anagram?
Two texts are anagrams when one uses exactly the same letters as the other, the same number of times, rearranged. Conventionally spaces, punctuation and capitalisation are ignored — which is why multi-word anagrams like 'dormitory' and 'dirty room' are valid.
What are some famous anagram examples?
Classics include listen / silent, astronomer / moon starer, the eyes / they see, dormitory / dirty room, and eleven plus two / twelve plus one — the last being a favourite because the phrases mean the same number. Several are preloaded as buttons here.
How do you check for an anagram programmatically?
The standard method: strip non-letters, lowercase everything, sort the characters of both strings, and compare — identical sorted strings mean an anagram. A faster variant counts letter frequencies in a map and compares the counts, which is what this tool does.
Can this unscramble letters into words for me?
No — this tool checks whether two texts you provide are anagrams of each other. Finding all real words hidden in a set of letters requires a dictionary lookup, which is a different kind of tool. What this does, it does exactly: verifying and explaining the comparison.
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