Isograms

Isograms are words in which the letters turn up an equal number of times.

First order

In a first-order isogram, each letter appears just once. Examples:

  • subdermatoglyphic (17)
  • dermatoglyphics (15)
  • hydropneumatics (15)
  • uncopyrightable (15)
  • ambidextrously (14)
  • computerizably (14)
  • copyrightables (14)
  • dermatoglyphic (14)
  • hydropneumatic (14)
  • troublemakings (14)
  • undiscoverably (14)
  • conjugatedly (12)

First-order word sets

Another interesting challenge is to find a set of words that use each letter just once. This is useful when playing pencil and paper games such as Wordle and Word Bulls & Cows, so you can eliminate letters as efficiently as possible.

A possible set of four-letter words that use 24 of the 26 letters is:

  • myth
  • duck
  • verb
  • gasp
  • jinx
  • wolf

The best I've come up with for five-letter words is:

  • black
  • fight
  • jumpy
  • drown
  • vexes

These use 24 of the 26 letters with one letter (e) repeated. If anyone can find five five-letter words with no letters in common I'd be interested to know.

Second order

In a second-order isogram, each letter appears twice. Examples:

  • deed
  • sees
  • Vivienne
  • Caucasus
  • intestines
  • couscous

Third order

Third-order isograms, in which each letter appears three times, are pretty rare. Examples:

  • deeded (conveyed by deed)
  • geggee (victim of a hoax)

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