Jennifer Lindsay*

Today I want to talk again about the frequency of letters-which, as we have discussed, is not the same thing as the frequency of sounds. In English, the most common letter is E, which has a frequency of 13 percent. This means that the letter E accounts for 13 percent of the use of all the 26 letters of the alphabet. Some letters, like E, work very hard, while others get an easy ride. In English, the top six letters are ETAOIN.

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