Two words are anagrams when they use exactly the same letters in a different order, like listen and silent. Type two words or phrases and this tool compares them, ignoring spaces, punctuation, accents and capitals, so "Dormitory" and "Dirty room" pass. When they don't match, it tells you which letters are extra on each side, which is what you actually want when you're one letter off.
How to use it
- Enter the first word or phrase.
- Enter the second.
- The verdict updates as you type.
- If they differ, read the list of leftover letters.
When it helps
- Checking answers in a word game or crossword.
- Testing an anagram clue you've written before you publish it.
- Teaching how letters can be rearranged.
- Playing with name anagrams.
Good to know
- Digits count as characters, so a stray number can break a match.
- Accents are stripped first, so é is treated as plain e.
- It compares the two things you give it; it can't search a dictionary for anagrams.
How the check works
The tool removes everything that isn't a letter or digit, lowers the case, strips accents, sorts the remaining characters and compares the two sorted strings. If they are identical, the two inputs are anagrams. It's the same method a programmer would use, and it's reliable because the order of letters no longer matters once they're sorted.
When they differ, the tool counts each letter on both sides and lists the surplus, for example an extra e in the first and an extra o in the second. That is the quickest way to see how close you were.
Worked example: two famous pairs
"Listen" and "Silent" both contain e, i, l, n, s and t, so they match. "Dormitory" and "Dirty room" look different until you ignore the space, after which both are made of d, i, m, o, o, r, r, t, y. "The eyes" and "They see" is another classic.
Try "Astronomer" against "Moon starer" and it also passes, because the space is ignored. Change one letter and the difference list will point to the odd one out immediately.
Making your own anagrams
This tool checks pairs; it doesn't generate them. To build your own, write your starting phrase, list its letters, and try rearranging them into a new word or phrase, then paste both in to confirm you used every letter exactly once. Writers of cryptic crosswords do exactly this when they create anagram clues.
A good puzzle anagram has a surface meaning that distracts from the answer. Check yours here before publishing, because a single missing letter is easy to overlook by eye.
Questions
Does word order matter?
No, only the letters do.
Can it find anagrams of a word for me?
Not this one. It checks a pair, it doesn't search for new words.