Grapheme Frequency in English Words
April 10, 2025•576 words
Grapheme Frequency in English Words
This document outlines the frequency of graphemes (letters and letter combinations) in English text. Graphemes can be single letters, digraphs (2 letters), trigraphs (3 letters), or tetragraphs (4 letters), often representing single phonemes or spelling patterns.
1. Single-Letter Frequencies
| Grapheme | Frequency (%) | Example Words |
|---|---|---|
| E | 12.7 | bed, feel, end |
| T | 9.1 | top, start, late |
| A | 8.2 | cat, table, glass |
| O | 7.5 | go, stop, doll |
| I | 7.0 | in, time, slim |
| N | 6.7 | no, hand, run |
| S | 6.3 | sun, glass, pass |
| H | 6.1 | hat, behind, who |
| R | 6.0 | red, car, bring |
| D | 4.3 | dog, ladder, end |
| L | 4.0 | lamp, fall, cool |
| C | 2.8 | cat, place, back |
| U | 2.8 | under, blue, cup |
| M | 2.4 | man, summer, time |
| W | 2.4 | win, away, show |
| F | 2.2 | fun, after, leaf |
| G | 2.0 | go, begin, frog |
| Y | 2.0 | yes, beyond, happy |
| P | 1.9 | pen, apple, stop |
| B | 1.5 | bat, climb, club |
| V | 1.0 | van, over, love |
| K | 0.8 | kite, ask, book |
| J | 0.2 | jam, enjoy, jump |
| X | 0.2 | box, extra, six |
| Q | 0.1 | queen, quick, quest |
| Z | 0.1 | zebra, buzz, jazz |
2. Common Digraph Frequencies
| Digraph | Frequency (%) | Example Words |
|---|---|---|
| TH | 3.56 | this, that, with |
| HE | 3.07 | he, help, here |
| IN | 2.43 | in, inside, begin |
| ER | 2.05 | her, after, over |
| AN | 1.99 | an, and, orange |
| RE | 1.85 | re, return, here |
| ON | 1.76 | on, once, upon |
| AT | 1.49 | at, cat, hat |
| EN | 1.45 | end, enter, open |
| ND | 1.35 | and, end, hand |
3. Common Trigraphs (Estimates)
| Trigraph | Frequency (est.) | Example Words |
|---|---|---|
| TCH | ~0.3 | watch, match |
| SCH | ~0.2 | school, scheme |
| igh | ~0.1 | light, night |
| NCH | ~0.1 | lunch, bench |
| STR | ~0.1 | street, string |
| SHR | ~0.05 | shriek, shrink |
Trigraph frequency is corpus-dependent and much lower than digraphs.
4. Common Tetragraphs (Estimates)
| Tetragraph | Frequency (est.) | Example Words |
|---|---|---|
| OUGH | ~0.1 | though, rough, cough |
| EIGH | ~0.05 | eight, weight |
| GNED | <0.05 | signed, aligned |
| CHTH | Rare | chthonic |
| PHTH | Rare | phthisis |
Tetragraphs are rare but notable for irregular English spellings.
Notes
- Percentages are based on analysis of large English corpora (e.g., Google Books, COCA).
- Digraphs like "th" and "sh" often map to single phonemes.
- Trigraphs and tetragraphs are more common in specific morphological or etymological contexts.