Cryptogram Maker

Level: Intermediate +

Skills: Reading, Writing.

Target Language: A passage of text.

Activity Goal: Improve English language pattern recognition. Improve spelling. Have fun!

Summary: This cryptogram puzzle maker automatically creates a worksheet with a coded passage. Each letter in the passage of text you enter is substituted with with a corresponding code letter. Students must use logical thought and trial and error to solve the puzzle. This worksheet maker is designed for English input only.

Example Usage:

1. Distribute worksheets - one per group.
2. Students work in groups to solve the puzzle.

Notes and Ideas:

• Longer passages will by nature contain more repeating words and patterns and should be easier to solve. Very short passages of only a few words will be very difficult.
• Students should start by looking at the shortest words in the passage. One letter words will be either A, I or O. Two letter words that repeat in the passage are likely to be prepositions like ON, IN, AT, TO.
• Some letters commonly appear together in English such as WH~ TH~ and QU~. Common double letters are LL, EE, OO, TT, FF. Students can look for this type of pattern in the coded text.
• The most frequently used letter in English is the letter E. Other frequently used letters are T A O N R I S H D.