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A Better Strategy for Hangman - mklabgr - 07-03-2026
A Better Strategy for Hangman
Summary
Most people play Hangman by guessing letters based on general English text frequencies, but that strategy actually works against you because everyday speech is heavily biased by short, repetitive words like "the" or "and." Instead of relying on a standard list that tells you to pick "E" first every single time, an optimal approach looks at the specific distribution of unique words within a dictionary and pairs that with the length of the word you are trying to solve.
For instance, while "E" is fantastic for mid-sized words, "A" is actually your best first bet for short words of four letters or fewer, "S" reigns supreme for five-letter words, and "I" dominates the board for long words of thirteen letters or more. By combining the word's length with conditional probability—adjusting your next guess based on which letters have already failed—you can ensure you will never lose a game without getting at least a single letter on the board.
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