# Alphabet Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2001, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-question/69233 "2001-06-18T16:48:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Machete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machete)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2001, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-question/69233/1 "2001-06-18T16:48:17Z")
disclaimer : I have an 11 month old. I’ve a set of magnetic letters stuck upon my my fridge door, which I idly rearrange to form various words upon my passing by the fridge. Two questions have come to me. Given the alphabet and the restriction of single usage, and the further restriction of validation against formal Scrabble rules: 1. What is the minimum number of words that can be created, leaving the minimum number of letters? 2. What is the maximum number of words that can be created, leaving the minimum number of letters? This seems like a Marilyn question, but I couldn’t imagine not bringing this to my fellow Teemings first. I also have a nagging feeling that this was a puzzle game that I encountered in primary and am simply unable to recollect. ---
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2001, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-question/69233/2 "2001-06-18T17:58:15Z")
Your question is worded confusingly, but I think I understand … Let me clarify, incase others are having the same trouble. Using each of the 26 letters of the alphabet only once, what are the fewest number of Scrabble-legal words that can be constructed? Also, what are the maximum number of words you can contruct with the same conditions? I’ve got some answers for you. I looked for this specific puzzle at the penultimate puzzle archive: [http://alabanza.com/kabacoff/Inter-Links/puzzles.html](http://alabanza.com/kabacoff/Inter-Links/puzzles.html) or more specifically, the language portion: [http://alabanza.com/kabacoff/Inter-Links/fun/puzzles/language](http://alabanza.com/kabacoff/Inter-Links/fun/puzzles/language) Searching on alphabetic isogrammatics yields the following solution using words found in either Webster’s 9th Collegiate Dictionary or Webster’s New International Dictionaries: **MINIMUM** Using all letters of the alphabet only once, and valid sentence: 5 words: **Phlegms fyrd wuz qvint jackbox.** If you don’t mind having letters left over: 2 words, 6 letters leftover: **blacksmith gunpowdery** 3 words, 4 letters leftover: \*\*humpbacks frowzy tingled \*\* **MAXIMUM** Using all letters of the alphabet only once, and valid sentences: 6 words: **Veldt jynx grimps waqf zho buck.** 6 words: **Squdgy fez, blank jimp crwth vox.** 6 words: \*\*Quartz glyph job vex’d cwm finks. \*\* If you don’t mind having letters leftover: Well, I couldn’t find any easily… since there are 5 vowels, and most words require them, you’d have to find lists of no-vowel words and work from there. I think my answers more than satisfy the OP, though. This should bump your question and perhaps get some more motivated people to provide some better answers to the Maximum problem. Welcome aboard, by the way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Machete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Machete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machete)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2001, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-question/69233/3 "2001-06-18T19:26:41Z")
Thank you for the response! I knew that I’d came to the right place. 🙂 By the way, most of those are not valid sentences according to some sources I came across in a search subsequent to your reply. [http://puzzles.about.com/games/puzzles/library/weekly/aa000228.htm](http://puzzles.about.com/games/puzzles/library/weekly/aa000228.htm) [http://ladybug.xs4all.nl/arlet/puzzles/sol.pl/language/english/sentences/pangram](http://ladybug.xs4all.nl/arlet/puzzles/sol.pl/language/english/sentences/pangram) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2001, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-question/69233/4 "2001-06-18T23:06:40Z")
What if the sentences have to make SOME kind of sense? I always liked “Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz”. Yes, you need a few extra letters but at least it makes sense and doesn’t use WELSH for crying out loud! ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2001, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-question/69233/5 "2001-06-19T00:09:59Z")
NPR’s Sunday Puzzler had one sort of along these lines some time back. The challenge was to make five familiar words using all the letters of the alphabet except ‘q’ and they gave us the 5 starting letters: C, F, G, P and V. The answers were: **chintzy, fjords, gawk, plumb,** and **vex.** ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2001, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-question/69233/6 "2001-06-19T05:19:28Z")
Short pangrams always read to me like really bad headlines. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-question/69233/7 "2001-06-20T11:12:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Alan Smithee \* > \*\*Short pangrams always read to me like really bad headlines. \*\* Best one I’ve seen was in headline form… a contrived story about a Scandinavian women’s rugby team who defeated a male team, and the male team refused to dance with them after teh game, providing the headline, “Fjord Nymphs XV Beg Quick Waltz”. OK, not very good, but the best one I’ve seen.