# Wheel Of Fortune question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheel-of-fortune-question/181692 "2003-06-13T22:36:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ZenMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c4cdca/32.png) [@ZenMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenMonkey)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheel-of-fortune-question/181692/1 "2003-06-13T22:36:41Z")
I was watching “Wheel of Fortune” yesterday. During the bonus round they give the contestant the following letters: R, S, T, L ,N ,E and ask them to suggest 3 more consonants and a vowel. After some research i have found the those letters are the most used letters in the english language. Now my question: What 3 consonants and 1 vowel come next in the list of most used letters? In other words, what would be the contestants best guess? -ZeN ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheel-of-fortune-question/181692/2 "2003-06-13T22:40:25Z")
[English Letter Usage Frequency](http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/frequency). ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheel-of-fortune-question/181692/3 "2003-06-13T22:43:22Z")
Looks like C, D and P for consonants, and A for a vowel. ---
**Author:** ![ZenMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c4cdca/32.png) [@ZenMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenMonkey)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheel-of-fortune-question/181692/4 "2003-06-13T22:44:25Z")
Thanks, Q. Now to call Pat Sajak! ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheel-of-fortune-question/181692/5 "2003-06-13T22:51:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ZenMonkey \* > **During the bonus round they give the contestant the following letters: > R, S, T, L ,N ,E > and ask them to suggest 3 more consonants and a vowel.** Contestants used to have to pick five consonants and a vowel themselves, before they changed the rules. I think one reason they might have been changed is because it was very common for the contestant to pick R, S, T, L ,N, and E, and that was a little boring. But when they changed the rules to the current ones, they also shortened the time contestants had for the bonus round from 15 to 10 seconds. I also remember when contestants had to use their money to purchase prizes; they usually got no cash. [http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-4413/](http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-4413/) ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheel-of-fortune-question/181692/6 "2003-06-13T22:51:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ZenMonkey \* > **What 3 consonants and 1 vowel come next in the list of most used letters? > In other words, what would be the contestants best guess?** I am not absolutely convinced that the next three consonants and vowel on the list are your best guess. As this page [http://www.cryptogram.org/cdb/aca.info/aca.and.you/chap03.html](http://www.cryptogram.org/cdb/aca.info/aca.and.you/chap03.html) points out > [@](#): > > The high-frequency letters ETAONIRSH make up 70% of plain text. Vowels AEIOU and Y make up 40% of the text. Consonants LNRST make up 35% of the text. The low frequency letters occupy less than 3% of the text, but are important because of their rarity, and also because adjacent letters (contacts) are more likely to be vowels than consonants. A low frequency letter may be unlikely to show up, but if it does, it may make it much easier for you to guess the word. By the way, if you scroll down towards the bottom of that page it gives letter frequency tables for other languages including English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. ---
**Author:** ![ElJeffe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ElJeffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElJeffe)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2003, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheel-of-fortune-question/181692/7 "2003-06-13T23:10:10Z")
A note: The next three letters in the Most Common Usage Index would be the best guess if you were utterly clueless, but generally speaking, the “best guess” a contestent can make is dependent upon what’s already up there. If you see an “N” as the second to last letter, for example, guessing a “G” or “D” might be a good idea. If it’s an “S”, though, perhaps you’d be better served guessing an “H”. Jeff ---
**Author:** ![petre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@petre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petre)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheel-of-fortune-question/181692/8 "2003-06-13T23:34:59Z")
Also note, that those who decide what words to use are well aware of letter frequency too, and choose their puzzles accordingly. You’ll notice their new puzzles don’t contain many letters from the set RSTLNE, and are just as likely to avoid other common letters. Think how exciting it can be when faced with… -----E A contestant goes “Hrmn…C, D, and…aw heck, Q, and I” and gets Q-IC-E 🙂 (Quiche, to avoid extra postings about what word that is 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jbird3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aeb1de/32.png) [@jbird3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbird3000)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheel-of-fortune-question/181692/9 "2003-06-14T03:05:35Z")
Also, they probably make the puzzle easier with semi-common letters (such as C, D, G, H, M) when the contestant hasn’t won much in the regular rounds, and harder when the contestant mops up. Along the same note, Pat has gotten pretty good at hitting that 5000 in the last round…