🔤 Anagram Checker
By ToolNimba Text Team · Updated 2026-06-19
Type a phrase into each box and press Check anagram.
An anagram is a word or phrase made by rearranging all the letters of another, using each letter exactly once. "Listen" and "Silent" are anagrams; so are "Dormitory" and "Dirty room". This checker takes two phrases, normalises them, sorts their letters into a signature, and tells you instantly whether they are anagrams. It also shows the sorted signature of each phrase and a letter-by-letter count so you can see exactly where they agree or differ.
What is the Anagram Checker?
Two strings are anagrams when they contain exactly the same multiset of letters: the same letters, each appearing the same number of times, just in a different order. Order is the only thing allowed to change. The fastest way to test this by hand or by machine is to sort the letters of each phrase. Once both are sorted, anagrams collapse to the identical string, so "listen" and "silent" both become "eilnst". Comparing those two sorted signatures gives a clean yes or no.
Real phrases carry noise that is not part of the puzzle: capital letters, spaces between words, and punctuation. Most people treat "Dirty Room" and "Dormitory" as anagrams even though one has a space and different capitalisation. That is why this tool normalises first: it can lowercase every letter and strip spaces and punctuation before sorting, so only the meaningful letters are compared. You control both behaviours with the checkboxes, which lets you run a strict, case-sensitive test or the relaxed everyday version.
Sorting is not the only method. Counting how many times each letter appears (a letter frequency map) reaches the same answer and makes the difference easy to read when two phrases are close but not equal. This page shows both views: the sorted signatures for a quick visual match, and a frequency table that highlights any letter whose count differs between the two phrases. If every row matches and the totals are equal, the phrases are anagrams.
When to use it
- Settling a debate over whether two words or names are genuine anagrams of each other.
- Checking puzzle or crossword answers where the clue hints that letters have been rearranged.
- Verifying that a rearranged brand name, username or password phrase uses exactly the same letters.
- Teaching the idea of permutations and letter frequency in a classroom with quick, visual examples.
- Confirming a tricky multi-word anagram like "Dormitory" and "Dirty room" once spaces are ignored.
How to use the Anagram Checker
- Type or paste the first word or phrase into the First phrase box.
- Type or paste the second word or phrase into the Second phrase box.
- Leave Ignore spaces and punctuation ticked to compare letters only, or untick it for a stricter test.
- Leave Ignore letter case ticked so capitals do not matter, or untick it to treat upper and lower case as different.
- Read the verdict, then check the two sorted signatures and the letter-count table to see why.
Formula & method
Worked examples
Are "Listen" and "Silent" anagrams (ignoring case)?
- Lowercase both: "listen" and "silent".
- No spaces or punctuation to strip.
- Sort the letters of "listen": e, i, l, n, s, t gives "eilnst".
- Sort the letters of "silent": e, i, l, n, s, t gives "eilnst".
- The two signatures "eilnst" and "eilnst" are identical.
Result: Yes, "Listen" and "Silent" are anagrams.
Are "Dormitory" and "Dirty room" anagrams when spaces are ignored?
- Lowercase both: "dormitory" and "dirty room".
- Strip the space from the second phrase: "dirtyroom".
- Count letters in "dormitory": d1 i1 m1 o2 r2 t1 y1 (9 letters).
- Count letters in "dirtyroom": d1 i1 m1 o2 r2 t1 y1 (9 letters).
- Every letter count matches and both have 9 letters.
Result: Yes, "Dormitory" and "Dirty room" are anagrams once the space is ignored.
Are "Hello" and "World" anagrams?
- Lowercase both: "hello" and "world".
- Sort "hello": e, h, l, l, o gives "ehllo".
- Sort "world": d, l, o, r, w gives "dlorw".
- The signatures "ehllo" and "dlorw" are different.
Result: No, "Hello" and "World" are not anagrams.
Classic anagram pairs and their shared sorted signature
| Phrase A | Phrase B | Sorted signature | Anagram? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listen | Silent | eilnst | Yes |
| Dormitory | Dirty room | dimoorrty | Yes (spaces ignored) |
| The eyes | They see | eeehsty | Yes (spaces ignored) |
| Cat | Act | act | Yes |
| Hello | World | (no match) | No |
How each option changes the comparison
| Option | When ticked | When unticked |
|---|---|---|
| Ignore spaces and punctuation | Only letters and digits are compared | Punctuation is kept and must match too |
| Ignore letter case | A and a are treated as the same letter | A and a are treated as different letters |
Common mistakes to avoid
- Forgetting that every letter must be used once. An anagram uses all the letters of the source, each exactly the same number of times. "Listen" and "Listens" are not anagrams because the second has an extra s, even though it contains all the letters of the first.
- Counting spaces or punctuation as letters. Spaces, commas and apostrophes are usually not part of an anagram. Leave Ignore spaces and punctuation ticked so that "Dirty room" and "Dormitory" are compared on letters alone.
- Letting capital letters break the match. If case sensitivity is on, "Listen" and "silent" will not match because L and l differ. Keep Ignore letter case ticked unless you specifically need a strict, case-sensitive comparison.
- Confusing an anagram with a palindrome. A palindrome reads the same forwards and backwards, like "level". An anagram is a rearrangement of one phrase into another. The two ideas are unrelated, even though both involve reordering letters.
Glossary
- Anagram
- A word or phrase formed by rearranging all the letters of another, using each letter exactly once.
- Signature
- The letters of a phrase sorted into a fixed order. Anagrams share the same signature.
- Normalise
- To clean a phrase before comparing it, for example by lowercasing letters and removing spaces and punctuation.
- Letter frequency
- A count of how many times each letter appears in a phrase. Two phrases are anagrams when their frequencies are equal.
- Multiset
- A collection that allows repeated members, so it tracks both which letters appear and how many times each one does.
Frequently asked questions
What makes two words anagrams of each other?
Two words are anagrams when they contain exactly the same letters in the same quantities, just arranged in a different order. "Listen" and "Silent" qualify because both use one each of e, i, l, n, s and t.
How does this anagram checker decide yes or no?
It normalises both phrases (optionally lowercasing them and stripping spaces and punctuation), sorts the remaining letters of each into a signature, and compares the two signatures. If they are identical, the phrases are anagrams.
Do spaces and punctuation count?
By default no. The Ignore spaces and punctuation option keeps only letters and digits, so "Dirty room" and "Dormitory" register as anagrams. Untick the option if you want punctuation to be part of the test.
Does capitalisation matter?
Not unless you want it to. With Ignore letter case ticked, "Listen" and "silent" match. Untick it for a case-sensitive comparison where upper and lower case letters are treated as different.
Can it check whole phrases and not just single words?
Yes. You can paste multi-word phrases into either box. With spaces ignored, the tool compares the combined letters of the whole phrase, so classic multi-word anagrams work fine.
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. The entire check runs in your browser using plain JavaScript. Nothing you type is uploaded, stored or sent over the network, so it is safe to use with private text.