What Is a Pangram? — Definition, Examples, and Word Game Usage
A pangram is a sentence or phrase that uses every letter of the alphabet at least once. The most famous pangram in English is "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" — a sentence you may have seen used to demonstrate typefaces or keyboard layouts. In word games, pangrams have a special meaning too.
What Makes a Pangram
For a sentence to qualify as a pangram it must contain all 26 letters of the English alphabet: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z. Every single letter must appear at least once. A perfect pangram uses each letter exactly once, though these are extremely difficult to construct naturally.
Famous Pangrams
"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
35 letters
"Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs"
32 letters
"How vexingly quick daft zebras jump"
30 letters
"The five boxing wizards jump quickly"
31 letters
"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow"
29 letters
Pangrams in Word Games — NYT Spelling Bee
In the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle, a pangram has a specific game meaning. In Spelling Bee you are given 7 letters and must form words using those letters. A pangram in Spelling Bee is a word that uses all 7 available letters at least once. Finding the pangram is a key goal in each puzzle and earns bonus points.
Pangrams vs Anagrams
A pangram uses every letter of the alphabet (or in Spelling Bee, every available letter). An anagram rearranges the letters of a specific word or phrase to form a new word or phrase. They are related concepts — both involve thinking about letter sets — but they are distinct.