What Are Anagrams?

by Craig Shrives

Definition of "Anagram" (with Examples)

Anagrams are words that share the same letters as each other.

Easy Examples of Anagrams

  • stop, tops, opts, pots, and spot
  • stool and tools
  • secure and rescue

Table of Contents

  • Examples of Funny Anagrams
  • An Example of a Long and Clever Anagram
  • A Widget to Build Anagrams
  • The Longest Single-Word Anagrams
  • Why Anagrams Are Important
  • Printable Test
anagrams examples

Examples of Funny Anagrams

Anagrams are usually created just for fun. They are most effective when their meanings are associated or even the same. For example:
  • Dormitory and Dirty Room
  • Elvis and Lives
  • The country side and No City Dust Here
  • Heavy Rain and Hire a Navy
  • Eleven plus two and Twelve plus one

An Example of a Long and Clever Anagram

If there's a better anagram than this one by Cory Calhoun, then I haven't seen it:
"To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."
and
"In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten."

A Widget to Build Anagrams

The Longest Single-Word Anagrams

Here are the longest single-word anagrams:
  • hydroxydeoxycorticosterones and hydroxydesoxycorticosterone
  • conversationalists and conservationalists
  • (This the longest non-scientific single-word anagram.)

Why Anagrams Are Important

Anagrams are usually created just for fun, but, for teachers, creating anagrams can be a useful way to encourage students to play with letters and words.

Anagrams can also have another, more business-like use though as they can make a message more impactful and memorable. Consider these anagrams:
  • The country side and no city dust here
  • Heavy rain and Hire a navy
The first anagram could help with making an anti-pollution message more impactful and memorable, while the second could help in a bid to improve flood defences. (You might have to point out that they're anagrams though.)

Help Us Improve Grammar Monster

  • Do you disagree with something on this page?
  • Did you spot a typo?

Find Us Quicker!

  • When using a search engine (e.g., Google, Bing), you will find Grammar Monster quicker if you add #gm to your search term.