# Transposition cipher · Concept

> A cipher that keeps the plaintext's letters and changes their order.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZZD5M0G/transposition-cipher  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Concepts](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts)Transposition cipher

Concept · cryptography · in 3 mysteries

# Transposition cipher

A cipher that keeps the plaintext's letters and changes their order.

[Zodiac ciphers](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/zodiac-ciphers)[Voynich Manuscript](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript)[Kryptos](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/kryptos)

A cipher that scrambles the order of the letters rather than replacing them, so the letter frequencies of the plaintext survive intact. That survival is the tell: a cipher text with the frequencies of ordinary English or Latin but no readable words is probably a transposition, or has a transposition stage, as the Zodiac's Z340 and the Kryptos K3 passage do.

## Where it comes up

**[Zodiac ciphers](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/zodiac-ciphers)**

[Z13 uses a further step (transposition, nulls, or a key unlike Z408's), as Z340 did.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/zodiac-ciphers/answers/ANS0D71PHVM3PW3/z13-uses-a-further-step-transposition-nulls-or-a-key-unlike)[Z340 showed the writer added transposition and irregularities to homophonic substitution.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/zodiac-ciphers/evidence/EVD0D71PJ3E3KHB/z340-showed-the-writer-added-transposition-and)

**[Voynich Manuscript](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript)**

[Periodicity, transposition and isomorph battery](https://mysteriesdept.com/methods/MTH08JFX9QJ1JD6/periodicity-transposition-and-isomorph-battery)[Word-as-letter, periodic transposition, position-keyed alphabets, single nulls and sorted…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/evidence/EVD0D8GDPB24104/word-as-letter-periodic-transposition-position-keyed)

**[Kryptos](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/kryptos)**

K4 combines a Vigenère-type substitution on the KRYPTOS tableau with a transposition or masking step, a change of method from K1 to K3.

[K4 combines a Vigenère-type substitution on the KRYPTOS tableau with a transposition or masking step, a…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/kryptos/answers/ANS0D7HTD60640S/k4-combines-a-vigenere-type-substitution-on-the-kryptos)[Kryptos ciphertext (K1 to K4), plaintexts of K1 to K3, the K4 cribs, the tableau and the Morse text](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0D7HTGV65YZM/kryptos-ciphertext-k1-to-k4-plaintexts-of-k1-to-k3-the-k4)

## Methods that use it 1

[Periodicity, transposition and isomorph battery](https://mysteriesdept.com/methods/MTH08JFX9QJ1JD6/periodicity-transposition-and-isomorph-battery)

Voynich Manuscript

MTH

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Transposition cipher [Concept CPT0DECVZZD5M0G]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/CPT0DECVZZD5M0G
```

Key

**CPT** 0DECVZZD5M0G

Record

Concept

Field

Cryptography

Related

[Homophonic substitution](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZY0W38A/homophonic-substitution) · [Frequency analysis](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZZJW77N/frequency-analysis)

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Related concepts

[Homophonic substitution](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZY0W38A/homophonic-substitution)[Frequency analysis](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZZJW77N/frequency-analysis)

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