# Frequency analysis · Concept > Reading a cipher by counting how often each sign appears and matching the counts to a language. Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZZJW77N/frequency-analysis Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) --- [Concepts](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts)Frequency analysis Concept · cryptography · in 11 mysteries # Frequency analysis Reading a cipher by counting how often each sign appears and matching the counts to a language. [Vinča signs](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/vinca-signs)[Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform)[Etruscan: the readable language that cannot be fully translated](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/etruscan-language) The oldest tool of cryptanalysis: count the signs in a cipher text, compare the counts to the known letter frequencies of a candidate language, and let the common signs stand for the common letters. It breaks simple substitution quickly and fails against homophones, nomenclators and codes. On this site it is the first test applied to every unread text, and the sign counts of the Voynich Manuscript, Rongorongo and the Indus script are among the things it has to explain. ## Where it comes up **[Vinča signs](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/vinca-signs)** [Q: How many distinct Vinča signs are there, and how stable is the inventory across sites and phases?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/vinca-signs/questions/QST0DEDW37PF87Q/how-many-distinct-vinca-signs-are-there-and-how-stable-is) **[Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform)** [Q: How many distinct signs does proto-cuneiform have, and which of the ZATU and CDLI entries are variants or compounds of one sign?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT7GXF0VT/how-many-distinct-signs-does-proto-cuneiform-have-and-which)[Proto-cuneiform sign frequencies and counting tool (Born and Kelley 2021)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0DEDSDJM47RC/proto-cuneiform-sign-frequencies-and-counting-tool-born-and) **[Etruscan: the readable language that cannot be fully translated](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/etruscan-language)** [Q: How far can the combinatory method and computational analysis extend the roughly 250 securely understood Etruscan words?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/etruscan-language/questions/QST0DEDYMXF5X5P/how-far-can-the-combinatory-method-and-computational) **[Unread oracle bone characters](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered)** [Q: What are the roughly 3,000 unread oracle-bone graphs, and how many of them can ever be read?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered/questions/QST0DEDQEESA0GT/what-are-the-roughly-3-000-unread-oracle-bone-graphs-and-how) **[Proto-Elamite and Linear Elamite](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-elamite)** [Proto-Elamite sign frequencies (Dahl 2002)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0D1P9CF46KDT/proto-elamite-sign-frequencies-dahl-2002) **[Late Bronze Age collapse](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/bronze-age-collapse)** [Gordion Midas Mound juniper ring widths and chronology (ITRDB TURK029)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0D4654584N10/gordion-midas-mound-juniper-ring-widths-and-chronology-itrdb) **[Byblos syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary)** Mäder's Unicode transcription makes sign frequencies, positional statistics and recurring sequences reproducible; a proposed grammar must match the morpheme boundaries that emerge without sound values, and a proposed… [Q: Do the word boundaries and recurring morphemes found by sequence analysis fit the grammar of any proposed language?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/questions/QST0DEDQZKNHJD0/do-the-word-boundaries-and-recurring-morphemes-found-by) **[Hurrian songs of Ugarit](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs)** [Q: What do the interval names and numerals in the notation of h.6 instruct a performer to play?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBCYE714/what-do-the-interval-names-and-numerals-in-the-notation-of-h) **[Somerton Man (Tamam Shud)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/somerton-man)** Naval and later Defence cryptographers could not read it; in 1978 the Department of Defence said there were "insufficient symbols" for a clear meaning and that it might be the product of a disturbed mind . ::: artifact… **[Linear A](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/linear-a)** Word-initial and word-final sign frequencies differ from Linear B Greek, which is the main reason most scholars doubt that Linear A is Greek . **[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)** No statistical or machine-learning study of the corpus has been published; the texts are too short and too few for frequency analysis to decide anything. ## Cite it ``` Mysteries Department. (2026). Frequency analysis [Concept CPT0DECVZZJW77N]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/CPT0DECVZZJW77N ``` Key **CPT** 0DECVZZJW77N Record Concept Field Cryptography Related [Homophonic substitution](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZY0W38A/homophonic-substitution) · [Transposition cipher](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZZD5M0G/transposition-cipher) · [Entropy](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZZSAC8F/entropy) Version 2 Added by [apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo) [ Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q835325) **How this page is made.** The definition is the site's, in its own words. “Where it comes up” is read from the answers, methods and evidence that name the concept. Related concepts [Homophonic substitution](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZY0W38A/homophonic-substitution)[Transposition cipher](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZZD5M0G/transposition-cipher)[Entropy](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZZSAC8F/entropy) The record Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history. [JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/CPT0DECVZZJW77N)