What is on the sheet
The key: a tic-tac-toe grid for A to I, a second one with dots for J to R, an X for S to V and a dotted X for W to Z. Under it, every letter drawn as you write it, so there's nothing to work out the first time. Then a message in pigpen to crack, with the answer upside down, and lines for one of your own.
How pigpen works
Each letter is written as the lines that box it in on the key. A sits in the top-left corner of the first grid, so it is a line along the right and one along the bottom. E sits in the middle, boxed on all four sides, so it is a square. The second grid's letters get a dot in the middle, and the X letters are the V shapes around them, with a dot for the second X.
This is the common layout. Pigpen has been drawn other ways over the years, so a message from somewhere else may need a different key. The pigpen cipher translator writes and reads this one for you.
Frequently asked questions
How does the pigpen cipher work?
Each letter is replaced by the shape of the lines around it in the key: two tic-tac-toe grids and two Xs, with a dot to tell the second of each pair from the first.
What is the pigpen cipher also called?
The Masonic cipher or the Freemason's cipher, after the Freemasons who used it in the 1700s. It was also used by prisoners in the American Civil War.
Is there more than one pigpen key?
Yes. The letters have been placed in the grids in different orders over the years. This sheet uses the most common layout, A to I across the first grid row by row, and the same one as our pigpen translator.
Is pigpen hard to crack?
No. It is a simple substitution, one symbol for each letter, so anyone who knows the layout reads it at once, and anyone who doesn't can crack it the way they would a newspaper cryptogram.
Covert Mail on your phone
Covert Mail draws pigpen on screen and teaches it a third of the alphabet at a time, then sets famous messages to crack. It's free on the App Store.
Download on the App Store▶ Coming soon to Google Play
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The Caesar cipher wheel is another to cut out, and the secret code worksheet has boxes for drawing each letter. There's more on the printables page.