Lipogram Checker
Flag forbidden letters in a passage of text.
Overview
A lipogram is a piece of writing that deliberately avoids one or more letters of the alphabet. The novel "Gadsby" famously avoids the letter E across 50,000+ words. This checker scans your text and flags every word that contains a forbidden letter, so you can rewrite as needed.
Constrained-writing enthusiasts, Oulipo-style experimental writers, creative-writing teachers running classroom challenges, and puzzle constructors all use a lipogram checker. It's also a fun way to stretch vocabulary — avoiding E forces you to drop most common verbs and articles.
How it works
You provide the forbidden letters (case-insensitively, usually one to three at a time) and your draft text. The tool walks each word, checks for any forbidden character, and either highlights the offenders in place or lists them with their line and column. A statistics panel shows the total offending word count and the proportion of your text affected.
Examples
Forbidden: E
Input: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Flagged: The, over, the
Clean: quick, brown, fox, jumps, lazy, dog
Forbidden: E
Rewrite: A quick brown fox jumps past a lazy hound
Result: All clear — no forbidden letters
FAQ
Why would anyone want to write without a vowel?
Constrained writing forces creativity. When you can't reach for the obvious word, you discover synonyms and reshape sentences in ways that often surprise the writer.
Are there famous lipograms?
Ernest Vincent Wright's "Gadsby" (1939) and Georges Perec's "La Disparition" (1969) both avoid E. Perec's novel was translated into English as "A Void" — also without an E.
Can I forbid multiple letters at once?
Yes. Common challenges include "no e, t, o" or "use only the letters in TYPEWRITER". The tool accepts any set.