Mirror writing
Mirror writing runs from right to left with every letter facing the other way, exactly as ordinary text looks in a mirror. There is no key and no letter changes: the message is the same, but to read it comfortably you need a mirror.
A little history
The most famous example is Leonardo da Vinci, who filled his notebooks with mirror writing. Nobody knows for sure why he did it; one explanation is that he was left-handed, and writing from right to left kept his hand from smudging the wet ink. Many children learning to write make mirrored letters without noticing: b and d, or p and q, show how easy they are to mix up.
Try it
Type a message and the result appears mirrored, on screen and when printed. Nothing else changes, not even capitals or accents, and beside it you can see what each letter looks like in a mirror. Screen readers read the text the right way round and say that it is mirrored. Copying the result copies the ordinary text: to use it as a clue, print the worksheet or create a lock from it, and the clue will show mirrored.
Mirror writing has no key: the words stay the same, facing the other way.
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
35 of 600 characters
In mirror writing: Tomorrow we open the treasure chest
How to read it
To read a mirrored message, just hold it up to a mirror, or look at the back of the paper against the light. That is why decoding does not change the text: the result is the same message, the right way round.
Classroom ideas
- Find the mirror. Print the clue mirrored and hide a small mirror in the classroom: finding it is part of the challenge.
- Against the light. Stick the paper face down on a window: the light lets students read the message from the other side.
- Tricky letters. With younger students, write words with b, d, p and q in a mirror and ask them to read them: a fun way to practise the letters that get mixed up.
- Two steps. Encode the message with another method first, such as the Caesar cipher, and write the result in mirror writing by hand: the mirror is only the first step.
Tips
- For the youngest, use large letters and capitals. Lower case is harder, because b and d swap places.
- The printable worksheet includes the alphabet and the digits in a mirror as its key.
- Mirror writing hides nothing: it is a puzzle, not a secret. To keep the solution of a lock hidden, combine it with another cipher.
Printable worksheet
Practise this cipher on paper: a worksheet with the key and two exercises, ready to print or download with its answer key. Open the worksheet