Master Lock has many different word combination locks and cable bike locks on the market that have fixed disks. (You cannot swap the order of the disks.)
In the escape room community, the three best known fixed-disk locks are:
All of these fixed-disk letter locks have the exact same letter distribution, which made me wonder:
How many 4-letter words can these Master Locks create?
I hope to see more variation in solutions used on these locks in escape rooms. The same half-dozen words show up a whole lot. (I’m looking at you BURY, STAR, & SAND).
Letter Distribution
Each fixed-disk letter Master Lock uses the following configuration:
Disk 1: L N B D M J P R S T
Disk 2: O U Y R T L H A E I
Disk 3: C D E O R S T L N A
Disk 4: K Y R S T L N E D H
What Words Can This Distribution Generate?
I asked Rich Bragg of ClueKeeper how he’d determine all the words these locks could generate. A few minutes later he sent me back a spreadsheet filled with words.
Column Explanation
There is no way to generate a single answer to the question “how many English words can this lock create?” English is a constantly evolving language. Words are created, usage shifts, and words fall into disuse.
Column A is the common English word list. This is by far the most useful column. It has 695 words.
Column B is the “ENABLE” word list. These are still words, but they are obscure or old English.
The next three columns are decreasing useful, with the fifth column being words from Wikipedia (which includes acronyms, initialisms and the like).
Each list omits the words found in the previous lists.
I’ve included all of the columns in the spreadsheet because even the less useful columns have some interesting entries… They are just few and far between.
Analysis Methodology
Bragg used TEA Crossword Helper, which is anagramming software on steroids. This is the kind of software that you use if you’re really serious about winning a major puzzle hunt.
From the TEA website:
“TEA comes with a database of over 6 million words and phrases including the title index for the English version of Wikipedia. These answers are classified by their familiarity, so you always see the most likely ones first. You can look up the meanings in the integrated dictionary/thesaurus or on the Internet. TEA is faster and more convenient than word lists in book form such as crossword completers, crossword dictionaries and crossword keys.”
Is There A Better Distribution?
The letters on each disk are pretty curious, especially when you notice oddities like the “J” in the first disk or the “Y” in the second disk.
From a letter frequency standpoint, these are not great letters to drop in those positions.
I reached out to Master Lock to ask how they chose this letter distribution, but they could not be reached for comment.
I suspect that there are more effective letter distributions possible that would generate even more words, but after a quick attempt at doing better, I fell a bit short. If you find one, I’d be curious to see it.
However, whether or not there is a better distribution, this is the one we have on these locks. It’s a lot of options. Feel free to use this list as a tool.
I LOVE that you have done this research and posted it! Thank you!! Have you done something similar for 5-letter locks? Are there other brands or models that give other possible combinations?
We have a similar analysis of the 5-letter Word Lock: https://roomescapeartist.com/2018/02/25/wordlock-all-possible-4-5-letter-words/
Are there other locks that you have in mind? I’m open to suggestions.
Hi there! I’m a first grade teacher and do lots of escape rooms in my classroom using a lock box. I NEEDED this list!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! 🙂
This is just what I was looking for. Ive been trying to generate it myself using online tools but I cant find anything that works. MY only issue is that my letter disks have different letter. Would it be possible to generate a list off words with the new disks.
Is this the lock that you have? https://roomescapeartist.com/2018/02/25/wordlock-all-possible-4-5-letter-words/
My lock is pretty new. The words are formed vertically: these are the 4 disks:
TSWPLBFRMD
AUYRWHELOI
LAOKSNTMRE
MKGDLYPETS
I don’t know the model
Interesting, that’s an unfamiliar letter distribution.
Can you send up a photo of it?I’d like to identify the lock and run an analysis. roomescapeartist@gmail.com
Here are the letters of mine. It´s a WordLock model TSA002. How do I find out the word combination possibilities? … Thanks.
sbtmhlgrdp
aoiryeulht
setcolinar
nlpatesdyk
Can you please give me an Amazon link to the specific lock?
I have a “MASTER” that will not open when I put the right combination of letters in. Can you help me unlock This lock?
There are a lot of different master lock models and many different reasons why one might not open anymore. I’d need more details on model and what’s going on.
Thank you for posting this and making the effort. I love reducing redundancy of effort and this did the trick!
Happy it helped.
I noticed that a word I wanted to use could be spelt BACKWARDS with the 4 letter master lock. A list of common english words that could be spelt backwards would really open possibilities.
Hi-
We just bought a bike that has a letter lock on it. We are trying the different ways to force it open, but have thus far been unable to. I found your site and wonder if there is an algorithm that will give me all the possible words with the following letters:
SLED
PENS
HYMN
MHLM
TNRP
WRTY
DUAL
LOOK
FAST
BIKE
The discs are vertical, so disk 1 is SPHMTWDLFB, and so on.
Thanks!
Mark
I think that I might have this one in the analysis pile. Can you tell me the model number?