There isn't a single number before 1,000 that contains the second most common letter in the alphabet. Mind = blown!
No Number Before 1,000 Contains This Common Letter
Updated on Jul. 22, 2025
Write out each number up to 1,000—using words, not numerals—and you might start to notice the conspicuous absence of one letter. In fact, the second most common letter in English is nowhere to be found. That’s right: No number before 1,000 contains the letter a. English has its own set of foibles and quirks, but it’s really surprising to know that the letter A makes an appearance in none of the one, two or three-digit numbers.
Hard to believe, right? Read on to find out exactly where this letter makes its first appearance, why no number before 1,000 contains the letter a and a caveat to this interesting number trivia.
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What’s the first number to contain the letter a?
It’ll take you until 1,000 to finally write the letter a. Yup, the first letter of the alphabet is absent for 999 numbers, finally showing up in the word one thousand.
Think about it: There’s no a in the numbers one through 19. Nor is there an a in any multiple of 10 or the word hundred. And there you have it: Those are all the words you need to spell the first 999 numbers. Not a single number before 1,000 contains the letter a!
What makes this such a notable number fact?
A is the first letter in our alphabet, second only to e in the number of appearances in the Oxford English Dictionary, and yet it’s nowhere to be found in the English spellings of the first 999 numbers. Every other vowel (yes, including y) appears in the spelling of every possible one-, two- or three-digit number.
And get this: Even though no number before 1,000 contains the letter a, plenty contain the uncommon letter x. When writing one to 999, you’d use x more than 200 times, thanks to six, 16 and 60. (Yep, English is weird.)
When can you find an a in numbers before 1,000?
No number before 1,000 contains a … unless you count and when writing out the words. Take, for instance, “one hundred and one” or “one hundred and two.” If you use just the numeral words, though, none of them contain the letter a.
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