To unscramble means to rearrange mixed-up letters, words, or things back into their correct order. When you unscramble the letters “TAC,” you rearrange them to spell “CAT.” When you unscramble a puzzle where the words of a sentence are jumbled, you figure out the right sequence so the sentence makes sense again.

The word suggests taking something confusing or disordered and making it clear and organized. A spy might need to unscramble a coded message to read the original information. After your little brother mixes up all the pieces from three different jigsaw puzzles, you'd have to unscramble them to figure out which pieces belong to which puzzle.

You can also use unscramble more broadly for any situation where you're sorting out confusion. If your notes from history class got shuffled together with your math homework, you might need to unscramble everything to find what you need. The key idea is always the same: taking something mixed up and restoring order or meaning to it.