Unique Morse Code Words
A easy-tier problem at 83% community acceptance, tagged with Array, Hash Table, String. Reported in interviews at Wix and 0 others.
Unique Morse Code Words is an easy-difficulty string problem that appears deceptively straightforward but catches candidates who skip over the core trick. You're given an array of words and a Morse code mapping, and you need to return how many words produce unique Morse sequences. Wix has asked it. The acceptance rate sits at 83%, which sounds comfortable until you're live and realize the naive approach runs into a hidden edge case. If this hits your OA and you blank on the pattern, StealthCoder solves it invisibly in seconds, sparing you the wasted minutes and doubt.
Companies that ask "Unique Morse Code Words"
Unique Morse Code Words is the kind of problem that decides whether you pass. StealthCoder reads the problem on screen and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Invisible to screen share. The proctor sees nothing. Made by a working Amazon engineer who got tired of watching qualified friends bomb OAs they'd solve cold in an IDE.
Get StealthCoderThe trap is overcomplicating the solution. Convert each word to its Morse representation by mapping each character, then count the unique sequences using a hash table or set. Most candidates get this right, but the friction point is realizing that Morse collisions are rare enough that brute-force string conversion works fine here. The problem tests whether you can translate between two representations and recognize when a simple Set or HashSet answers the question without optimization overthinking. Hash Table is the lever. The test cases are forgiving because the dataset is small and most Morse codes differ quickly. If you second-guess yourself on performance or try to pre-compute equivalence classes, you've already lost time. StealthCoder keeps you honest by showing the straightforward approach that passes all cases.
Pattern tags
You know the problem.
Make sure you actually pass it.
Unique Morse Code Words recycles across companies for a reason. It's easy-tier, and most candidates blank under the timer. StealthCoder is the hedge: an AI overlay invisible during screen share. It reads the problem and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Made by a working Amazon engineer who got tired of watching qualified friends bomb OAs they'd solve cold in an IDE. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Unique Morse Code Words interview FAQ
Is this problem actually easy, or does it trick people in the real OA?+
It's genuinely easy if you don't overthink it. The 83% acceptance rate confirms most people solve it correctly. The trick isn't algorithmic depth, it's the pattern recognition to use a Set and convert each word once. Candidates lose time by second-guessing whether Morse collisions are frequent enough to worry about.
What's the core algorithm and why does a hash table matter?+
Convert each word to Morse by iterating characters and mapping them. Store each Morse string in a Set. Return the set size. The hash table (Set) deduplicates in constant time per insertion, which is the only data structure you need. No complex graph or DP logic.
Is this problem asked at companies like Wix often, and what does that tell me?+
Wix has asked it at least once in hiring reports. It's a warm-up or phone-screen problem, not a bar raiser. It tests basic string manipulation and set usage. If it appears in your loop, treat it as free points and move on to harder problems quickly.
What's the most common mistake candidates make?+
Trying to optimize prematurely or worrying about Morse code collisions without proof they're an issue. Some also miscount by iterating the array twice unnecessarily. The straightforward single-pass string-to-Morse conversion with a Set is the intended solution.
How do Array, Hash Table, and String topics connect here?+
You iterate an Array of Strings. For each String, you map characters to Morse. You store results in a Hash Table (Set) to count unique codes. It's a clean three-topic intersection, which is why it's an easy problem for teaching fundamentals.
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