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Python Coding Challenges

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467 challenges 330 easy 120 medium 17 hard
Dicts & Sets easy

Word frequency

Return a dict mapping each word to its count in the sentence.

dict counter
+10 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

List intersection

Return the sorted list of elements common to both lists.

sets intersection
+8 pts 8m
Dicts & Sets easy

First non-repeating character

Find the index of the first character that appears only once.

dict strings counter
1
+12 pts 12m
Dicts & Sets easy

Most frequent element

Return the element that appears most often in a list.

counter dict
+8 pts 8m
Dicts & Sets easy

Merge dicts summing values

Write a function that merges two dictionaries by summing values for duplicated keys.

dicts merge sum
+10 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

Are two lists the same multiset

Write a function that checks if two lists contain the same elements with the same multiplicities, ignoring order.

multiset dictionary counting
+10 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

Word to Index Map

Create a function that returns a dictionary mapping each unique word to the index of its first occurrence.

dictionary mapping indexing
+10 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

Group names by first letter

Given a list of names, return a dictionary mapping each first letter to all names starting with that letter in original order.

dictionaries strings grouping
+10 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

Missing keys default zero

Write a function to sum numeric values from dictionaries, treating missing keys as zero.

dictionaries sum defaults
+10 pts 12m
Dicts & Sets easy

Keys Sorted by Value Descending

Given a dictionary mapping strings to integers, return a list of keys sorted by value descending, and when values tie, alphabetically ascending.

sorting dictionaries ordering
+8 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

Nested get with dotted path

Implement a function that safely retrieves a value from a deeply nested dictionary using a dot-separated path, returning a default if any key is missing.

dicts nested parsing
+8 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

Anagram Dictionary Groups Lite

Group a list of words into anagrams using a dictionary keyed by sorted characters.

dicts strings anagrams
+10 pts 15m
Dicts & Sets easy

Common Keys of Two Dictionaries

Implement a function that finds keys shared by two dictionaries and returns them sorted.

dict set sorting
+8 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

Union of Many Sets

Implement a function that takes any number of sets and returns a sorted list of their union.

sets union flatten
+10 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

Mode of a list via counting

Implement a function that returns the mode of a list, resolving ties by the element that appears first.

counting dictionaries mode
+10 pts 15m
Dicts & Sets easy

Top k keys by count

Given a dictionary mapping keys to counts, return the top k keys with the highest counts, breaking ties alphabetically.

dictionary sorting frequency
+10 pts 15m
Dicts & Sets easy

Values that appear once

Return a list of numbers that appear exactly once in the input list, in original order.

counting filtering order
+10 pts 15m
Dicts & Sets easy

Replace keys with a mapping

Write a function that renames keys in a dictionary according to a mapping, with duplicate handling.

dicts mapping transformation
+8 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

Two Sum with Dict

Implement the classic Two Sum problem: return indices of two numbers that add up to a target using a dict.

dictionary pair-sum hash-map
+10 pts 15m
Dicts & Sets easy

Anagram Groups by Size

Group a list of words into anagram groups and return them sorted by group size and lexicographically.

dicts sets sorting
+10 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

Top K Frequent Words

Given a list of words, return the k most frequent words sorted by frequency (descending) and then alphabetically.

dictionary sorting frequency
+10 pts 15m
Dicts & Sets easy

Sort by frequency

Sort a list by element frequency descending, with ties broken by order of first occurrence.

sorting frequency dictionaries
+10 pts 15m
Dicts & Sets easy

Pair with difference K

Count unordered index pairs with absolute difference exactly K, handling duplicates correctly.

dictionary set counting
+10 pts 15m
Dicts & Sets easy

Set intersection size

Count how many distinct values appear in both of two given lists.

sets intersection counting
+5 pts 8m
Dicts & Sets easy

Symmetric Difference

Write a function that computes the symmetric difference of two lists, returning a sorted list of unique elements.

sets set-operations symmetric-difference
+8 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

Disjoint Set Check

Check if two lists are disjoint by verifying they have no common elements.

sets list membership
+10 pts 15m
Dicts & Sets easy

Subset of another set

Write a function that checks if every element of one set is contained in another.

sets subset membership
+10 pts 10m
Dicts & Sets easy

Frequency sort descending

Write a function that sorts a list by frequency descending while preserving original order for ties.

frequency sorting dict
+10 pts 15m
Dicts & Sets easy

Count Pairs with Sum

Implement a function that counts the number of distinct pairs in a list summing to a target.

dictionary pair-counting hash-map
+10 pts 15m
Dicts & Sets easy

Ransom Note Builder

Given two strings, determine if the ransom note can be formed from the words in the magazine.

dictionary counting strings
+10 pts 15m

Showing 30 challenges · easy · Dicts & Sets

Dicts & Sets — Python coding challenges

What you will find here

This page lists dicts & sets challenges — real Python problems you solve in the browser IDE with instant test feedback. Each challenge includes a clear brief, starter code, and automated checks.

Challenges vs tutorials and quizzes

Challenges test what you can build under constraints. For guided teaching, use our Python tutorials. For quick checks, try quizzes or copy snippets from code samples.