>>> from collections import Counter >>> given = '''ABCD CABD ACDB DACB BCDA ACBD ADCB CDAB DABC BCAD CADB CDBA CBAD ABDC ADBC BDCA DCBA BACD BADC BDAC CBDA DBCA DCAB'''.split() >>> ''.join(Counter(x).most_common()[-1][0] for x in zip(*given)) 'DBAC' >>>