How to find the most frequent number in a range
✓ Verified in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3Get the value that appears most often — the statistical mode.
The formula
| App | Formula | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Excel | =MODE.SNGL(A2:A6) | MODE.MULT returns ALL tied modes as a spill; legacy =MODE() still works. |
| Google Sheets | =MODE(A2:A6) | MODE.SNGL also available; identical behavior. |
| LibreOffice Calc | =MODE.SNGL(A2:A6) | Identical. |
How it works
MODE.SNGL returns the single most frequent number — 2 appears three times here. With a tie it returns whichever mode occurs first, which is why MODE.MULT (spilling every tied value) exists. These only work on numbers; for the most frequent TEXT value use =INDEX(A2:A6,MATCH(MAX(COUNTIF(A2:A6,A2:A6)),COUNTIF(A2:A6,A2:A6),0)) — or UNIQUE+COUNTIF sorting in modern versions.
Verified, not just documented
We ran =MODE.SNGL(A2:A6) in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 (headless, with forced recalculation) and it returned 2 — exactly the expected result. Every formula here is confirmed by actually executing it.