Random Word Generator

About this tool

This random word generator picks between 1 and 100 words at random from the ENABLE word list. You can limit the word length, require words to start with, end with or contain certain letters, block repeats, and copy the result as a list or as a single line. Under the output it shows how many words match your settings and how much randomness, in bits, each word carries, which is the number that matters if you are building a passphrase. Everything happens in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere.

How to use the random word generator

1. Choose how many words you want, from 1 to 100.
2. Set a minimum and maximum length. The defaults are 4 and 8 letters. ENABLE words run from 2 to 28 letters.
3. Add letter filters if you need them. Starts with, Ends with and Contains each take plain letters, such as s, ing or ou. Leave them empty for no filter.
4. Keep No repeats ticked if every word should be different. Untick it to allow the same word to come up twice.
5. Click Generate words. The first click downloads the word list (about 1.7 MB before compression) and shows a loading message; after that each click is instant.
6. Pick an output style, a list with one word per line or one line joined with spaces, hyphens or commas, and click Copy words.

What the ENABLE word list is

ENABLE (Enhanced North American Benchmark Lexicon) is a word list built for word games and spell checking. Its authors formally released it into the public domain and invited game designers to use it. The copy on this site has 172,823 lowercase words with no capitals, hyphens or apostrophes, so there are no names or brands. The same list powers the Anagram Solver.

ENABLE lists word forms, not parts of speech. It does not say whether a word is a noun, verb or adjective, so this tool has no noun or verb filter. Plurals and verb endings count as separate words, which is why you will often see forms like leeched or emits.

Why you see rare words, and a note for use with kids

A word-game list tries to include every valid word, not just common ones. Many of its entries are words you would rarely meet in everyday reading, such as amphioxi or cambists, both of which appear in the sample list this page shows on load. Each word in the pool has the same chance of being picked, so rare words show up far more often than they do in normal text. The list also includes profanity and crude words, and nothing here filters them out. If the words are for children, generate them yourself first and check the list before sharing it.

How it works

The tool filters the list down to the words that fit your length range and letter filters; that set is the pool. It then picks words using crypto.getRandomValues, the browser's cryptographically secure random number generator, rather than Math.random. Each random 32-bit number is checked against a cut-off and redrawn if it falls above it, so every word in the pool is equally likely (no modulo bias). With No repeats on, it shuffles the pool with a partial Fisher–Yates shuffle and takes the first words, so no word appears twice. If you ask for more unique words than the pool holds, you get the whole pool in random order and a note saying so.

Passphrases and the entropy math

Random words make good passphrases, but only if a machine picks them. The strength of a passphrase built this way is measured by how many equally likely passphrases the generator could have produced. For one word drawn from a pool of N words, that is log₂(N) bits. For k words drawn independently it is k × log₂(N) bits. With No repeats on, the count is slightly smaller, log₂(N × (N−1) × … × (N−k+1)). The panel under the output shows these numbers live for your settings.

The math assumes the attacker knows the list and your exact settings, and that you keep whatever the tool gives you. Re-rolling until you get words you like, or narrowing the filters, shrinks the pool and the real strength. For a random character password instead, use the Password Generator: a 12-character password from its full 74-character set carries about 74.5 bits.

Worked example: the default settings

The defaults are 10 words, 4 to 8 letters, no letter filters and No repeats on. Of the 172,823 ENABLE words, 79,300 are 4 to 8 letters long, so the pool is 79,300 words.

• Each word carries log₂(79,300) ≈ 16.28 bits.
• The 10-word list carries about 162.75 bits with No repeats on (162.75 without it as well, to two decimals, because the pool is large).
• A 4-word passphrase from this pool carries about 65.1 bits.

Filters change the numbers fast. Requiring words to start with s leaves 9,327 words, about 13.19 bits each. A 3 to 6 letter range leaves 28,743 words, about 14.81 bits each, and exactly 5 letters leaves 8,636 words, about 13.08 bits each.

Common mistakes

• Setting a minimum longer than the maximum. The tool stops and asks you to fix the range.
• Filters that leave almost nothing. Ends with q at 4 to 8 letters matches just two words, tranq and umiaq. Watch the pool size.
• Hand-picking a passphrase. Choosing your favourite words from several runs makes the result more guessable than the bits shown.
• Expecting only everyday words. Rare and archaic words are normal here, so a lower maximum length gives friendlier results.

Use cases

• Drawing and guessing games. Generate prompts for Pictionary-style rounds; shorter words such as 4 to 6 letters tend to be easier to draw.
• Writing prompts. Pull three to five words and write a scene that uses all of them.
• Word games and spelling practice. Get target words for a round, then scramble them with the Word Scrambler, or deal letters with the Random Letter Generator.
• Passphrases and test data. Make memorable passphrases, or fill test fields with realistic words.

Ways to use random words