How to use the random word generator
- Pick a Word type: All (mixed), Nouns, Verbs or Adjectives.
- Enter How many?, a whole number from 1 to 50.
- Optionally type one to three letters in Starts with, such as "st" for stone, storm or stir.
- Set Min length and Max length in letters. Every word in the dictionary has between 3 and 11 letters.
- Press Generate Words or hit Enter. Tap a word to copy it, or use Copy all for a comma-separated list.
Writers use a batch as a story prompt, teachers use the Starts with filter for spelling drills, and game hosts use it for charades or Pictionary cards. For names rather than words, try the Random Name Picker or the Username Generator, and for filler text use the Lorem Ipsum Generator.
How the words are chosen
The dictionary holds 1,017 everyday words: 398 nouns, 277 verbs and 342 adjectives. The tool first keeps only the words that match your type, first letters and length range. It then shuffles those matches with a Fisher-Yates shuffle driven by your browser's crypto.getRandomValues() generator and shows the first batch. Every matching word is equally likely, and rejection sampling removes the small bias that a plain remainder would add.
Worked example
Leave the defaults (All, 5 words, min 3, max 12, no starting letters) and the tool shows five words, for example lantern, glide, cozy, harbor and sketch, under the line "Showing 5 of 1,017 matching words." The words change on every run, but the count of matches does not.
Now narrow it down: choose Verbs, type "sp" in Starts with and set Max length to 5. Exactly two verbs match, spark and spin, so asking for 5 words returns just those two and says "Showing 2 of 2 matching words."
Limits and edge cases
- The list is small and plain on purpose. It has no proper nouns, brand names, profanity or slurs, but two random words can still make an awkward pair, so skim a batch before using it in a classroom.
- Some letters are thin: only two words start with x (xylophone and xenon), so a filter like "x" returns very little.
- Length fields accept 1 to 20 letters, but the longest word is 11 letters long. If Min length is higher than Max length, or a field is empty or not a whole number, the tool shows a message under that field instead of guessing.
- Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere. The word list loads with the page.
Random word generator FAQ
How many words does the random word generator have?
It has 1,017 common English words: 398 nouns, 277 verbs and 342 adjectives. Each word sits in one list only, so the mixed setting never favors a word that would otherwise appear twice.
How do I get random words that start with a certain letter?
Type one to three letters in Starts with, for example "s" or "st". Only words that begin with those letters are drawn. The letters are not case sensitive, and the tool tells you how many words match.
Will I get the same word twice?
Not within one batch, because the matching words are shuffled and the first few are shown. Across separate clicks, a word can come up again because every batch is drawn fresh from the whole list.
Can I use these words as a password or passphrase?
No. A list of 1,017 words gives about 10 bits per word (log base 2 of 1,017 is 9.99), so six random words add up to roughly 60 bits. The EFF recommends at least six words from its 7,776-word list, which is about 77 bits. Use the Password Generator for anything you need to keep secure.
Sources: MDN Web Docs, Crypto: getRandomValues(); Electronic Frontier Foundation, Dice-Generated Passphrases.