Password Word Generator

What the passphrase generator does

A passphrase is a password made of several random words, such as four or five words joined by hyphens. This tool picks 3 to 8 words from our list of about 9,000 common English words, using your browser's cryptographic random number generator (crypto.getRandomValues).

Everything happens on your device. Your passphrase is never sent to our server, never stored and never logged.

How to use it

1. Choose how many words. Anything from 3 to 8. More words make a stronger passphrase.
2. Pick a separator. Join the words with a space, hyphen, dot or underscore, or with nothing at all.
3. Capitalize words if a website asks for uppercase letters.
4. Add a number or add a symbol for sites that insist on them.
5. Check the strength estimate. It shows roughly how strong the passphrase is, in bits of entropy.
6. Press Generate until you get one you like, then press Copy.

How strong is a random word password?

Strength is measured in bits of entropy. Each extra bit doubles the number of guesses someone would need to try every possibility. The number of bits is the base-2 logarithm of the number of possible choices.

Each word picked at random from about 9,000 words adds about 13 bits, because 2 to the power of 13 is a little over 8,000. So four words give about 52 bits and six words about 79 bits. The estimate assumes an attacker knows exactly which word list we use – the strength comes from the random choices, not from keeping the method secret.

A number or a symbol adds a few more bits, but an extra word adds far more.

Ways to use a random word generator for passwords

The password you type most

Your computer login, phone backup or password manager needs something strong that you type often. A passphrase of real words is much quicker to type correctly than a random string.

Home network passwords

Reading four plain words out to a guest is a lot easier than spelling out a string of mixed letters, numbers and symbols.

Encrypted files and backups

Archives and backups you open only once in a while need a password you can still remember months later.

Answers to security questions

Some sites ask for your first pet or your street. A few random words make a far better answer than the real one, which other people might know. Save it with the account details.

Tips for safer passphrases

• Use each passphrase once. A different passphrase for every account means one leak can't unlock the others.
• Don't swap in words you picked yourself. Words people choose are easier to guess than words picked at random.
• Keep it somewhere safe. A password manager is ideal, or a written note kept safely at home.
• Turn on two-step verification wherever a site offers it.
• Short on space? If a site limits length, choose no separator. If it bans spaces, use a hyphen or dot.
• Need a classic password? The strong password generator mixes letters, numbers and symbols.