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Generator Hut

Passphrase Generator

Memorable word passphrases with honest strength maths.

Passphrase settings

Each word adds 10.3 bits. Six is the sensible floor.

Correct-Horse

For sites that insist

Reasonable62 bits of entropy

Offline attack: 218 days

Adequate for most accounts today.

Drawing from a 1,247-word list. Adding a digit or capitals changes almost nothing — word count is what matters.

Your passphrases

Press Generate to create passphrases.

Generate a passphrase from random words — the approach that produces something you can actually remember and type, while still being genuinely strong. Words are drawn independently from a 1,247-word list using your device's cryptographic random source, and the tool shows exactly how much entropy that gives you rather than a vague strength rating.

Why use this tool?

Actually memorable

Random words form images you can rehearse. Random characters do not, which is why people write those down or weaken them until they can.

Honest word maths

1,247 words means 10.3 bits each. The list size is stated openly, because a generator that hides it is hiding its strength.

Never leaves your device

Generated in your browser on a static page with no server behind it. Nothing is transmitted, logged or stored.

Easy to type

All-lowercase words with a separator are far quicker to type on a phone or a games console than a symbol-heavy string.

How this passphrase generator works

Each word is drawn independently from a 1,247-word list using the Web Crypto API, with replacement — meaning the same word can appear twice, exactly as the entropy formula assumes. Drawing without replacement would very slightly shrink the space and make the stated bit count an overstatement, which is the kind of small dishonesty worth avoiding in a security tool.

The strength is word count multiplied by the base-two logarithm of the list size. At 1,247 words each contributes 10.3 bits: six words gives 62 bits, eight gives 82, ten gives 103. Notice what is missing from that formula — capitalisation and appended digits barely register, because they add one or two bits against the ten that each extra word contributes.

The word list is built for recall rather than obscurity: short, concrete, common words that are unambiguous to spell from hearing. Using rare words would add entropy per word, but a passphrase you cannot spell is one you will replace with something weaker.

How to use it

  1. Step 1: Choose a word count

    Six is the sensible floor. Eight for a master password or disk encryption. The entropy readout updates as you move the slider.

  2. Step 2: Pick a separator

    Hyphens are the usual choice. Spaces work where allowed and are easier to read.

  3. Step 3: Generate and rehearse

    Press Generate, pick one that forms a picture in your head, and type it out a few times before relying on it.

Example usage

A password manager master password
Eight words, hyphenated. It is the one password protecting everything else and the one you type most often, so it needs both strength and typeability.
Disk or device encryption
Eight to ten words, since you may have to type it on a keyboard with no password manager available.
A shared team credential
Six words with spaces, easy to read out over a call without spelling every character.

Frequently asked questions

Are passphrases really as secure as random passwords?

They are, if you use enough words. Strength is just the size of the space the generator drew from. Eight words from this list gives 82 bits, comparable to a thirteen-character random password with all four character types — and far easier to remember. The catch is that this only holds when a machine picks the words. Words you choose yourself are not random and are dramatically weaker.

How many words do I need?

Six is the floor at 62 bits. Eight gives 82 bits and is a good choice for anything important. Ten gives 103 bits, past any foreseeable brute-force attack. Each word adds about ten bits, so the slider moves the number quickly.

Does capitalising or adding a number help?

Barely. Capitalising adds about one bit and a digit adds around three — against roughly ten for one more word. The options exist because some sites demand a number, not because they meaningfully improve the passphrase.

Isn't a known word list a weakness?

No, and assuming otherwise is a common mistake. The security comes from the number of equally likely combinations, not from secrecy about the method. An attacker who knows the exact list and the word count still faces 1,247 to the power of eight possibilities. Assuming the attacker knows your method is the correct way to reason about this.

What about the famous xkcd comic?

The principle it popularised is sound: random words beat character substitution for the same memorability. The specific example it used is a little short by current standards — four words from a small list is no longer sufficient — but the argument, that human memory should be spent on length rather than on unmemorable substitutions, was right.

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