Passphrase Generator
Generate a random passphrase made of common English words. Long but memorable — ideal for master passwords. Free, no signup.
How to use this tool
- Choose the number of words (4 is a good default).
- Pick a separator character between words.
- Toggle capitalisation for the first letter of each word.
- Click Calculate to generate; click again to get a fresh passphrase.
Passphrases combine multiple random common words, trading complexity for memorability. A 4-word passphrase is both stronger than most passwords and far easier to remember.
How it works
The Passphrase Generator builds a memorable secret by chaining multiple common English words together, optionally separated by a delimiter character and with each word capitalized. This approach produces passwords that are long enough to be computationally strong yet easy for humans to remember without writing them down.
Entropy comes from the number of words and the size of the word list. A four-word passphrase drawn from a 2,000-word list has roughly 44 bits of entropy, while six words exceeds 66 bits, which is considered very strong. Compare this to a short random password: 8 random lowercase letters yields only about 37 bits.
Passphrases are ideal for master passwords on a password manager, disk encryption keys, and any account where you must type the password from memory rather than paste it. Use a separator such as a hyphen or period to make the phrase easier to type accurately.
Worked example
Creating a strong master password
- Set Number of words to 5.
- Set Separator to '-'.
- Enable Capitalize first letter.
- Click Generate.
- Read the passphrase aloud two or three times to commit it to memory.
A passphrase such as 'River-Candle-Fossil-Gentle-Maroon' that is strong and memorable.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Using only 3 words, which may not meet the minimum entropy requirements of some security policies.
- Leaving the separator blank and then finding it hard to type the words correctly when they run together.
- Sharing a generated passphrase over an insecure channel such as email or unencrypted chat immediately after creating it.
Key terms
- Passphrase
- A password composed of multiple natural-language words rather than a single random string of characters.
- Entropy (password)
- The number of bits of randomness in a password; higher entropy means more resistance to guessing attacks.
- Delimiter
- A separator character inserted between words (e.g. a hyphen or period) to aid readability and typing accuracy.
Frequently asked questions
- Why are passphrases better than passwords?
- Longer inputs have more entropy. 'correct-horse-battery-staple' is harder to brute-force than 'P@ssw0rd!' even though the latter looks complex.
- How many possible passphrases are there?
- With a 150-word list and 4 words the space is 150^4 ≈ 506 million combinations, giving about 29 bits of entropy.
- Can I use these as my real passwords?
- Yes — these passphrases are generated entirely in your browser and never sent to any server.