Fake Word Generator

The Fake Word Generator returns between one and ten made-up words per click from a list of 695. They aren't random letter strings. Each one is built from English-sounding syllables and endings, so you get words like fozzockle, welculness, piggarize and portimision that you can pronounce on the first try and that feel like they ought to mean something. That's the point: nonsense words that pass as real are what you need for reading tests, placeholder brand names, fantasy vocab, passwords and party games.

How it works

Enter how many words you want, from 1 to 10 (the default is 5), and press the button. The list is shuffled before the first few are shown, so a batch never repeats, and each click gives a fresh set. Words are shown with the first letter capitalized. There's no option to build words from a set of letters you supply, and no length or starting-letter filter; if you want a specific shape, generate a few batches and pick.

What the words are like

• Length – most are 6 to 12 letters. The biggest group is 9 letters (about 100 words), and there are only around 30 words under 5 letters (zud, kerz, mor, og, raez).
• English morphology – many carry real suffixes, which is why they read as words: -ize (piggarize, modustanize), -ly (creably, freingly, frialineoutly), -ness (welculness, drowness), -tion (prization, tractione), -ed (rookied, peneard), -esque (braesquesque).
• Pronounceable – consonant clusters are ones English actually uses (str-, thr-, -mph, -nk). Nothing like "xqzv".
• Plain letters only – no digits, and just one hyphenated entry (ahoy-wut).

Because the spelling is regular, a few of them happen to be very close to real words (impective, suppley, corrower). Read a word aloud before using it as a "definitely fake" item in a test.

Uses

• Lexical decision and reading tests – teachers and researchers need pseudowords that follow English spelling so the only thing being tested is whether the reader knows the word. Pair them with real words from the Random Word Generator or Random Noun Generator for the "real" half of the list.
• Balderdash and dictionary games – draw one word, everyone writes a fake definition, vote on the most convincing. "Fozzockle" has started more arguments than it should.
• Fantasy and sci-fi vocabulary – spells, currencies, plants, alien foods. "Avensanace" works as a potion; "Seiliu" as a place. For character and place names there are dedicated tools, but for a made-up noun this is quicker.
• Placeholder brand and product names – when a mockup needs a company name that nobody will mistake for a real one. Check the domain later if you actually fall for it.
• Memorable passphrases – three fake words plus a number (Piggarize-Themph-Kerz-41) is easy to say and hard to dictionary-attack, since none of the words are in a dictionary. Don't use a single word on its own.
• Songwriting and scat – a nonsense word with the right stress pattern fills a line while you find the real lyric. The Random Word Generator for Songs and Rhyming Words Generator cover the real-word side.

Why a fake word "sounds right"

English has rules for which sounds can sit next to each other, called phonotactics. "Sn" can start a word, "ng" can't; "-mpt" can end one, "-tk" can't. A pseudoword that obeys those rules, and uses familiar suffixes, gets processed by your brain almost like a real word, which is why linguists use them to test reading and why they make believable product names. Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" is the classic demonstration: "slithy toves" means nothing, yet everyone agrees on how to say it and roughly what it feels like. The words in this list follow the same principle, just without the poetry. If you'd rather start from raw letters and build your own, the Random Letter Generator gives you the pieces, and the Acronym Generator goes the other way, turning a phrase into a pronounceable abbreviation. More word tools are under all word and language generators.