Random Letter Generator
Spin a random letter (or several) with uppercase, lowercase, vowel, consonant, exclusion and no-repeat options, and keep a history of spins.
1 to 26.
Type letters to skip, e.g. "QXZ". 26 letters in play.
How the random letter generator works
Press Spin and this random letter generator draws from the 26 letters of the English alphabet, minus any you have excluded, using a fresh random seed each time. With "No repeats" selected it shuffles the available letters and takes the first few, so a draw of 5 letters will never show the same one twice; with "Repeats OK" each letter is an independent draw, the way a spinner would behave. Every result is kept in the "Previous spins" list so you can see what has already come up, which is handy when you are working through the alphabet with a class.
Classroom and party uses
- Scattergories and Categories. Spin one letter, set a timer, and everyone writes a word for each category starting with that letter. Exclude Q, X and Z to keep it fair, or leave them in for a laugh.
- Letter of the day. Spin a letter for phonics practice, handwriting or "find something that starts with…". Use lowercase for early readers who are still matching cases.
- Alphabet games. Pick a student at random by first initial, choose teams, or play "I spy" with a letter instead of a color. Vowels-only mode makes a quick "which vowel sound?" drill.
- Word building. Spin 7 letters with repeats allowed, Scrabble-style, and see who can make the longest word.
- Random initials. Writers and game designers use two letters with repeats to name characters or generate call signs.
Why some letters seem to come up more often
They do not. Each letter has exactly the same chance on every spin, 1 in 26 with the full alphabet, but humans are very good at noticing streaks. If you spin ten times, the chance that some letter appears twice is about 86%, because there are 45 different pairs of spins that could match. Three Ms in a row is unlikely for M specifically (1 in 17,576) but not very unlikely for "some letter three times in a row at some point in a long session". If you need every letter to appear exactly once, spin all 26 with repeats turned off and read them off in order.
Tips
The history list holds the last 20 spins and clears when you reload the page. For a fair game, spin in front of the group so everyone sees the same result; the page never shows different letters to different people. The tool runs entirely in your browser, so it works offline once loaded and nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
›Is every letter equally likely?
Yes. With the full alphabet each letter has a 1 in 26 chance on every spin. Excluding letters or choosing vowels only shrinks the pool but keeps every remaining letter equally likely.
›What does 'No repeats' do?
When you spin several letters at once, no letter appears twice in that draw. It shuffles the available letters and takes the first few, so you cannot ask for more letters than are in the pool.
›How do I exclude hard letters for Scattergories?
Type them in the Exclude box, for example QXZ. The hint under the box shows how many letters remain in play.
›Why did the same letter come up twice in a row?
Chance. Each spin is independent, so a repeat has a 1 in 26 probability every time, and in ten spins there is about an 86% chance that some letter repeats somewhere.
›Does the history save when I close the page?
No. The last 20 spins are kept only while the page is open. Nothing is sent to a server; the tool runs entirely in your browser.