Loading the tool…
How it works
- How many letters: anything from 1 to 50. A single letter is shown large so a whole room can see it.
- Letters to use: the full alphabet, vowels only (A, E, I, O, U) or consonants only.
- Leave out these letters: type any letters you never want, for example the ones you already used. The "Skip Q, X and Z" button removes the three hardest letters in one tap.
- Allow repeats: tick it to let a letter come up more than once. Untick it for all different letters.
- Letter wheel: spin for one letter. With repeats off, letters that have already come up turn grey and will not be picked again until you start a new round.
Games to play with a random letter
Category race
This is the classic Scattergories-style game, and you only need paper. Agree on six categories, such as an animal, a food, a city, a job, something in a kitchen and a name. Spin the wheel for a letter. Everyone has two minutes to write one answer for each category starting with that letter. Score a point for each answer nobody else wrote. Play several rounds with repeats off so the letter changes each time.
Alphabet chain
Generate one letter and pick a topic, like animals. The first player names an animal starting with that letter. The next player names one starting with the last letter of the previous answer. Anyone who repeats an answer or takes longer than five seconds is out.
Make the longest word
Generate nine letters with repeats off, using a mix of vowels and consonants (for example, three letters from vowels only and six from consonants only). Everyone has one minute to make the longest word they can from those letters. Check your answers afterward with the anagram solver.
Five letter challenge
Generate one letter and try to open a game of Unlimited Canuckle with a five letter word that starts with it. It forces you out of your usual opening word and teaches you new ones.
Classroom ideas
- Letter of the day: younger students say the letter, its sound and three words that start with it.
- Uppercase and lowercase matching: generate a few letters in uppercase, then switch the case setting and have students match the pairs.
- Spelling teams: generate five consonants and two vowels, and teams list every word they can spell from them.
- Fair turns: give each student a letter by first name, then spin the wheel with repeats off to decide who goes next.
Other uses
Some people use a random letter to break a tie, to choose a starting point in a book index, or to get unstuck while brainstorming names. If you want whole words instead of letters, the random word generator lets you choose a starting letter and a length, and the random noun generator gives you ready made answers for category practice.