The Complete BIP-39 Wordlist

How the wordlist actually works

A wallet doesn't pick words from a hat. It starts with entropy — true randomness, 128 bits for a 12-word phrase or 256 bits for 24. The last chunk of a phrase isn't random at all: it's a checksum computed from the rest, which is why a mistyped word usually makes the wallet reject the whole phrase instead of quietly opening a different, empty wallet.

The bits are then chopped into 11-bit blocks, and each block is read as a number from 0 to 2047 — a row number in the list above. That's the entire mapping: 11 bits per word, 12 words for 132 bits (128 entropy + 4 checksum), 24 words for 264 (256 + 8). The list is sorted so that every wallet agrees on which word sits at which index — abandon is 0, zoo is 2047.

One deliberate design property: the first four letters of every word are unique. A wallet only ever needs to store 4 letters per word, and a human only needs the first four letters to look up which word they wrote down — search “aban” above and you get exactly one answer.

Why publishing the list doesn't weaken your wallet

This confuses a lot of newcomers, so it's worth being blunt. Knowing the dictionary does not help an attacker, because the dictionary was never the secret. The secret is the random choice of 12 words out of 2,048: 2,048¹² ≈ 5.4 × 10³⁹ possible phrases. Even checking a billion candidates per second, exhausting 12-word phrases would take roughly 10¹³ times the age of the universe.

The attacks that actually empty wallets are duller: a fake “validate your phrase” page, a clipboard malware that swaps a withdrawal address, a “support agent” on Telegram, a photo of the phrase synced to cloud storage. That's why every security guide — including ours — says the same three things: write it on paper or steel, keep it offline, and never type it into anything with a network connection.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• Seed Phrase — the glossary entry — what the phrase controls and how to store it
• Why you should never generate a seed phrase online — the generation side of safety
• BIP-39 — the standard behind the list
• HD Wallet — how one phrase manages hundreds of addresses
• Hardware wallet scams explained — fake devices and tampered seals
• Crypto recovery scams explained — who comes for you after the phrase is gone
• How to prevent wallet drainers — the signature side of theft