Letter wheel
Spin to pick a random letter from A to Z. All 26 letters start with an equal chance, and you can delete the tricky ones, such as Q, X and Z, before your game begins. It is made for categories games, “name something beginning with” rounds and choosing random initials.
Press Spin, click the wheel, or press Ctrl + Enter.
Results
- Your results will appear here.
How to play a categories game with the letter wheel
Write the categories
Each player lists the same five to ten categories, such as an animal, a city, a food and a job.
Spin a letter
Spin once for the round. Everyone must find an answer to each category starting with that letter.
Stop and score
Use a kitchen timer or a phone for two or three minutes. Score a point for each answer nobody else wrote.
Next round
Press Remove it and spin again so the same letter does not come up twice in one game.
What games can I play with a random letter?
A random letter is the engine of some of the best pen-and-paper games. The classic is a categories game in the style of Scattergories: everyone gets the same letter and races to fill a list of categories. Close behind is “name something beginning with…”, where the spinner picks a letter and a topic, and each player has to answer before the next person takes a turn.
Others worth trying on a car trip or at the table:
- Alphabet story: each person adds one sentence to a story, and every sentence must start with the letter just spun.
- Five-second rule: spin a letter, then name three foods, three countries or three celebrities starting with it before the count of five.
- Word chain: spin a starting letter, then take turns saying words where each begins with the last letter of the one before.
More group ideas are collected in spin the wheel party games.
Should I remove Q, X and Z?
For most word games, yes. Very few everyday words start with Q, X or Z, and a round on one of them tends to end with everyone staring at a blank page. Remove them by pressing the cross next to each letter in the options list. Many players also take out Y, and sometimes U and V, for fast games with younger players.
If you would rather keep the hard letters but make them rarer, tick Use weights in Settings. Give the awkward letters a weight of 0.5 and leave the rest at 1, and they will come up about half as often. Press Reset to default whenever you want the full alphabet back.
Can I spin only vowels or only consonants?
Yes. Press Edit as text and replace the list with just A, E, I, O and U, one per line, to make a vowel wheel. For a consonant wheel, delete those five from the full list instead. That is useful for word-building games where each player collects a set of letters and tries to make the longest word.
The wheel on this page keeps only one set at a time, so build each version, press Share or embed and bookmark the two links. Each link reopens its own wheel.
How do I pick random initials?
Spin twice: the first letter is the first name, the second is the surname. Writers use this to break a naming block for a new character, and it makes a good party warm-up too: spin a pair of initials, and players invent a person to match, with a name, a job and a hobby. If you want a full random name instead, the name picker spins your own list of names.
Letter wheel for learning and spelling
In a classroom the letter wheel works as a quick starter: spin a letter and give pupils one minute to write as many words beginning with it as they can. Younger children do better with the picture-word version, the alphabet wheel for kids, where every letter comes with a simple word. For spelling tests, try the spelling word wheel.
You can also type lowercase letters, or letters from other alphabets such as Ñ or Ä, using Edit as text.
Frequently asked questions
What are the odds of spinning any one letter?
With all 26 letters on the wheel, each has a 1 in 26 chance, a little under 4%. Removing letters raises the odds of the rest, and turning on weights lets you make some letters more or less likely than others.
How do I stop a letter coming up twice in a game?
Tick Remove the winner after each spin in Settings, or press Remove it and spin again in the result pop-up. Each letter leaves the wheel once used. Press Reset to default to bring the whole alphabet back for a new game.
Does the letter wheel have a timer for categories games?
No. The wheel only picks the letter. Use a phone, a kitchen timer or a sand timer for the round, and keep the letter on screen in the result pop-up while everyone writes.
Can I use lowercase letters or another alphabet?
Yes. Press Edit as text and type the letters you want, one per line. Lowercase, accented letters and other alphabets all work, and each option can be up to 60 characters.
Which letters are hardest for word games?
Q, X and Z start very few common English words, and Y, V and U can also be tough. Many players remove those before starting, or give them a lower weight so they appear less often.