About the Shuffle Text
Tezmy's Shuffle Text puts your text in a random order. Choose what gets shuffled: whole lines, words, the letters inside each word, or every character in the text. Lines mode is for lists: names for a draw, quiz questions, playlists or flashcards. Words and letters modes are for word games and puzzle making, including the well-known trick where the first and last letters of each word stay put. The shuffle uses the secure random generator in your browser and a fair method (Fisher-Yates), so every order is equally likely. Press Shuffle again for another order. Your text is never uploaded.
Updated September 2026
How to use the Shuffle Text
- 1Paste or type your text into the left box.
- 2Choose what to shuffle: lines, words, letters in words or all characters.
- 3Set the options that appear, such as keeping the first and last letter.
- 4Press Shuffle, then press Shuffle again for a different order, and copy the result.
What each mode is good for
- Lines: reorder a list. Use it for a seating order, a random playlist, an interview order, flashcards or practice questions.
- Words: make a word salad for a creative exercise, or shuffle the words of a sentence for students to put back in order.
- Letters in words: make anagram-style puzzles. Turn on the first-and-last-letter option for the readable scrambled-text effect.
- All characters: mix up text completely, for example to create placeholder gibberish that keeps the layout of a paragraph.
Why a fair shuffle matters
A common shortcut is to sort a list using a random comparison. It looks random but some orders turn up more often than others. Fisher-Yates walks through the list from the end, swapping each item with a randomly chosen one that is not yet fixed, which gives each of the possible orderings exactly the same probability.
The random numbers also matter. This tool draws them from the browser's secure generator and avoids the small bias that a simple remainder calculation would add, so even long lists are shuffled evenly.
Tips
- To take a random sample, shuffle the list and use the first few lines.
- To keep your original list, copy it before you shuffle. The left box is never changed.
- If you need the lines back in order afterwards, the Sort Lines tool will alphabetise them.
- For a draw with winners and teams, the Random Team Generator and Random Name Picker are built for that.
- Characters that combine, such as emoji with skin tones, can separate in the Letters and All characters modes, because those modes treat every code point on its own.
Features
- Four modes: lines, words, letters in words and all characters
- Fair Fisher-Yates shuffle with your browser's secure random numbers
- Spacing and line breaks stay where they were in words and character modes
- Option to keep the first and last letter of each word
- Works on whole Unicode characters, so accented letters and single emoji stay intact
- Private: nothing leaves your device
Frequently asked questions
How do I randomize a list of names or items?
Put one item on each line, choose Lines and press Shuffle. Empty lines are left out by default. Press Shuffle again for a new order. For picking just one winner, the Random Name Picker is quicker.
Is the shuffle really random and fair?
It uses the Fisher-Yates method, which gives every possible order the same chance, together with the secure random number generator built into your browser. A biased shuffle, such as sorting with a random comparison, is avoided.
What does “keep the first and last letter” do?
It scrambles only the middle of each word of four or more letters. Text like this is often still readable because the brain uses the first and last letters as anchors, which makes it a fun puzzle or test. Shorter words stay as they are.
What is the difference between Words and All characters?
Words moves whole words around and keeps each word readable. All characters mixes every letter, digit and symbol across the whole text, while spaces and line breaks stay at the same positions, so the result looks like scrambled gibberish with the same layout.
Can I get the same shuffle twice?
No. Each press uses fresh random numbers, so you cannot repeat a result. Copy the output if you want to keep it.
Is there a size limit?
Text up to 200,000 characters is accepted. That is several hundred pages, and it shuffles in a fraction of a second.