How to Generate a List of Random Words in Excel? – Use of Functions

Sometimes we use Excel to perform dynamic activities that require the use of random values. For this, it is essential to know how to generate a list of random words in Excel using the use of functions and in this tutorial we show you all the steps you must follow.

What functions do we need to create random word lists in Excel?

Excel has several functions for handle numeric values and character strings. The functions we need to create random word lists in Excel are RANDOM.BETWEEN and CHOOSE. The arguments to the CHOOSE function include the use of RANDOM.BETWEEN as well as cells that contain a series of letters or numbers.

In addition, you can use a function called CHARACTER that will be very useful when get a random letter taking into account the ASCII code. The syntax of this function only includes an element of type integer that refers to a character according to the universal Unicode standard.

The RANDOM.BETWEEN function

The RANDOM.BETWEEN function is included in the group of Excel math and trigonometric functions and is used to obtain a random number equal to or greater than a lower bound and equal to or less than an upper bound. These bounds are the function arguments that can be extracted as numbers and cell data using references.

In order to get a random number with the RANDOM.BETWEEN function, you must click on the formula bar or in ‘fx’ above the spreadsheet. Select the category ‘Mathematics and trigonometrics’, click on RANDOM.BETWEEN and press ‘OK’. Enter or choose the lower and upper limit and press ‘OK’.

The CHOOSE function

On the other hand, the CHOOSE function takes care of receiving a range of values ​​in Excel to select a single value after specify element position what is needed The Office application allows you to define an index number between 1 and 254 to add to the list or range as an argument to the function.

Suppose you are going to make an excel table with values from 1 to 6 (A2:A6) with cells containing a grade (F, E, D, C, B, A) from B2 to B6. Another table lists three students with their grade. For get the equivalence in letters write the formula = SELECT (E2, $B$2, $B$3, $B$4, $B$5, $B$6) where E2 is the position to search for.

Steps I need to follow to create a list of random words

It is possible to create a list of random words. To achieve this, type several letters in an Excel table, place the cursor on the cell where you want create the list and press the ‘fx’ icon to access the formula wizard. In the new window, select the ‘Recommended’ category, click CHOOSE and press the ‘OK’ button.

Indicate the Function arguments. In ‘Index_Num’ write RANDOM.BETWEEN (1, 5) reflecting the lower and upper bound of this formula. Then type B2 for value 1, B2 for value 2, B3 for value 3 through B5 in order to reference the cells that contain the letters. Then press the ‘OK’ button to run the function.

How to generate random letters thanks to the ASCII code?

The ASCII code is a standard used to represent elements (numbers, letters, symbols, and punctuation marks) on a computer using the use of a specific encoding that is written, translated and displayed on the screen. From your computer, you will need to press ‘Alt’ and the number that corresponds to the ASCII code for a particular item.

It is possible to generate random letters thanks to the ASCII code. To achieve this, you need to use a function called CHARACTER through which you can get the code of a number, a letter, a sign or an equivalent symbol. So the argument to this function will be a numeric value ranging from 1 to 255.

Place the cursor where you want to generate the random letter and press ‘fx’ to insert a function through the formula bar of Microsoft Excel. Choose the ‘Text’ category, click CHARACTER and press the ‘OK’ button. Write the number corresponding to the ASCII code that you can see from the website ‘the ASCII code’ and click ‘OK’.