Why does my wallet say the recovery phrase is invalid?

The phrase failed its BIP39 checksum. That almost always means one word is misspelled or not on the wordlist, two words are swapped, or a word is missing or duplicated. The maths simply doesn't add up, so the wallet refuses to import it.

Does an invalid phrase mean my money is gone?

Usually not. A checksum failure means the phrase as written is wrong by a small amount — a typo or a swap — which is exactly the kind of error recovery tools are built to fix.

What are the most common causes of a checksum error?

A misspelled word, a word that isn't in the BIP39 list, two adjacent words swapped, a missing or extra word, or autocorrect silently changing a word. Handwriting mix-ups like 'mom/mon' or '0/o' are frequent culprits.

How do I fix an invalid recovery phrase?

Validate the phrase to see which words aren't on the BIP39 list, accept the suggested corrections, and let the tool re-check the checksum. If a word is missing or out of order, switch to missing-word or word-order recovery.

'Invalid Recovery Phrase'? What a BIP39 Checksum Error Means

When MetaMask, Ledger Live, Trust Wallet, or any other wallet rejects your "secret recovery phrase" as invalid, it isn't being difficult — the phrase failed a mathematical check called the BIP39 checksum. The reassuring part: that almost always means a small error you can fix.

Validate and fix your phrase on the homepage tool, entirely in your browser.

What the checksum actually checks

Every BIP39 phrase ends with a few checksum bits computed from all the words before them. When you import a phrase, the wallet recomputes that checksum and compares. If they don't match, it refuses — because importing a wrong phrase would silently open the wrong (empty) wallet.

A checksum error therefore tells you something precise: the words you typed don't form a self-consistent phrase. Something is off by a little.

The usual suspects

In order of how often we see them:

A misspelled word — or a word that isn't on the 2048-word BIP39 list at all (recieve, wallett, a typo from autocorrect).
Two words swapped — order is part of the secret, so a swap breaks the checksum.
A missing or extra word — 11 words, or 13, instead of 12.
Look-alike mix-ups — 0/o, 1/l, or sloppy handwriting (mom vs mon).
A trailing space or capital letter pasted in from a notes app (harmless on their own, but a sign the source text was edited).

How to fix it, step by step

Open the recovery tool and use Validate. It flags any word that isn't on the BIP39 list and suggests the nearest real words.
Accept the correction that matches what you wrote, then re-validate. If the checksum now passes, you're done.
If every word is valid but the checksum still fails, the problem is order or a missing word, not spelling. Switch to word-order recovery or missing-word recovery.
Confirm the fixed phrase by pasting a known receive address.

Turn on fuzzy matching when you're not sure of a spelling — it expands an off-list word to its closest BIP39 neighbours and tests each.

Why "valid words, invalid phrase" happens

It surprises people that every word can be a real BIP39 word and the phrase still be invalid. That's the checksum doing its job: it validates the combination, not just the vocabulary. A single swap of two correct words is enough to fail it — and enough for the tool to fix.

Stay safe while you fix it

Do this offline if you can; the tool needs no connection.
Never paste your phrase into a tool that transmits it, and never share it with "support". No legitimate service asks for your recovery phrase.
After fixing it on an online device, move funds to a new wallet.

An "invalid recovery phrase" is good news disguised as bad: it means the answer is close. Want the bigger picture first? Read what is a seed phrase or the full recovery guide.

Validate and fix your phrase →