Phrase · Two missing words
Two words of my phrase are missing: when it is still workable
With one missing word there are a handful of possible phrases. With two, the figure multiplies by two thousand. That is still a manageable number, but no longer instant, and from there what decides the case is the surrounding information.
What changes exactly
Each missing word multiplies the combinations to generate by 2048, and the phrase’s internal check keeps discarding fifteen out of every sixteen. The practical result: from a hundred-odd possible phrases we go to a few hundred thousand. An ordinary computer generates those fast; the slow part is checking which one holds your money.
And that is the crux. Checking a phrase means asking the chain whether any of its addresses holds a balance, and that has to be done carefully or it takes weeks. Having one of your own addresses turns that check into an instant one.
What rescues a two-word case
- Knowing which positions are missing. If you know it’s the fourth and the ninth, the work drops enormously compared with «two are missing, I don’t know which».
- One of your addresses. By far the most valuable detail. It turns a search into a check.
- The app you created the wallet with. It saves trying every way of organising accounts.
- Remembering anything about the missing words: the first letter, that it was long, that it had to do with animals. Every detail cuts an order of magnitude.
When it stops being worth it
| Situation | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Two known gaps and one of your addresses | A good case |
| Two known gaps, no address | Workable, slower |
| Two missing words in unknown positions | Hard, depends on the rest |
| Two words missing plus doubts about the order | Usually not |
| Two words plus a forgotten passphrase | No case |
That last row matters and I repeat it throughout this section: a forgotten additional password turns any case, however easy, into an impossible one. It is explained in the «25th word».