<p>Above answers regarding seedrecover.py and BIP39 are wrong.
Blockchain.info legacy wallets can use any number of words from 15 to 21 or more. The number of words changes depending on your password length.</p>
<p>The words are NOT a part of the BIP39 seed words and seedrecover.py will NOT be able to find the missing words as it is based on a completly different algorithm.</p>
<p>Blockchain.info used their own wordlist composed of over 50000 words not compatible with the BIP39 wordlist pre 2016. From 2016 they started to use 12 word seeds compatible with BIP39.</p>
<p>Your seed is either missing a word or you have entered a wrong word.</p>
<p>The seed does not contain your private key like the BIP39 seed words, instead it has your wallet ID to login to blockchain.com and your password. In rare instances the seed only contains your username and pass, that is if it was created pre 2013.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-18T02:42:13.727Z
2021-02-18T02:42:13.727Z
KeychainX
<p>BIP 39 backup seed words always come in triplets, e.g., 3, 6, 9, <strong>12</strong>, 15, <strong>18</strong>, 21, <strong>24</strong>... Most wallets support 12, 18 or 24 words. The only thing that makes sense is that you might have a HD wallet that is using 15 seed words and an additional passphrase that was of you choosing, BIP 39 salt. Check to see if the first or last word in your list is not in the list of BIP 39 words documented <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/bip-0039-wordlists.md" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>here</strong></a>. If this is the case, this word might be acting a a passphrase, the BIP 39 salt. </p>

<p>Otherwise, you are almost SOL. If this is the case, you probably have substantial work ahead of you to figure the two missing <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/bip-0039-wordlists.md" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>BIP 39 seed words</strong></a> and their correct positions.  </p>

<p>The morale of the the story is haste makes waste when writing down BIP 39 seed words. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-02T02:34:40.507Z
2018-03-02T02:34:40.507Z
skaht
<p>You had to chose a password and write down the seed to make it secure. You can't access your wallet without password or seed. Otherwise, someone could easily steal the coins. So your only possibilities are</p>

<p>(1) remembering the password.</p>

<p>(2) You said that your seed (16 words) did not work. Maybe you wrote them down incorrectly. If your wallet supports the default BIP-0039, you could look up the words and check them here: <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/english.txt" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/english.txt</a>
Maybe you wrote "odd" instead of "add" or smth. like this down.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-15T20:39:47.600Z
If it's a [BIP39](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki) recovery seed, it's 12, 15, 18, 21, or 24 words long.
brec
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-14T21:01:38.670Z
2018-01-14T21:01:38.670Z
hardfork
<p>Blockchain.info uses either 17 or 12 recovery words.  Looks like you are missing a word.  You can use <a href="https://github.com/gurnec/btcrecover/blob/master/docs/Seedrecover_Quick_Start_Guide.md" rel="nofollow noreferrer">seedrecover.py</a> to try to get your missing word back.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-17T03:47:51.277Z
can I still use the suggestion you gave on encrypted blockchain wallet. I downloaded it since
Awwal Kako
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-29T02:06:13.757Z
No.  You can either try to brute force the encrypted wallet or recover the missing words.
David Veksler
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-30T08:40:36.057Z
So, this script can be configured or changed to brute-force then? - I suppose I am right that the process may take a while?
Willtech
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-05T13:09:55.533Z
Yes.  If you only have the last word missing, it should not take more than a second to find the missing word.
David Veksler
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-16T00:35:19.383Z
2018-01-16T00:35:19.383Z
David Veksler
<p>I downloaded my blockchain wallet but now i forget the password and my recovery phrase is 16 word, so I tried them but they are not working. Can somebody please help me?</p>

<blockchain><wallet-recovery><seed><mnemonic-seed>
16 word recovery phrase for blockchain wallet not working
Awwal Kako
# 16 word recovery phrase for blockchain wallet not working

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-01-14)

I downloaded my blockchain wallet but now i forget the password and my recovery phrase is 16 word, so I tried them but they are not working. Can somebody please help me?

**Tags:** blockchain, wallet-recovery, seed, mnemonic-seed


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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-02-18. Score: 4

Above answers regarding seedrecover.py and BIP39 are wrong.
Blockchain.info legacy wallets can use any number of words from 15 to 21 or more. The number of words changes depending on your password length.

The words are NOT a part of the BIP39 seed words and seedrecover.py will NOT be able to find the missing words as it is based on a completly different algorithm.

Blockchain.info used their own wordlist composed of over 50000 words not compatible with the BIP39 wordlist pre 2016. From 2016 they started to use 12 word seeds compatible with BIP39.

Your seed is either missing a word or you have entered a wrong word.

The seed does not contain your private key like the BIP39 seed words, instead it has your wallet ID to login to blockchain.com and your password. In rare instances the seed only contains your username and pass, that is if it was created pre 2013.


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-03-02. Score: 1

BIP 39 backup seed words always come in triplets, e.g., 3, 6, 9, **12**, 15, **18**, 21, **24**... Most wallets support 12, 18 or 24 words. The only thing that makes sense is that you might have a HD wallet that is using 15 seed words and an additional passphrase that was of you choosing, BIP 39 salt. Check to see if the first or last word in your list is not in the list of BIP 39 words documented [**here**](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/bip-0039-wordlists.md). If this is the case, this word might be acting a a passphrase, the BIP 39 salt.

Otherwise, you are almost SOL. If this is the case, you probably have substantial work ahead of you to figure the two missing [**BIP 39 seed words**](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/bip-0039-wordlists.md) and their correct positions.

The morale of the the story is haste makes waste when writing down BIP 39 seed words.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-01-14. Score: -1

You had to chose a password and write down the seed to make it secure. You can't access your wallet without password or seed. Otherwise, someone could easily steal the coins. So your only possibilities are

(1) remembering the password.

(2) You said that your seed (16 words) did not work. Maybe you wrote them down incorrectly. If your wallet supports the default BIP-0039, you could look up the words and check them here: <https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/english.txt>
Maybe you wrote "odd" instead of "add" or smth. like this down.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: If it's a [BIP39](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki) recovery seed, it's 12, 15, 18, 21, or 24 words long.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2018-01-16. Score: -1

Blockchain.info uses either 17 or 12 recovery words. Looks like you are missing a word. You can use [seedrecover.py](https://github.com/gurnec/btcrecover/blob/master/docs/Seedrecover_Quick_Start_Guide.md) to try to get your missing word back.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: can I still use the suggestion you gave on encrypted blockchain wallet. I downloaded it since  
> **username_5**: No.  You can either try to brute force the encrypted wallet or recover the missing words.  
> **username_6**: So, this script can be configured or changed to brute-force then? - I suppose I am right that the process may take a while?  
> **username_5**: Yes.  If you only have the last word missing, it should not take more than a second to find the missing word.  

---

