How this paraphraser actually works
This swaps common words for close synonyms pulled from a built-in dictionary of everyday words and phrases, at a strength you control - Light changes only a handful of eligible words, Medium changes roughly half of them, and Heavy changes most. Every word swap happens with JavaScript running in your own browser; your text is never sent to any server, which also means there's no usage limit or waiting on a response.
Why it's a starting point, not a finished rewrite
Because it works word-by-word against a fixed dictionary rather than understanding full sentence meaning or grammar, it can occasionally land a synonym that doesn't quite fit the specific context - a classic pitfall with homonyms, like swapping "right" (correct) with a word that only fits "right" (a direction). Always read the output back before using it; a quick proofread catches anything that reads awkwardly after the swap.
How this differs from an AI paraphrasing tool
A language-model-based paraphraser reads and restructures whole sentences, which can produce more natural, fluent output but requires sending your text to an AI service and waiting for a response. This tool trades that fluency for speed, privacy, and zero cost - useful when you want an instant, private first pass rather than the most polished possible rewrite.
What this tool is - and isn't - good for
It's a quick way to vary repeated phrasing across similar pieces of content, get unstuck when rewording a stale sentence, or produce a rough first-pass alternative wording to edit further by hand. It is not a guarantee against plagiarism detection, and it is not a substitute for genuinely understanding and rewriting a passage in your own words when originality actually matters.