diff --git a/wallet-tool.py b/wallet-tool.py
index 31409ad0..1a60e271 100644
--- a/wallet-tool.py
+++ b/wallet-tool.py
@@ -114,7 +114,10 @@
             words) + '\n'
     elif method == 'recover':
         words = raw_input('Input 12 word recovery seed: ')
-        words = words.split(' ')
+        words = words.split()  #default for split is 1 or more whitespace chars
+        if len(words) != 12:
+            print 'ERROR. Recovery seed phrase must be exactly 12 words.'
+            sys.exit(0)
         seed = old_mnemonic.mn_decode(words)
         print seed
     password = getpass.getpass('Enter wallet encryption passphrase: ')