MULTINOMIAL Function in Excel: Ways to Split Into Groups

MULTINOMIAL Function in Excel: Ways to Split Into Groups featured illustration

📎 This article includes 1 downloadable practice file ↓

⏱ 2 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

MathLevel: ExpertAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. MULTINOMIAL in practice
  5. Where you will use it
  6. Worked example
  7. Mistakes people make
  8. Related functions
  9. Continue learning

MULTINOMIAL counts ways to divide items into groups of given sizes.

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Syntax

=MULTINOMIAL(number1, [number2], ...)
Argument What it means
number1… Group sizes.

Examples

Example 1

=MULTINOMIAL(2, 3, 4)

1,260 ways to split 9 people into teams of 2, 3 and 4.

MULTINOMIAL in practice

Where you will use it

  • Ways to split items into groups
  • Probability of mixed outcomes
  • Combinatorics

Worked example

GroupsFormulaResult
2, 3, 4=MULTINOMIAL(CHOOSE(ROW()-1,{2,3,4},{1,1,1},{5,5}))1260
1, 1, 1=MULTINOMIAL(CHOOSE(ROW()-1,{2,3,4},{1,1,1},{5,5}))6
5, 5=MULTINOMIAL(CHOOSE(ROW()-1,{2,3,4},{1,1,1},{5,5}))252

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

MistakeWhat to do instead
DecimalsTruncated
Huge resultsGrow very fast

COMBIN · FACT

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📎 Practice files for this article

  • 📗
    Practice workbook: Math & rounding24 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
    ⬇ XLSX · 35 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.

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