Can I pick a random element from an array in C++?

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

string words[] = {"cake", "cookie", "carrot", "cauliflower", "cherries", "celery"};
string word = words[rand() % 6];
string guess;
int lives = 3;

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Can you guess what word I'm thinking of? I'll give you a hint: it's a food that starts with the letter C. You have three tries. Good luck!" << std::endl;

    while(lives > 0)
    {
        std::cin >> guess;
        std::cout << std::endl;

        if(guess == word)
        {
            std::cout << "Wow, That's actually correct! Good job!" << std::endl;
            break;
        }
        else
        {
            lives--;

            std::cout << "Nope! You now have " << lives << " lives left." << std::endl;
        }
    }

    if(lives <= 0)
    {
        std::cout << "And... you lose!" << std::endl;
    }

    return 0;
}

I'm currently working on a word-guessing game, but when I try to pick a random element from my words array, it gets stuck on element 1 (i.e "cookie"). I used:

string words[] = {"cake", "cookie", "carrot", "cauliflower", "cherries", "celery"};
string word = words[rand() % 6];

rand() is a pseudo random number generator. That means, given the same starting conditions (seed), it will generate the same pseudo random sequence of numbers every time.

So, change the seed for the random number generator (e.g. use the current time as a starting condition for the random number generator).

#include <iostream>
#include <ctime>
#include <cstdlib>
using namespace std;

static const string words[] = {"cake", "cookie", "carrot", "cauliflower", "cherries", "celery"};

int main() {
   //variables moved to inside main()
   string guess;
   int lives = 3;

   srand(time(NULL));
   string word = words[rand() % 6];