Word definitions board game

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Subjects

• Language Arts

Grades

• 3-5
• 6-8

Brief Description

Students make up definitions for unfamiliar words and then try to guess the real definitions.

Objectives

Students improve their vocabulary by learning the definitions of unfamiliar words.

Keywords

definition, vocabulary, dictionary

Materials Needed

index cards, pens or pencils

Lesson Plan

Choose a word that no student can define, and write the definition on an index card. Ask each student to write a made-up definition for the word on an identical index card. Collect and shuffle the index cards. Read each definition and have students vote for the correct definition. Students score points each time another student votes for their definitions or if they identify the correct definition. The student with the most points wins the game.

Assessment

Evaluate students on their participation in the activity.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

National Standards

Language Arts:
NL-ENG.K-12.7

These word board games are an excellent way to build up your middle schooler’s vocabulary. They’re educational board games for teenagers.

As teens get ready for high school, it’s important that they have strong language skills, both reading and writing. That means during the middle school years, they should spend time improving their spelling and vocabulary skills.

Instead of relying on a large curriculum or boring worksheets to help your teens further develop their word building skills, play some of these board games instead. They’re a great way to work on language arts.

When middle schoolers play these vocabulary word games, they’re not just sitting there answering questions and spouting memorized facts. They’re playing with words and being creative.

Fun language arts games help teens get comfortable with spelling, vocabulary, and building words. All of which improve their reading and writing skills.

Personally, I think the days of giving kids long lists of words to memorize for spelling and vocabulary are long gone.

Tweens learn better when they’re immersed in a subject instead of just retaining facts.

One way to engage your homeschooler in language is to play games specifically designed for word building. As they play, they’ll be shoring up their spelling skills, building their vocabulary and improving their reading skills, all while having some fun.

Board games also have an element of friendly competition built in, so your older kids will be busy trying to beat you and each other, and they’ll probably forget they’re actually learning.

Not only are these word games perfect for language arts class, they’re so enjoyable that they make great additions to your family game night.

The ultimate goal is to raise kids who can communicate effectively, whether written or verbally, so I’m all for using whatever tools work to accomplish this.

These board games and card games are fun to play and excellent tools to add to your language arts plans.

How to Use Board Games in the Classroom

So how can you incorporate board games like these into your classroom or homeschool? It’s actually easier than you think!

• Set aside your language arts curriculum for the day (especially any spelling or vocabulary plans) and play a game instead.
• Transform a standard game by using the facts you’re teaching as the clues.
• Play a word game during lunch. It’s simple to pull out one of these games while you’re sitting at the table eating, and it won’t take any time away from your school day.
• When kids finish their work early or after you give a test, use a word game as a reward.
• If you usually take a day off during the week or have one where your teen has a lighter course load, take an hour to play a game or two.
• Add these word board games to your next family game night. Everyone can benefit from expanding and strengthening their vocabulary. Plus, tweens will love trying to beat you in a word game.

Use games with small groups, individual play, or as a fun activity for the family.

Any links in this post may be affiliate links. See my disclosure statement.

MORE LANGUAGE ARTS ACTIVITIES

Aside from word games, there are plenty of fun activities you can use to build the vocabulary of older children.

• Improve creative writing skills with Story Builders.
• Printable word games.
• Teach writing to teens with dysgraphia.
• These word tools will build confidence.

This is one of our favorite word games. Players race to write down two words that fit the category on the card, and if they match another player’s answer, they both earn points.

It’s an awesome family game.

You play this game with two stacks of cards — category cards and letter cards.

The top card on the category pile is turned over first. As soon as a letter card is flipped, players rush to be the first person to shout out something that fits the category and starts with the letter.

Players race to be the first one to find the word that hides in the letter spiral.

Sounds easy, but it can be quite challenging to find where the word begins and ends when you’re scrambling to beat your opponent.

Scattergories is a classic game that helps build vocabulary words.

Players start the round with a category list. Once the letter die is tossed, they must rush to write as many words as they can that fit the category and start with the chosen letter.

You need to be quick to finish before the time limit. But only unique answers count, so you’ll have to use your vocabulary to win.

As players move around the board, they try to guess the correct vocabulary word from the definition card.

If they give the wrong word, the other players have time to answer.

This game puts a unique twist on the classic crossword puzzle game.

Players try to score the most points by creating words, but they have the added choice of adding their letters on top of other ones.

The higher the pile, the more points players earn.

This game is played with 8 stacks of cards in the middle. When it’s your turn, you choose any of the top cards and create a word. The next player does the same, but then can use the remaining letters to play on your word.

Play continues until you use all the cards.

This is another game that’s played with category cards and letter cards.

However, with this game, when the cards are turned over, players try to be the last one to shout out a word that starts with the letter and matches the category.

The timer is random, so you never know when the time will end.

Players spin the spinner to determine the two letters and category for each round. Then, players race to write as many words as possible that start with one letter and contain the other and also fit the category.

Scrabble is a classic word game that’s still an excellent tool for building everyone’s spelling and vocabulary skills.

Players use their chosen tiles to make words, while trying to get the highest score possible.

This is a fun game to play and is incredibly portable, thanks to the handy banana pouch.

There are lots of variations on the gameplay of Bananagrams, so you’ll never get bored playing. In the classic play, players use their tiles to make words in a crossword-style form.

Boggle is a fun sight word game that’s been around for years.

Players put the lid on and shake the letter dice. Once they settle, start the timer and try to find as many simple words in the letters as you can.

Write them down on a piece of paper before time runs out.

Players are given 20 tiles, and a 5 tiered holder to begin.

When someone says go, everyone races to build 5 different words with their tiles and place them in the slots on the plastic holder.

As soon as someone builds their words, they shout, Dabble, and the round ends.

This vocabulary game includes 108 consonant cards and 2 vowel dice.

Players roll the vowel dice and use them with the consonant cards in their hand to build the highest scoring word.

This is a cute game that will definitely challenge tweens.

You give all players a paper pod and colored letters. When the timer begins, they use their letters to build a word on the pod. Then, they give the pod to the next player and the next round begins.

Now players use the word in front of them and their remaining letters to build a new word.

When your pod gets back around to you, you count the number of letters in your color and that’s your score for the round.

This game will definitely get your tween’s creative juices flowing.

There are 9 dice with pictures on each side. To begin, a player rolls the dice and tells a story, trying to include as many of the pictures as possible.

This is a great game to take along to parties or on a family trip.

There are a bunch of other dice/picture variations you can choose from too.

Here’s how we use Story Cubes in our homeschool.

Hopefully, you’ve seen how easy it is to help your teens build their language arts skills through games. Plus, they’re a lot of fun for middle school students!

Remember that your vocabulary is like a muscle. The more you use it and work it, the stronger it gets. And word board games are a good way to get older kids excited about English language arts.

Don’t let tweens just sit there answering questions and spouting memorized facts. Take some time to play these word games in your homeschool and watch how quickly everyone’s language improves.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WORD Board GAME?

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I love homeschooling! Learning is a way of life for our family. Most days you will find us exploring our Central Florida community, having fun while learning. I am constantly looking for new and interactive ways to engage my older children.

This post contains affiliate links.

I found 12 board games to strengthen vocabulary, that can be played at:

• School, like Go for the Dough
• Home, for example Blurt!
• Home and School, where Volangulary is my preferred one

Vocabulary Board Games Comparison Table

I prepared this table to give you a quick comparison on common features of the vocabulary board games.

Game	Age	Notions	Players	For	Price	Rating
Multiple Meanings Around the World	9-10	Multiple meaning words	2-4	Home, School	$$	★★★☆☆
Synonym & Antonym Gold Rush	9-10	Synonyms and antonyms	2-4	Home, School	$$	★★★☆☆
Blurt!	7+	Definitions, clues	3-12	Home	$$	★★★★☆
Go for the Dough	5-8	Opposites, synonyms, multiple meanings, definitions, rhyming, categories	2-6	School	$$$$	★★★★☆
Volangulary	6-10	Definitions, reading, making sentences	2-6	Home, School	$$$	★★★★★
Quizmo Vocabulary	10-13	Synonyms and antonyms	2-4	School	$$	★★★☆☆
Vocabulary Chipper Chat	6-10	Analogies, associations, attributes, categories, comparisons, context, figurative language, functions, homonyms, homophones, synonyms, antonyms, verbs	2-5	School	$$$$$	★★★☆☆
Vocabulary Family Engagement Pack	3-5	Opposites	1-2	Teachers to engage families	$$$	★★★☆☆
Hot Words	12+	Definitions	4-20	Home	$$	★★★☆☆
Words on the Street	12+	Categories	2-8	Home	$$$$	★★★☆☆
Words on the Street Junior	8+	Categories	2-4	Home	$$$	★★★☆☆
Lexogon	8+	Finding words with specific letters	2-6	Home	$$$	★★★☆☆

Vocabulary Board Games for Home and School

Volangulary (Nasco Education)

★★★★★

For Families and Teachers | Age 6-10 | 2-6 Players | 30 minutes

In Volangulary , players give answers before the timer runs out. If they give a correct answer, they move forward according to the dice (else they move backward). Players encounter obstacles along the way, and can collect PASS or BLOCK cards.

Volangulary presents two levels of play: Junior and Advanced, each using a different side of the board:

• Junior: players use the side of the card with a sentence that uses the word. You can ask them to just read the sentence properly (used for reading practice), or to create a correct sentence using the word by themselves.
• Advanced: players use the side with the definition of the word. They read the definition and must guess the word.

What is great about Volangulary is that:

• It includes 570 cards (so it is truly replayable, and has a lot to offer as a learning material)
• You can really manage a progression
  • The three card colors (purple, blue and yellow) correspond to levels of difficulty.
  • The actual difficulty is given on the upper right-hand corner of the card as K, 1, 2 and 3
• You can have children of different ages play together while maintaining the interest of the game for all (just select the cards that are relevant for each age). This is a really rare feature that is very valuable at home.
• Enables to work reading words, definitions and building sentences

You can avoid using using pass/block cards, and giving penalties for incorrect answers, as these are more a nuisance than a feature in my opinion.

Multiple Meanings Around the World (Lakeshore Learning)

★★★☆☆

For Families and Teachers | Age 9-10 | 2-4 Players | 30 minutes

In Multiple Meanings Around the World, players learn new words by answering questions as they travel in 9 countries of the world, identifying and defining words with multiple meanings.

It includes a decoder (provides an answer key through a red filter), 45 question cards, and 20 challenge cards.

The main objective is to reach Australia and answer the question cards correctly.

A player who lands on a standard space has to answer a “question card”.

A player who lands on a country space can choose a “question card” or a “challenge card”:

• Question card– the game proceeds as normal
• Challenge card– if the answer is correct, the number obtained from rolling the dice becomes double which lets the player advance faster in the game. These questions are tough though, so children may either find this exciting or frustrating

Other special spaces are:

• “Jump to” – the player moves to the country that was named on the space.
• “Shortcut”/”Backtrack” – the player moves towards the end of the highlighted path (or the other way)
• “Move up or back X spaces” – the player moves the number of spaces indicated on the board
• “Lost Passport”- the player is stuck until he rolls a 2, 4 or 6.
• “Lost your Way”- the player loses a turn.

The strong points:

• Answers to MCQs can be checked through the decoder.
• The game board has colorful illustrations and easy to follow instructions.
• It can be played cooperatively.

I cannot give more than three stars though, because:

• There are not enough cards, making replayability a real concern
• There is no real progression in difficulty, only the “question cards” and “challenge cards” introduce a level of difficulty

Synonym & Antonym Gold Rush Vocabulary Game (Lakeshore Learning)

★★★☆☆

For Families and Teachers | Age 9-10 | 2-4 Players  

In Synonym & Antonym Gold Rush, players collect golden nuggets (if they provide correct answers) as they race to the end of the board game while answering questions about synonyms and antonyms. You need to have 5 nuggets to win the game.

This game includes 50 question cards, 20 chips, and an answer card.

Each question card contains a sentence with an underlined word. Players must give the synonym or antonym of the given word.

Just like other race board games, there are special spaces with obstacles: Losing a turn, Getting stuck on the mine railway unless they roll a 2, 4, or 6, Having their golden nugget stolen by other players.

Some pros:

• There are no penalties for incorrect answers
• The answers are provided for immediate correction

But the problem is that there are only 50 question cards, which makes the replayability of the game low, and there is no progression (levels of difficulty of question cards are not included). This is why I only give 3 stars.

Vocabulary Family Engagement Pack (Lakeshore Learning)

★★★☆☆

For Teachers to engage Families | Age: 3-5 | 1-2 Players | 30 minutes

Vocabulary Family Engagement Pack features 24 opposites cards that players have to match, like with a game of “memory”.

Children should review the cards first before placing them face down on the gameboard. Players must get a pair of cards that have opposite meanings.

Card illustrations serve as clues for 3-5 year-olds.

The principle is good and simple, but there are really too few cards included there should be at least twice as many.

Go for the Dough (Super Duper Publications)

★★★★☆

For Teachers | Age 5-8 | 2-6 Players

In Go for the Dough, players travel across the gameboard to deliver pizza while answering vocabulary questions.

This game contains 480 “fake dollar” cards with one word on each, the question belonging to six different types (80 cards per type):

• Opposites: propose an opposite for the word
• Synonyms: propose a synonym for the word
• Multiple Meanings: explain two meanings of the word
• Definitions: give a definition to the word
• Rhyming words: find a word that rhymes
• Categories: propose a category the word belongs to

Players pick a card and answer the question. If they answer correctly, they can move their pawn on the gameboard, according to the number on their die.

Whether the player’s answer is correct or not, the fake dollar card goes to the center of the gameboard (where it will serve as the bank). A player who lands at grandma’s house collects all the cards in the bank.

The player with the highest number of fake dollars, in the end, wins the game.

 The good points of this game are:

• 480 questions means the game is replayable
• 6 different notions (which you can filter according to your aim)
• Attractive theme

You can foster collaboration by encouraging students to help others when they have a difficulty in proposing an answer – but after giving enough time to the player at their turn of course.

I regret that there is no notion of progression though.

As there are no answers provided, I do not recommend it to parents, although the game can be played at home of course.

In this section, I included 4 vocabulary board games that are suited for classroom play due to elaborate categories and mechanics.

Quizmo Vocabulary (Learning Advantage)

★★★☆☆

For Teachers | Age: 10-13 | 2-36 Players

Quizmo Vocabulary is a 2-in-1 game set that teaches synonyms and antonyms.

It consists of

• 36 double-sided grid card
• 240 calling cards featuring 480 questions
• Plastic markers

There are two ways to use it:

1. The calling cards can be used as flashcards. Each card is color-coded (synonyms in pink, antonyms in blue) and has the answer on its back
2. The grid cards are played like Bingo. Each card has 24 words while the box in the middle indicates the category (synonyms or antonyms). Therefore you can play with a few players, but also with your entire classroom.

Although Quizmo encourages children to learn more words:

• Players may need to consult the dictionary to check the meaning of unfamiliar words (or get help from an adult) which will affect the speed of the game. Including word definitions on the cards would have really helped.
• The design of the calling cards is dull.
• There is no way to manage progression

Vocabulary Chipper Chat (Super Duper Publications)

★★★☆☆

For Teachers | Age 6-10 | 2-5 Players | Grade 1-5

In Vocabulary Chipper Chat, players expand their vocabulary using 12 themes:

• Analogies
• Associations
• Attributes
• Categories
• Compare and contrast
• Context clues
• Figurative language
• Functions
• Homonyms
• Homophones
• Synonyms & Antonyms
• Verbs

This game consists of:

• 60 grid gameboards (5 gameboards per theme)
• 360 vocabulary cards (30 color-coded prompt cards per theme), each with an illustration in front and an instruction at the back.
• Magnetic wand, 100 magnetic chips, a pair of dice

To play, draw a prompt card. Follow the instruction. If the answer is correct, roll the die to determine the number of magnetic chips the player should place on the circles of their gameboard.

Players continue until all the circles on their gameboard are filled with magnetic chips. Players use the magnetic wand to collect the chips at the end of each round.

The pros:

• suited for one-on-one session or small group activity
• teachers can assign appropriate categories according to their goal for the session

The cons:

• An adult must be there to correct the answers
• There is no progression within each theme

Vocabulary Board Games for Families

Blurt! (Educational Insights)

★★★★☆

For Families | Age 7+ with my proposed rule mods, 10+ else | 3-12 Players

Blurt! is a word-racing game where players have to guess words from their definition or clue. It includes 200 cards (6 words per card, so 1200 words overall).

The mechanics include rolling the die to determine the number of spaces the player will move on the board and the definition that will be read. The first player to circle around the game board wins the game.

Here are the pros and cons:

• There is no penalty for wrong answers, which is great. Children can try many times as they can until someone blurts the correct answer.
• The game is really replayable with its 1200 words
• But “Blurt!” is really competitive which will discourage slower players or younger players with less vocabulary (unfortunately it is the ones who need to progress the most).
• And there is no notion of progression (the words are not organized by levels of difficulty, which is a pity)

Because of this Blurt! cannot be recommended for use in the classroom.

You can of course change the rule to allow younger players or slower players to participate:
– Make the game cooperative: The aim of the game is for everybody to close the full circle. Players are allowed to give other players clues when they do not find the word, such as the first letter of the word, or the first syllable or the word
– Let younger players time to search before older or more advanced players are allowed to give answers (just use a timer for example)

Blurt! helps:

• Practice word rapid recall
• Learn new words or better understand the meaning of words they already know

Hot Words (Spin Master)

★★★☆☆

For Families | Age 12+ | 4-20 Players

Hot Words is both a fun party game and a word guessing game.

Players on the same team help each other guess the word they draw by describing it. But they cannot use the “hot words types” described on the “Jalapeno cards” that they have drawn since the beginning of the game (for example a spicy red card is “three-letter words” meaning that you can no longer use three-letter words to describe the word you want the others to guess.

It is restaurant-themed, with several “restaurant artifacts”:

• 4 “team tasting” boards
• 50 “Jalapeno cards”
• 150 word cards
• 4 hot sauce bottles (Playing tokens)
• A dinner bell & a sand timer

This game is great because of its well-designed theme, and its increasing difficulty during the game. Players have to be creative and find alternative ways to describe words (without miming for example).

The players (12+) will not learn new words of course, but they will try to describe and define them under constraints, which is a great exercise.

Word on the Street (Out of the Box)

★★★☆☆

For Families | Age 12+ | 2-8 Players | 30 minutes

Word on the Street is played by two opposing teams composed of 1 to 4 players with:

• 17 letter tiles: there are no vowels and some consonants are missing like z,j and q
• 108 category cards: double-sided (hence 216 categories) and color-coded according to the level of difficulty (green for easy and blue for difficult)

The main goal is to capture eight letter tiles on the team’s side of the street and get them off the board. It is difficult because:

• Players must come up with the best word according to the available letters set on the gameboard
• The word must fit the category
• The word must be spelled aloud correctly as they move the letters to their side (one lane at a time)
• Opponents can sidetrack each other and recapture letters by using it in their turn (you cannot recapture the letters that are already off the gameboard)

The letters go back and forth on the gameboard in a tug of war fashion as teams take turns proposing words.

“Word on the Street” is effective for educational purposes because it enables to focus attention by selecting specific categories.

What is a little frustrating though:

• It is hard to spell a word that has with missing letters (confusing for beginners)
• A referee is needed to monitor scores and turns because teams may reject a word if it doesn’t fit the category.

Since the mechanics are a bit complex, I suggest children aged 8-12 years old to pair up with adults at first until they get used to the game.

Word on the Street Junior (Educational Insights)

★★★☆☆

For Families | Age 8+ | 2-4 Players | 30 minutes

The rules of Word on the Street Junior are similar to the mechanics of Word on the Street from Out of the Box. Their main difference is the number of letter tiles. It includes all the letters in the alphabet. Categories are also adapted to younger players.

Lexogon (Tippecanoe Games)

★★★☆☆

For Families | Age 12+ | 2-6 Players | 45 minutes

In Lexogon, players move around the gameboard to find 7 words that use the 3 letter clues each. The first player to find the words in all 7 categories wins the game.

This game contains

• 230 clue cards (115 standard which are for children & 115 intermediate recommended for adults), having each 7 color-coded three-letter clues.
• 67 condition Cards
• Two sand timers & Score Pads

Players :

• Roll the die and move their token by the number of spaces indicated by the die.
• If on a condition square on the board, draw a condition card and apply the rules given by this card
• Else, use the clue on your clue card that matches the color on your square, and the “category rule” for this color
• Find words that fits the targeted clue and rule (within 90 seconds).

Here are the pros and cons

• Younger players can use the “standard clue cards” while adults use the “intermediate clue cards”, making it possible for younger players to beat adults
• The condition cards create randomness in the game, making it possible for weaker players to win
• The 7 types of clues (and corresponding category rules) are confusing though. You might want to simplify them at first.

How Effective are Games in Vocabulary Acquisition?

Games offer repetition which is one of the most effective ways to learn new words.

Students need to be exposed to a new word five to sixteen times to acquire it. Playing vocabulary board games can increase that chance for a new word to make it into long-term memory.

Games maintain students’ motivation in vocabulary learning.

Students remember things faster and better when they are relaxed, interested, and entertained. All these factors can be found in playing vocabulary board games.

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The acquisition of new vocabulary is essential in terms of overall language advancement. However, there is always a need to review active words from time to time in order to use them fluently in speech. Here, we will present a couple of great vocabulary revision games which will perk up every classroom. Through these games the learners will feel how fun, entertaining and effective the learning process can be.

1. Charades

Charades is a fun and cool revision game. Students need to practice their acting skills to explain the words. This game is extremely easy to organize with minimal advance preparation. The only thing to be ready for is to keep a collection of vocabulary cards for the words you have studied.

The class is divided into two teams. Each team member takes turns acting out one of the words from the vocabulary set and explains it by acting out the word. If his or her own team can’t guess the word, the opposite team gets the chance to guess it. Each right answer equals one point.

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2. Pictionary

Pictionary is also an  entertaining game to play for vocabulary review. The rules are similar to those of charades except that instead of acting out the word, it is drawn on the board.

3. Bingo

Bingo can serve as a good revision game. From my experience, most of the groups/students like playing bingo because it gives them the chance to  reflect on the words they have digested.

Students are given a blank bingo board and are asked to put the review words into the squares randomly. The teacher puts the active words in a hat or a box, takes them out one by one and defines them. If the student has a word corresponding to the definition, he crosses it out on his bingo board. When someone gets five squares in a row, they should shout, “Bingo!”

Check these articles out as well:

4. A memory style

A memory style card game can be another effective way for reviewing vocabulary. It requires some preparation before the game starts. For each word to be reviewed, one card should have the target vocabulary word and another card should have the definition of the word. You also need to have a big playing grid where you put the words and their definitions face down.

Each person turns over two cards each turn trying to find a match. If the cards do not match, he turns them over again and the next person tries to find a match. If he succeeds, he keeps the cards and gets an additional turn. The player with the highest number of cards at the end of the game wins.

The game can be modified even further. If you have accumulated enough synonyms or antonyms to the target vocabulary, you can practice matching target words to their antonyms or synonyms.

5. Categories

Categories is another awesome revision game which will make students energized and empowered. What they need for the game is to draw 4-6 columns on their paper and write a category at the top of each column. Categories fit the topics covered during the course. For example, if you have covered the business topics of Marketing, Work and Leisure, Ethics, Human Resources, Travel, you write these topics as categories.

You time the students and ask them to write as many words as possible under each category. As a further modification, choose a random letter and write it on the board. Give students enough time to write down a word for each category that starts with that letter.

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6. Letter scramble

Letter scramble will make students really competitive and super fast. What you need is to take a list of words that your students have recently learned and write a scrambled version of each on the board. Students need to unscramble the words on their paper. The first one to finish deciphering all the words wins.

7. Stop the bus

Stop the bus is a cool game my students adore.  I usually divide the class into 2-3 teams. One student from each team. This student sits on a chair facing his peers. Then from behind the student in the hot seat, show the other students a word from the lesson. The other students must try to describe what the word is without saying the actual word. And the student in the hot seat must guess.

The student who guesses the word shouts out “stop the bus” and checks the word with the teacher. If correct, the team gets a point. If wrong, other teams have the chance to guess the word by writing their versions on a piece of paper and passing the papers to the teacher.

8. Puzzles

Puzzles  is another cool and easy tool to review the material in an effective way. What I like about this way of vocabulary revision is that students can work in pairs or groups while trying to find words matching the definition in the crosswords. They learn by listening to each other, cooperating to find the right answer. In this way, they both review the material and improve their teamwork skills.

Follow this link to get templates of different types of puzzles.

We also recommend watching a video with Alexei Konobeev. The speaker shared games to help your students remember new vocabulary. These games do not require special training and you can adapt them to any age and level.

We hope that all these games would serve their best to liven your vocabulary revision sessions and make them more meaningful and effective.

Which of these games have you tried? Which ones have you picked up for your next revision slot?

Word games are an engaging way not only to practice vocabulary and spelling in class but also to hone important language skills such as defining and describing. They’re fun, too, make ideal warmers and fillers, and generally don’t require much preparation – especially if you get the students involved in setting them up. Plus, many work well as competitions and can easily be adapted to suit different ages and levels. Here are 6 easy word games for the English language classroom. Why not give them a try?

***Call my Bluff***

If you want to challenge your advanced learners, get them into teams to play this competitive word game based on a popular old-time British quiz show. Give each team a set of dictionaries and a list of words, making sure to choose vocabulary that is useful but unlikely to be familiar. Teams look up the definitions of the words on their list and then – this is where the game gets tricky – invent two alternative but plausible definitions for each one. The contest involves the teams taking turns to read out their words along with the three definitions and asking their opponents which definition is correct. Award points not only for correct answers but also for the most inventive alternative definitions. Here’s an example:

distraught – a) completely ruined   b) extremely worried   c) blown down by the wind

***Tailcatcher***

Get your younger learners into a circle and see how quickly they can play this simple spelling game without getting dizzy or confused. The first student says a word at random – let’s say, ‘cheese’ – and then the student to his or her left has to say a word beginning with the last letter of the that word – for example, ‘elephant’. The game carries on with students taking turns to say a word beginning with the last letter of the previous word – ‘elephant’, ‘tennis’, ‘stick’ and so on. If the word starts and ends in the same letter – say, ‘kick’ – then the direction reverses. Give students a time-limit to come up with a word to avoid elimination, or make things more challenging by sticking to categories, such as food, animals or sports.

***Here comes the shark! or Bang!***

Everyone knows how to play Hangman, and it works well with younger learners not only to practice spelling but also to practice the names of the letters, but why not replace the traditional gallows and prisoner set-up with something more unusual? The burning fuse on a bomb that ends the game in an explosion or a swimmer and a Jaws-like approaching shark-fin are guaranteed to amuse the students (see image). You might even let them come up with their own version.

***Half a crossword***

This is an excellent way for students to learn the all-important language skill of describing or defining something for which they lack the particular item of vocabulary. Create a crossword (there are plenty of crossword-creator sites online) and give one half of the answers to student A and the other to student B (you can prefill in the answers on the separate handouts). Rather than provide clues, the pairs of students have to work together – without showing their half of the crossword to their partner – to complete the puzzle by giving definitions of the words their partner is missing.

***Ring-ding-dong**

Here’s another game that works well with young learners and requires no preparation. Board a simple word such as ‘shoe’ and give teams of students a couple of minutes to come up with as many new words as they can from that word by changing one letter at a time. Step – stop – shop – shoe – show – chow – chop – chip etc. It’s not easy, but you can vary the rules by allowing the addition or subtraction of a letter instead of a replacement. The team with the most words wins.

***Taboo***

Here’s a well-known word game that can even be challenging for native speakers. In teams, players attempt to get a teammate to guess a particular word on a card by giving clues or definitions. The challenge is that they are forbidden from using the most obvious clues, which are laid out in a list on the card. They might have to define ‘exam’, for example, but without using the words ‘test’, ‘study’, ‘pass’, ‘fail’ or ‘grade’. It’s an excellent way to hone those skills of definition, as well as a sure-fire means of raising the volume in class. If you have teams prepare the cards for their opponents, you could even join in yourself.

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FAQ: Vocabulary Games

Here are answers to common questions about vocabulary games and activities.

What are vocabulary games?

Vocabulary games are word and language games you can play with students, coworkers, or family and friends. These games challenge players to hunt for words or definitions, brainstorm terms, deduce phrases based on clues, or create words under certain conditions. Language games are a great way to teach new vocabulary and help students practice recognizing and using new words. These activities are also known as “vocabulary building games” and “vocab games”, and are similar to “word games” and “letter games”.

What are some fun word games for groups?

Some fun word games for groups include Pictionary, Tree or Bob Ross, and word scrambles.

What are some online vocabulary games?

By using virtual meeting software like Zoom, you can play any word game online. Some good virtual vocabulary games include Scrabble, Scattergories, and online crossword puzzles.

What are good ESL word games?

The best ESL word games are easy to understand and play yet expand the vocabularies of participants. Good ESL word games include word association, word searches, and hangman.

What are fun ways to teach vocabulary?

Word games are one of the most fun and easy ways to teach vocabulary. While some kids get frustrated with straightforward reading or language exercises, word games disguise vocabulary lessons as a fun challenge. Plus, playing language games together is a great teamwork exercise.