You found our list of fun and simple vocabulary games for adults.
Vocabulary games are activities that include language and wordplay. Example games include Word Association and Hang Man. Players can enjoy vocabulary games in person or online. The purpose of these games is to strengthen vocabulary skills. These games are also known as “vocab games”, “letter games” and “vocabulary building games.”
These games make great online classroom activities and communication games, and can be used as online fun activities for employees.
This list includes:
- vocabulary games for adults
- simple vocabulary word games for adults
- fun online vocabulary games and activities
- English vocabulary games
- vocabulary games in English
- games to improve vocabulary
- vocabulary building activities
- vocab review games
- vocabulary games for students
Get ready to play!
List of vocabulary games
From Pictionary to word scrambles to synonym memory, here is a list of fun word games to play in classrooms, at parties, or during meetings.
1. Vocabulary Pictionary
Pictionary is a game of charades where players draw words instead of acting them out.
To play:
- Split the group into teams.
- Each round, assign one team member to draw.
- Give the drawing team member a word.
- Allow up to sixty seconds for teammates to guess.
- If the team guesses correctly, then assign one point.
You can give other teams the opportunity to steal, or move onto the next team’s turn. The game is a great way to practice new vocabulary, as players connect the word with an image. Pictionary is a fun game for virtual parties or in-person affairs.
To play Pictionary online, draw on the whiteboard app feature on your online meeting software.
2. Word Association
Word Association is one of the best vocabulary games for kids and classrooms since playing does not require a large vocabulary. The rules are simple and easy to understand. Typically, the game involves two players.
To play:
- Player one says a word.
- Player two responds with the first word that comes to mind.
- Player one either chooses a new word or responds to player two’s word.
- The game continues until one player repeats a word or pauses too long.
The rapid pace of the game generates excitement and occasionally results in funny answers.
If a student makes a mistake, then the teacher can pause the game and ask the student to explain or find a more fitting word. Ideally, gamemasters should allow players a few extra seconds to respond. Players should never feel embarrassed. There are no wrong answers in word association, but the game can serve as a learning opportunity to find better words.
If playing via Zoom, then player one or the teacher speaks a word, and other students answer in the chat. The class counts up matching answers and discusses different responses, guessing the reasoning behind each answer.
3. Vocabulary Hangman
Hangman is a classic chalkboard word game that translates easily to online play, thanks to digital whiteboards.
To play:
- Assign a player a word.
- The player draws a series of blanks corresponding to the number of letters in the word.
- Other players guess letters.
- If the letter is in the word, then the “executioner” fills in the blank. If not, then the executioner draws one portion of the gallows.
- The game ends when players guess the word, or when the picture is complete.
The best words to use for hangman contain less-used letters like z, x, and q. Examples of hard hangman words include zigzagging, razzmatazz, and quadrants.
4. Word search
Word searches are common classroom vocabulary games. These activities work well for handouts, and you can play during video calls by using the whiteboard feature and enabling annotation.
We made a sample word search you can use.
To make the game more competitive and exciting, turn the challenge into a race and award prizes to the first players to complete the puzzles.
5. Crossword
Crossword puzzles consist of a series of interconnecting boxes, each of which starts blank but contains one letter by the end of the game. Under the puzzle are two lists of clues, across and down respectively. Solvers need to consider the meaning of words, number of letters, and surrounding words, making the game strategic as well as literary.
Here is an example of a crossword puzzle you can use with your class or team.
Here is the answer key.
Crosswords are great word games for any age or skill level because puzzle makers can adjust the difficulty to suit players. To make your own crossword puzzle, use an online crossword creator.
6. Word Scramble
Word scrambles make great games for English class, and adults enjoy these language brain teasers as well. Simply mix up the order of the letters and ask players to unscramble and identify the original words.
Here is a sample to start with.
And here is the answer key.
To make your own word scrambles, use an online letter randomizer.
7. Scrabble
Scrabble is one of the most popular word games for adults or children. Players must use letter tiles to assemble words on the game board.
To play:
- Each player draws seven letter tiles.
- During turns, players can play tiles or exchange them for new letters.
- Players build words on the board, with each new word connecting to an existing word.
- Tiles have a point value assigned depending on the challenge of the letter. When a player makes a word, tally the letter and add the score to the point board.
More challenging letters have higher point values. For example, E is one point, while Z is ten. To find the point values for each tile and read more gameplay tips, check out this guide from Hasbro.
To coordinate the game for language lessons, assign higher scores for vocabulary words, and ask players to use the words in a sentence for extra points.
Scrabble is easy to play online, too, making it one of the best online vocabulary games. To play virtually, simply find a multiplayer online version of the game, such as Words With Friends.
8. Scattergories
Scattergories is one of the most fun and simple word games for adults. The game challenges players to think up words all starting with the same letter.
To play:
- One player rolls a letter die or uses a letter generator to pick the first letter.
- The timekeeper puts 60 seconds on the clock.
- Players write down one answer per category starting with the letter.
- When time runs out, players read the answers.
- Players receive a point for every answer.
Alliterative phrases count for double or triple points. If two players have the same answer, then they must cross it out and neither receives points. Of course, a player will not receive points for blank answers either. At the end of each round, the player with the most points wins.
Here is a list of sample Scattergories categories:
- A boy’s name, girl’s name, or gender neutral name
- Capital cities
- Four letter words
- Types of drinks
- Holidays
- Careers or professions
- Cartoon characters
- Websites
- Desserts
You could create more inventive categories for the game, or challenge players to make up prompts.
To play virtually, use the chat, screen-share, whiteboard functions in your virtual meeting platform. You can also share a Google Doc or Form, or join a multiplayer online Scattergories game together.
9. Tree or Bob Ross
Tree or Bob Ross is a fun video conference game that challenges players to guess a word by asking questions.
The player who conjures the word is The Post. The Post answers This or That questions whose answers help players narrow down the word.
The first question of the game is usually “is it more like a tree, or more like Bob Ross?” and The Post must answer accordingly. For instance, a rose is probably more like a tree, but Pinnochio presents an interesting challenge.
Each turn, the guesser adds a new word. For example, the second question might be, “is it more like a tree or a fern?” The game continues until players guess correctly. For more excitement, introduce a time limit, or award more points if players guess the word during earlier rounds.
10. Vocabulary Pyramid
Pyramid challenges players to guess words from context clues. The pyramid is a collection of six words, arranged with three on the bottom, two in the middle, and one at the top. To win, teams must guess all words within the pyramid in the allotted time.
To play:
- Divide the group into teams.
- Give one player on each team the pyramid.
- The pyramid holder must give hints to teammates describing each word without using the actual name of the item.
- When players guess correctly, the pyramid master can move to the next word. Or, players can say “pass,” and return to the word later.
- Teams receive a point for every correct guess.
When determining the time limit, consider the age of your players and the difficulty of the words. In general, 30 seconds per word, or three minutes total, is a good place to start, but add or take away time to increase or decrease the challenge.
11. Invisible Bridge
Invisible Bridge is similar to six degrees of Kevin Bacon. In both games, you must figure out a way to connect two seemingly distant concepts. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon uses actors, while Invisible Bridge uses words.
To play:
- A player suggests two unrelated words.
- Player one gives a number of planks. This is how many steps other players must use to relate the two words.
- The other players think up words that share similar traits, synonyms, or connector words to move from one term to another.
An example round might look as follows:
Tiger, Astronaut, eight planks
Tiger – Balm – Lip – Service – Customer – Happy – Pills – Capsules – Space – Astronaut
Meanwhile, Tiger, Astronaut, two planks might look like this:
Tiger – meat eater – meteor – Astronaut
One fun aspect about this game is there can be more than one correct answer, and opposing teams can dispute far-reaches. Invisible bridge encourages players to think about the nature of language and the relationship between words.
12. Poetry Improv
Poetry Improv is an exercise that challenges participants to craft verses on the spot.
To play:
- Pick a poetry style, such as sonnet, haiku, acrostic, limerick, or free verse.
- Give participants vocabulary words to use within the poem.
- Allow five or ten minutes for groups or individuals to complete the verses. If playing online via meeting software, then send groups to breakout rooms to work.
- Ask poets to share the masterpieces aloud.
For extra fun, turn other players into judges by asking them to rate the poems by holding up scorecards. To make the game more fast-paced, ask players to finish each others’ phrases on the spot for a true poetic improv.
13. Synonym Memory
The rules of Memory are easy: flip over two cards at a time and look for matching pictures or words. When players find pairs, they take the cards off the board. The player with the most pairs of cards at the end of the game wins.
Synonym Memory puts a challenging spin on the simple game. Instead of hunting for exact matches, players pair up words with synonyms.
Here are some sample matches:
- enticing/tempting
- assume/suppose
- patience/restraint
- revoke/rescind
- impact/collision
The game encourages players to think in different ways, as participants will need to remember the location of the cards as well as consider meanings of words.
To play online, make your own virtual synonym memory game with an online tool and share screens to play, with one player flipping over the cards at other players’ request.
List of words to use for vocabulary games
Here is a list of great words to use in word games:
- serendipity
- fortitude
- akimbo
- sumptuous
- ineffable
- zephyr
- incorrigible
- medallion
- mauve
- bombast
- denouement
- contemporary
- gossamer
- inane
- hippodrome
- concession
- ideology
- quintessential
- prescient
- regurgitate
- gnash
- cataclysmic
- knell
For further inspiration, use a random word generator or consult online lists of difficult or intersecting words.
Conclusion
Vocabulary games and activities test and strengthen players’ communication skills. These word games minimize frustration by disguising language lessons in the form of an exciting challenge. Not to mention, simple word games are fun for adults and kids alike, and make great icebreaker activities during meetings. Most games only require words and a way to share them, so playing word games online via Zoom or similar platforms is easy.
For even more smart fun, check out our posts on problem solving games, question games and team building brain teasers.
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.
If you’re a wordsmith, a word-wiz, or just enjoy a little wordplay, these word board games are right up your vocabulary alley. Word board games can be used as an educational tool, as a hilarious party game, or simply as a way to keep your wordy wits about you. If you’re not into word games, don’t fret, word unscrambling tools can give you an assist in any word game while improving your vocabulary.
So on-words and up-words, here are our top 20 best word board games!
Like Word Games? Why not also check out our list of Puzzle Games and Trivia Games that keep you mentally active, while still having fun?
🏆 Our Top Picks for Best Word Board Games
In a hurry? Take a quick peek before you go.
Best Team
4.0
Best Quick
3.8
Best Overall
4.2
04/11/2023 05:30 pm GMT
When I Dream
Players: 4-10
Playing time: 20-40 min
Put on your sleep masks and try to decipher your dreams!
When we fall asleep and enter a dream world, the imagination and imagery can be truly magical. When I Dream turns players into dreamers. Be careful when entering the magical world of dreams because the Dream Spirits want to have fun!
When I Dream is an innovative game that puts a focus on creativity and player imagination. Put on your sleep mask and try to interpret the Dream Spirits messages. With fairies, naughty spirits, and even the Boogeyman, the game has an array of characters that make it challenging and that give the game depth.
This is an excellent fast-paced party game that’ll have you storytelling before the Boogeyman wreaks havoc!
What we liked
When I Dream offers some new unique mechanics that give the word game genre something to think about. Combine that with the gorgeous artwork and you get a really pretty and fun game.
What could be better
With the timer included, it can rapidly descend into chaos.
Werewords
Players: 4-10
Playing time: 10 min
Guess the magic word!
In Werewords, players must guess a secret word by asking ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions. Be careful, time catches up to you! Like in most games, there’s always a villain looming and trying to interrupt play. In Werewords, one player is secretly a werewolf.
Not only is this player working against you, but they also know the Magic Word. Even if you don’t guess the word in time, you still have the chance of exposing the werewolf and winning the game!
What’s cool about this word game is that it comes with an iOS/Android app that’ll provide thousands of words in hundreds of categories giving the game-high replayability.
What we liked
It’s like One Night Ultimate Werewolf but combined with a word game. It’s a weird combination that seems to work very well.
What could be better
Like the original Werewolf, Werewords suffers from similar role management. There are only a handful of roles that are really fun to play, but most players end up as villagers.
Will you figure out the word or will the werewolf get you? Better get your top wordsmith on the case.
Trapwords
Players: 4-8
Playing time: 30-45 min
You know the secret word your teammates must guess. You’ll give clues to help but the other team has other plans in mind. They’ve set a list of ‘trapwords’. You can’t say them or you’ll end up trapped in dungeons with terrifying monsters. Easy enough? Oh, there’s also a time limit.
Trap words is a fast-paced party game that seems like a simple task of giving clues but gets more challenging by not knowing which words can be said.
If you’re looking for a word game with a fantasy theme, Trapwords takes you into the fantasy world of dungeons and monsters.
What we liked
Trapwords is a fun fantasy variation of Taboo. The rules are changed enough to make it more interesting to play than Taboo.
What could be better
The timer can be tricky, especially for younger players.
Decrypto
Players: 3-8
Playing time: 15-45 min
Decrypto has a fun vintage aesthetic, surely making it a favorite among the hipster community. But really, this word game blends decoding and player interaction through interesting mechanics.
In this game, teammates try to transmit secret codes without letting the opposing team intercept them. Using clever graphic anaglyph components, players slide cards into the screens to decode the words.
The communication limits make Decrypto a fun and challenging word game to play, plus you’ll feel like a code breaker sending secret messages.
What we liked
The option to guess the other team’s words and clues adds another level to a fun word game.
What could be better
I’m not sure why, but I had trouble with Decrypto’s rules. It took me far longer than it should have to understand everything and teach it to my gaming group. It could have just been me, but it did give me trouble.
Letter Jam
Players: 2–6
Playing time: 45 min
Your friend gives the clue. Can you guess your secret letter?
Letter Jam is a cooperative word game where players work together to compose meaningful words from letters around the table. But the twist is only the other players can see your letter cards, not you.
Letter Jam combines team-based play and players’ deduction skills. Pull together as a team, find the clues, and reap the fruits of cooperation!
Jam out at the next game night and decipher the codes!
What we liked
Under its simple exterior, Letter Jam offers a cerebral word game that delivers more gameplay the longer you play.
What could be better
It’s played best with more players and is all but obsolete at 2-players.
Bananagrams
Players: 1-8
Playing time: 15 mins
A fun game for everyone that’ll drive you bananas.
Gather your friends and family and race against each other to build crossword grids. Bananagrams is an educational and entertaining game with which you can teach kids how to spell words all while having fun at the same time.
In Bananagrams, players have to build their words with letters as fast as they possibly can. A race to finish, speed, and a great vocabulary make the game super exciting.
What we liked
The game is in a case that’s shaped like an actual banana, making it a great travel game. It can fit in any bag and it comes in a cute package. What’s not to like?
What could be better
If you have trouble with words then the real-time movements and actions can be tricky to deal with.
Blank Slate
Players: 3-8
Playing time: 20-35 min
The game where great minds think alike.
Blank Slate is a game of predictions. “The game where great _ _ _ _ _ think alike!” Easy to learn and quick to play makes Blank Slate a fun game for all levels.
By picking a word cue card, you’ll write which word you think best completes a phrase. To take this a step further, you’ll have to try to match it to another player’s words.
In this clever party game, prediction skills are key to matching words. If you get good enough you’ll soon be winning the _ _ _ _!
What we liked
Blank Slate is a simple and very fast-playing word game. It works very well as an icebreaker and introduction for people who just met.
What could be better
Your enjoyment of Blank Slate is going to highly depend on who you are playing with.
Codenames
Players: 2-8
Playing time: 15 min
‘The top-secret word game. Win or lose, it’s fun to figure out the clues!’
There are good reasons why Codenames has become a staple on board gamers’ shelves. Codenames is a deceptively awesome game that’s easy to learn and perfect for parties.
Codenames is a social word game in which two rival spymasters know 25 secret agents. Their teams only know agents by codenames. Make contact with all your agents first and win. Although this game can be challenging, the social component keeps everyone entertained as they race to finish first.
This is a fun game when you’re winning, but even better when you’re losing.
What we liked
Codenames is quick, easy to learn, and a blast. There’s a reason it’s become a go-to game in so many households.
What could be better
There’s a lot of hype surrounding Codenames. There are numerous games out there that do the same thing, Codenames just does it really well. If you’re looking for something innovative and unique, you’ll be disappointed.
More versions of Codenames
Poetry for Neanderthals
Players: 2-12
Playing time: 15 min
A word game where you must ‘speak good’ or get hit with a stick.
Poetry for Neandertals is a competitive word-guessing game. Players are only allowed to use single-syllable words to give clues to their team to guess the phrase.
For example, the word is broccoli, you’ll have to say something like, ‘green food, live long’. Use a big word, you’ll get hit on the head with a 2-foot-long inflatable club.
From the geniuses that brought us Exploding Kittens, Poetry for Neandertals is another fun addition to a game night. With only 15 minutes to play, this hilarious, challenging, cutthroat game tests the patience of logophiles the world over.
What we liked
If you’re a fan of The Oatmeal webcomic, you’re going to love the artwork and irreverent humor. It’s just as ridiculous and fun as it looks.
What could be better
The humor is a bit low-brow. If you’re not comfortable speaking oddly and smacking friends over the head, then this is probably going to be a miss.
Just One
Players: 3-7
Playing time: 20 min
A cooperative party game where you’ll have to work together to discover the mystery words!
Just One starts with one player drawing a card and choosing a number from it. Each player gets one clue word and together you’ll try to solve the mystery word. Just One is a brilliant word game as it combines cooperative skills with deduction, memory, and creative thinking.
What we liked
I really like the mechanic that discards identical clues. This forces you to be strategic and creative with your clues. Easy-to-learn and easy to play make Just One a relaxed game for everyone.
What could be better
Just One is great, but it can feel as if turns take forever and that’s not good for a party game.
Punderdome
Players: 3- 99
Playing time: 30-90 min
A card game for the pun lovers among us.
Punderdome will have you laughing out loud with its punny cards and creative style of play.
Once a pun a time, the creators of Punderdome saw a space in the word game market for a pun game for family and friends. With pun jokes on the back of each card, you can entertain the crowds while waiting to come up with a pun. Some can take longer than others but you can play with no time limits.
If you’re a pun lover, this is a punderful card game that you won’t regret purchasing.
What we liked
Unlike many of the other games on this list, Punderdome offers quite a lot of opportunities for creativity. It lets you create something instead of just showing off your knowledge of vocabulary.
What could be better
It’s a game about puns. You’re going to be groaning and laughing, but if you’re not well-versed in puns and dad jokes, it may be a little dry.
Quiddler
Players: 1-8
Playing time: 30 min
Quiddler: Simply for the fun of words.
Quiddler is a short word game that’s a great pick for word lovers as well as non-word-game players. With this card game, the goal is to arrange your cards in your hand to create one or more words.
If you deal more cards, you’ll have more opportunities to create words. At the end of the game, the highest score wins.
Quiddler is a sort of Uno-style word game as some cards can double letters and add bonuses to your points. Sharpening your word skills and a bit of luck will have you winning Quiddler!
What we liked
Quiddler makes for a great travel game. It’s simple enough that anyone can play and it’s so easy to pull it out and play wherever you are.
What could be better
Quiddler relies on luck of the draw to get letters. If you have an extensive vocabulary you can overcome bad draws, but it’s still luck-based.
Hot Words
Players: 4-16
Playing time: 20-30 min
Hot Words is a party game where you can’t say that.
In Hot Words, you’ll describe words while your team tries to guess what the word is. In each of the 4 rounds, your team will pick a spicy jalapeño card that has a ‘Hot Word’ on it that you can’t say.
As each round goes by, it’ll get hotter and harder but also more hilarious trying to avoid all the ‘Hot Words’ your team has accumulated.
What we liked
Hot Words provides a simple concept and puts it together in a nice little package. It’s a wordplay game that has a ton of replayability.
With fun added elements like a ghost pepper round, a 90-second sand timer, a dinner bell, and little hot sauce bottles, Hot Words is a fun and exciting party game!
What could be better
If you’re looking for a smaller group game, Hot Words is best played as a party game with more players.
Can you handle the heat?
Dabble
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 30-60 min
The game where if you can spell, you can play!
Dabble is a fast word game that’s both educational and fun. To start the game you say ‘GO!’ and players race to spell 5 words using 20 tiles. The first person to spell their word wins!
What we liked
The added difficulty of making multiple words of varying sizes seems like a simple concept but definitely makes Dabble stand out.
What could be better
Like a lot of word games, if you have someone who memorizes vocabulary words in their free time, they’ll absolutely destroy everyone. It’s best to play with people of the same skill and vocabulary level.
Word a Round
Players: 2
Playing time: 20 min
Race to unravel the word!
Word a Round is a challenging word game where you’ll have to quickly figure out where the word starts and then read it aloud before your opponent. As you answer on the spot, the game becomes a little more difficult as you race to answer. Mistakes are made under pressure so players have to have their wits about them.
Word a Round is an award-winning card game that’s a great educational tool in classrooms or at home. It helps develop critical thinking skills, making it a favorite among speech therapists. If you are looking for a fun game that’ll also help with learning, this is a great choice.
What we liked
Word a Round can be learned in seconds and it’s one of the most unique word games on this list.
What could be better
Since this requires you to guess at words around a circular card, it can be difficult for people with visual impairments.
Word on the Street
Players: 2-10
Playing time: 20 min
A hilarious tug of words.
Word on the Street is a card game in which players take turns flipping category cards, racing the clock to come up with the answer. With each correct answer, you move closer to the sidewalk… and to safety.
With 432 different categories, there is huge variation and replayability. This game is particularly focused on being educational. It helps players improve their vocabulary, practice spelling, and develop social skills.
What we liked
Word on the Street is a simple enough word game but combines wordplay with enough strategy to make it unique.
What could be better
You’ll need to have quick recall of your vocabulary, so if you’re looking for a slow burn game then this is not what you’re looking for.
Wordplay: Family Edition
Players: 2
If your family loves word games, WordPlay is a fast-paced challenge in which everyone plays every round.
A fun spinner determines the letters and the category for each round. For example, ‘Food and Drinks’ means you can only use words that begin with the letter ‘E’. The difference with this family edition is even if you think of things that don’t start with the correct letter, you still score some points.
This game is a friendly and inclusive way to help kids learn and be introduced to the wonderful world of word board games.
What we liked
Wordplay is a simple word game that appeals to everyone. It’s simple enough that anyone can pick it up and have some fun right out of the box.
What could be better
Wordplay’s universal appeal means that there’s no real innovation or new mechanics. It’s fun, but you’ve seen it before and will see it again in other word games.
Upwords
Players: 1-4
Playing time: 90 min
Upwords a game of quick stacking and word hacking.
In this word-building game, the higher you stack, the higher your score. With each player starting out with 7 words that you can play up or down, the game almost feels like Scrabble.
But here, you can stack letters on top of others. When you stack letters higher on each other, you earn more points. This makes Upwords more intense and strategic.
Upwords is very versatile and can be played solo to challenge yourself, with kids, or with your friends. Experience this high-stakes, high-stacking word game, and grow your vocabulary as you go!
What we liked
I honestly prefer Upwords over Scrabble. The tile stacking adds a whole new dimension to the classic wordplay formula.
What could be better
It’s a minor issue, but I’m not a fan of the components on the deluxe board. They work fine, but the color scheme makes it difficult to see for me.
Wordical
Players: 2-8
The radical, dice-rolling, word-building race!
Wordical is another educational word game in which players roll a vowel die and combine consonants to make a word. It’s a fun way for kids to develop their spelling skills and build vocabulary. It’s easy to learn and moves quickly so there are no long pauses.
This is a wonderful game for the classroom or for students who are struggling with their phonics.
What we liked
The dice add an interesting twist to this word game. Randomness is usually added through other means, but it’s a refreshing take on the word game genre.
What could be better
It’s a simple travel game, so the rules and gameplay are very simple. You won’t find in-depth strategy here, but that’s ok for a word game.
Wordsmithery
Players: 2- 99
Playing time: 20 min
The game for every wordsmith, young and old.
Wordsmithery is a fun, fast-paced game in which you can test your wordsmith skills. Draw a word, read it to your opponent, and see if they can guess the meaning from the three options.
With some difficult words like ‘egregious’ or ‘phalanx’, it could seem difficult for children but included are 50 easier cards for kids. The different levels of difficulty make this a family-friendly word board game.
What we liked
The concept is extremely easy to understand and the word choices are genuinely fun to play with.
What could be better
Eventually, you’re going to memorize all of the words available in the box. There are only so many times you can be surprised by a word before we simply learn it.
Wrap-Up
What are your favorite word games to play? We hope you enjoyed our top picks for the best word board games out there! Let us know in the comments if you’ve tried any of these or if we missed any that you think should be on the list. We’d love to hear from you!
Happy Wordsmithing!
Kendra has always been a hardcore fantasy nerd. Growing up in the worlds of Tolkien, Sanderson, Jordan, and Abercrombie, DnD & board games just came naturally. She and her husband, Bryan, started GameCows.com in 2018 as a fun passion project that just took over their lives. An avid board gamer since childhood and chronic DnD chronicler for more than two decades, she loves to play, write, travel, and learn dead languages.
This simple PPT game is great for reviewing key vocabulary and sentences from your lesson. To play, divide the class into 2/3 teams. Then the teams should take turns choosing one of the boxes. There are 20 boxes, each with a word / sentence inside. To choose a box students should say the word or make a sentence with the word in the box. Then click the box to reveal the points. The team with the most points at the end is the winner. Download one of the ready made Lucky Box PPT games below, or download the PowerPoint game template to add your own words and sentences.
Lucky Box Games
- Blank Template
- Action Verbs
- Animals
- Body Parts
- Buildings and Places
- Classroom Objects
- Clothes
- Countries
- Feelings
- Food
- Jobs and Occupations
- Money
- Numbers
- Ordinal Numbers
- Phonics CVC Words
- Prepositions
- Present Progressive Tense
- Rooms of the House
- Sports
- Telling The Time
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A list of fun English word games for kids to help improve children’s spelling, reading, and vocabulary. This list of word games for kids includes word games that encourage conversation and early literacy that you can play on the spot or prepare yourself with just some paper and pencil.
Why are Word Games Good For Kids?
Word games and vocabulary games for kids are great because they get kids talking and using language while having fun. When you make a learning activity fun, kids don’t realise they are learning.
For reluctant learners, playing these word games can help and motivate them to want to play and learn more.
*This post may contain affiliate links, read more here.
10 Fun Word Games for Kids
Many of these word games for kids can be prepared easily at home with materials you already have. However if you don’t have time to prepare your own, you can also purchase a range of fun word games for kids HERE.
1. Hang Man
Probably one of the most popular word games for kids is the popular Hang Man. Player 1 thinks of a word and Player 2 has to guess it before they get “hung.”
Player 1 writes spaces for letters are written on the page so they know how many letters there are in the word. Player 2 proceeds to choose a letter they think may be in the word.
If it is correct Player 1 writes the letter down where it goes. If it is incorrect Player 1 draws part of the “hangman”. If the drawing is complete by the time Player 2 guesses, then Player 1 wins.
2. I spy
A really easy and fun word game for kids is I spy. You don’t need anything for this game except your imagination.
Player 1 thinks of a word and tells the others the first letter. “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with __” The other players need to guess the word. Whoever wins gets to be the spy!
This is a really great car game for kids too and helps to build vocabulary.
3. Bingo
Such an easy word game to prepare for kids. There are some really good versions on Amazon HERE. You can purchase the game, or use it as an example to make your own.
Draw a square grid on a page and choose a theme. Write out some words using the theme. Eg, beach: swimming, sand castles, water, sea shells, dolphin, sunbeds, picnic etc.
Make an extra copy of the words ensuring there are a few extra than the amount on the page. Cut them up into squares and put in a bowl scrunched up.
Take turns in pulling out a word and reading it out loud, then finding it on your page. The first person to find all of the words calls out Bingo and is the winner.
This fun word game for kids helps with reading and talking aloud.
4. Word Family Game
This game requires children to rhyme. Select one word and everyone needs to write as many words as they can that rhyme with that word. Eg. If the word is “Cat”, answers could be: hat, bat, rat, sat etc.
This is a great word game to help build kids vocabulary and help their language skills.
5. Word Search
Another fun but challenging word game for kids is a word search. Draw a grid of 10 x 10 squares and place as many words as you can within the grid. Words can go up, down, or diagonal, and letters can overlap to be used more than once.
Create a list on the side or bottom of the page of the words you have entered. Then once you cannot fit anymore words in, fill the blank boxes with random letters.
Kids will need to find the words as quick as possible. This can be a fun word game to do individually or as a team. For kids who like to compete, you can make identical grids and see who finishes first.
This word game encourages persistence and helps to improve their literacy skills.
6. Unscramble the words
A simple word game for children that will get them really thinking! Write a list of words down on paper but scramble the letter order while writing. Kids will need to look at the letters and try to work out what the word is and guess it.
This can be quite a competitive word game, but it helps to really get their mind ticking.
7. Scategories
While this is also an official board game, (which you can find online here) you can also make it yourself quite easily. Each player has a piece of paper and pencil.
Select 10-15 categories. These can be anything you like but remember they should be popular enough that you can guess something with most letters. Eg. Country, Movie, Body Part, Actor or Actress etc.
Once you have your categories it is time to choose a letter. Without a dice, the easiest way is to write the letters randomly on a piece of paper.
Then one person closes their eyes and points to a letter. When the letter has been chosen, players have 2 minutes to fill in the gaps with something in each category starting with that letter.
Winner is the one with the most filled in at the end, or the first to finish.
This is a really fun and competitive word game for kids that helps to improve their vocabulary, spelling, and conversation skills.
8. Words within a word
This word game requires kids to create their own words. Choose one really long word with at least 8-10 letters. The longer the better.
The aim of this word game is for kids to try to make a list of small words out of the letters of the long word. So for example the word COMPUTER includes: put, cot, term, core, mop, top, pet. Etc.
This is a really fun word game to help children’s spelling skills.
9. I am going on a picnic
A fun word game to help with your child’s memory and to get them talking.
One person starts and says “I am going on a picnic and I will bring some… fruit”
The next person says what the first person said, and adds something of their own. “I am going on a picnic and I will bring some fruit, and some sandwiches.
The next person says what the first, and second person said, and adds something of their own. “I am going on a picnic and I will bring some fruit, some sandwiches and some ice-cream.
You continue on and on and it gets more difficult to remember everything. We usually can get to at least seven or eight, and surprisingly my pre-schooler can often remember more than me!
This conversational game helps with memory, and also learning new vocabulary.
10. Story prompts
This word game involves making up a story by taking turns in saying sentences. One person starts the story, and says the first sentence. The second person continues the story with another sentence, and so on.
The stories can become very interesting as each person has different ideas. Bilingual flashcards are great for this or you can find a great version online HERE.
This conversation activity helps kid’s imagination, as well as building their vocabulary.
Other Fun Learning Resources for Kids?
If you love these English word games, check out these posts!
English Classroom Games – To play in class or at home
Knock Knock Jokes – To get the kids laughing
Best Board Games for Kids – Educational and fun
Top Book Sets for Kids – For all ages
Which English word games do you play with your kids?
These fun English word games for kids can be played with children of all ages and also with adults just by adapting certain aspects of the game to suit the age of the player.
This list of word games for kids will keep kids entertained for hours on end without feeling like they are actually learning.
Stumped with today’s Wordle and looking for some tips? Social media is a strange place at the best of times, but over the past six months it’s been taken over by strange, contextless messages consisting of numbers and coloured squares that look something like this:
Wordle 195 3/6
⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
These are Wordle (opens in new tab) answers, proudly shown off by the game’s worldwide pool of players after completing the daily puzzle game by software engineer Josh Wardle (really) who created it for his partner who loves word games, then sent it to his family who also loved it, and then released it to the public back in October 2021. «It’s something that encourages you to spend three minutes a day,» Wardle told the New York Times, with the site buying the game for an undisclosed seven-figure sum in January 2022. «And that’s it. Like, it doesn’t want any more of your time than that.»
That low time commitment is key to the game’s appeal. There’s only one puzzle available each day (unless you play one of the many other games like Wordle that cropped up in response to the game’s popularity), so you can’t gorge yourself for hours on Wordles, and there’s no chance of falling behind an overzealous friend who has suddenly dedicated their life to those five letter boxes. It only takes a few minutes, it’s fun, and it can be a bit of a challenge to your day without sucking up a whole afternoon.
With that in mind here’s how to play, plus some top Wordle tips to help you protect your perfect winning streak.
How to play Wordle
Wordle rules: How to play the daily puzzler
In this free word game (opens in new tab) you need to figure out which secret word fits inside a five letter box using no more than six guesses. Every time you enter a word the letters flip over and the boxes change to one of three colours: a green box means you’ve got the right letter in the right place, a yellow box lets you know that’s the right letter but it needs to be somewhere else in the word, and lastly a grey box to let you know that letter isn’t present in the word at all (there’s a high-contrast mode as well, which makes the green boxes a bright orange and the yellow ones a light blue).
In the next row, repeat the process for your next guess using what you learned from your previous guess. You have six tries, and can only use US English words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there’s an E and where exactly it should be if it appears—and international players will need to remember to drop those Us).
When you’ve won (or lost) it’s time to share your results on social media using Wordle’s thoughtful sharing system: It shows how many tries it took you to get the answer, without giving away the solution. This way you can easily show off your genius puzzling skills, email them to grandma, or even add that one time you guessed the right word on your first go to your CV.
Wordle tips
Wordle tips
Want to play Wordle? Of course you do. But if there’s one thing better than playing Wordle, it’s playing Wordle well, which is why I’m going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to word-puzzling success:
Begin with a word that uses several different vowels and common consonants. ALERT, RAISE, and MILES are all good examples, but anything along those lines will do the job just as well. ATAXY, on the other hand, uses A twice and has an X and Y which, if eliminated, probably won’t help you with your next guess all that much.
Keep in mind a letter may appear more than once in the solution. If you enter TAINT and the A turns yellow or green, that doesn’t mean the answer only contains a single A. It may have more. The answer could be MAFIA. Having said that, make the most of your early guesses by sticking to words without any repeats or letters an earlier go already ruled out. Each guess should provide as much information as possible.
Don’t forget pluralisations. «BIRDS», «TRIPS», and «CLOGS» may not reflect the highest heights of your personal vocabulary, but they still confirm the presence or absence a vowel and a few common consonants either way and leave you more informed.
Don’t rush your guesses. There’s only one Wordle a day and there’s no time pressure beyond making sure it’s done by midnight (local time). So if you’d like to spend an hour or more turning over the clues in your mind while you work on other things (like actual work) there’s no reason to not treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later.
And if you need a little extra help, every day I post a helpful hint as well as the answer to the latest puzzle on our dedicated Wordle page.
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When baby Kerry was brought home from the hospital her hand was placed on the space bar of the family Atari 400, a small act of parental nerdery that has snowballed into a lifelong passion for gaming and the sort of freelance job her school careers advisor told her she couldn’t do. She’s now PC Gamer’s word game expert, taking on the daily Wordle (opens in new tab) puzzle to give readers a hint each and every day. Her Wordle streak is truly mighty. Somehow Kerry managed to get away with writing regular features on old Japanese PC games (opens in new tab), telling today’s PC gamers about some of the most fascinating and influential games of the ’80s and ’90s. Much of her free time is spent writing about old, imported, and weird games for her own site (opens in new tab), giving herself a headache trying to code another short text adventure in C64 BASIC, or saying «Wow, I forgot I had this!» whenever she stares at a bookcase stuffed with games.
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16 easy whiteboard games
A simple list of games for English classes that you can do on a whiteboard. These are always handy to call on if you have limited facilities or resources available. You only need your board, markers, pens and paper.
Some games require a little bit of preparation while others need none at all. The whiteboard games are not only fun but also educational.
1 -Tic-Tac-Toe
This game is also known as noughts and crosses. Divide your class into 2 teams, team X and Team O. After drawing a 3 by 3 grid, you get students to take turns choosing a square in which they put their team’s marker – X or O. They need to get 3 in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally to win.
To make this educational write or draw a target word that they are learning in each box. When a student chooses the box they must say the word or use it in a sentence. Having done that you can write their X or O in the square and move to the next team’s turn.
2- Pictionary
This is one of the simplest whiteboard games but it creates a lot of laughter! To play firstly divide your class into small teams. Next, get one person in the class to come to the board and give them a marker and a word. Their objective is to draw the word in order for the class to guess what it is. Finally, give a point to the team that guesses the word first. You can find further instructions on the free pictionary cards page.
3 – Hangman
You are usually scraping the bottom of the barrel if you are down to hangman and it is so well known there is no need for instructions on this page. That being said it is still fun for students. A good variation for younger students is to draw a set of steps with a monster or shark at the bottom. A circle or shape at the top of the stairs for each team. If they choose a letter that isn’t in the word they move down one step. Too many incorrect guesses and the monster eats them!
4 – Missing Object/Text
To play this game get 2 to 5 students to stand at the front of the class. Write a series of words on the board such as – tiger – elephant – fox – eagle – frog – camel – bear. Next, ask them to turn around. Once they are facing away from the board, erase one of the words. When you say “go” the students must turn around and name the missing word. The first student to say the missing word earns a point for their team.
5 – Scrambled Words
This is one of the best whiteboard games to review vocabulary your class has been learning. Select a list of words you want to go over and write them on the board with the letters jumbled up. It also a good idea to write numbers next to them. You might for example write 1- nwwoid for window, and 2- rmooslacs for classroom. Award points to whichever team solves a word first.
A variation of this activity is to use anagrams, actual words that contain the same letters like star and rats, or tacos and coats. See if your class can find anagrams of the words you write on the board. You will have to spend some time to compile a suitable list before doing this.
6 – Mixed-Up Sentences
Mixed–up or scrambled sentences can be used for primary, high school and adult lessons. You just need some sentences with the words in the wrong order. A simple example might be – cat black small is the = The black cat is small.
You can print out some scrambled sentences here and get your students to write the correctly worded sentences on the board in a team race.
If you don’t have a printer, you can write your scrambled sentences at the top of the board or even dictate them.
7 – Boggle
Boggle is a fun word building game that almost everyone knows. To play it simply draw a 4 by 4 grid on your board and put 1 letter in each box. Students need to make words by using adjoining letters. There is a thorough description and some grids you can use on the free printable boggle word puzzles page.
8 – Stop the Bus
This game has a few different names but the most common I’ve heard is stop the bus. It is very similar to the board game Scattegories if you have ever played that.
Divide your class into pairs or small groups. Each team will need a piece of paper and a pen. On the board write a list of categories, 6 or 7 is a good number. Let’s say your categories are – Animals, Clothing, Countries, Jobs, Sports, and Fruits. Next, write 1 letter on the board and shout “go!”. The students must write down one word for each category that begins with the letter you provided. The first team to complete the list yells stop the bus which means everybody else should also stop writing.
If the letter was G, the answers could be Animals = Gorilla, Clothing = Gloves, Countries = Germany, Jobs = Gardener, Sports = Golf, and Fruits = Grapes. Points are given to each team for each correct answer. You can also play this game with a timer of say 2-3 minutes and let all teams think of answers until time’s up.
9 – Word Association
Word association is a simple yet enjoyable brainstorming activity. Start with any one word and then ask a student to think of a word related to it and write it next to your original word. The next student must think of an associated word for the previous student’s answer.
Let’s say you start with the word water, an example might be like this –
Water – swim – sport – tired – bed – night – star – moon, and so on.
10 – Rebus puzzles
Rebus puzzles are great brainteasers that all ages enjoy. Divide your class into teams and draw 10 or more easy puzzles on the board. The first team to guess one of the rebus meanings gets a point. There are plenty of examples for you to copy on the free printable rebus puzzles page!
11- Jeopardy
Play a quiz game on the whiteboard just like the TV show! You will need to prepare a list of five questions for each of your categories but it doesn’t take long. The key is to make the questions increasing difficult with the first question being the easiest and the fifth question being quite hard.
Once you have questions, all you need to do is draw a grid on the board. Across the top write the categories and on the left column write the value of the questions in points or money. This game works best in teams but make sure that individual students in teams take turns to choose and answer questions.
12 – Bomb Games
If you’ve ever used any PowerPoint bomb games, you know they are a hit! You can easily replicate them as whiteboard games by drawing a grid and numbering the boxes or by using the alphabet. Again you will need some pre-prepared questions, any topic or difficulty can be used. You also need to draw a key beforehand and decide where the bombs and rewards will be placed.
To make your key, write down the letters or numbers you will use on your grid. Next to each number put a number of points, a bomb or something else to be awarded for that square. You might have a flower which could be +3 points, a rainbow +7, some dynamite -3, a big bomb -5, a gun (take 3 points from another team, a bird (switch points with another team). You can use whatever you like!
Once everything is ready, ask a student or a team a question. If they answer correctly, they get to choose a square on the board. With your key in hand, you erase the square’s number and write or draw what is on your key. Finally, award the points or whatever it may be to the team.
13 – Family Feud
Family Feud seems to be the most popular of all the whiteboard games. It is based on the TV game show from America. It does take a little preparation but it is totally worth it as all classes love it.
You need to prepare some lists of 5 to 10 words in categories. For example, if your category is zoo animals you might have a list of monkey, crocodile, zebra, lion, hippo, tiger, giraffe, and panda. Do not show the class the list.
Divide your class into pairs or small groups and write – 8 Zoo Animals on the board. Next, Students must write down 8 animals on a piece of paper with a time limit of only a few minutes. Once time is up, you write your 8 animals on the board. For each word that a team wrote, they get a point. Play the game over several rounds and tally up the winner at the end. For a more in-depth article with printable questions and answers, check out the Family Feud for the classroom page.
14 – Hot Seat
Hot seat is a very easy game that can get quite raucous. Place a chair in front of the whiteboard facing away from it so whoever sits in the chair can’t see the board. Get a student to come and sit in the chair. Behind the student write a word on the board. The rest of the class must describe the word without actually saying it. The student in the hot seat chair must listen and guess the word. Once they answer correctly, get them to choose another student to replace them in the chair.
This game also works really well with 2 or 3 chairs, where the first person to guess the word wins. You may need to mention that spelling and body language is not allowed.
15 – Taboo
Taboo is just like hot seat above but you add a few extra words that cannot be said (taboo words). For example, if the word to be guessed is – monkey, your taboo words might be banana and tree. It makes the activity much more challenging and useful for advanced classes. For printable cards for this game to use as ideas check out the Taboo ESL game page.
16 – Word Wheels
These vocabulary puzzles are great for English learners and are very easy to draw on a whiteboard. With your class in teams, award a point for each word a team creates. You can also give higher scores for longer words. You can also set your teams a time limit and let them write their answers on paper.
Check out the ESL vault free word wheel puzzles printables for more detailed instructions and puzzles with answers you can use. The puzzles were designed as worksheets but can be used just effectively as whiteboard games for kids or adults