A word association game is a game in which a word is given to a student and then that student must say an associated word or phrase. Word association games are a fantastic way to help students practice using their existing vocabulary and to learn new English words.
While playing word association games, students are likely to encounter words that they have not heard before. These words are associated with the vocabulary they already know, and so it is very easy for students to guess the meanings of these new words. This makes word association games fantastic for learning new words.
Let’s look at some different ways in which you can play word association games with your students.
Simple Word Association
The simplest way to play word association games in class is to simply give one student a word and ask that student to say the first thing that comes to mind. For example, if you say the word “drink” a student might say the word “juice”. Then, the next student should say the first word which comes to their mind, for example, “orange”.
If you’re playing this game with kids, then to make it even more fun you could get them to pass a ball as they play. When a student has the ball it is their turn, and once they have said their word they should pass the ball to the next player.
However, if you are playing word association games while social distancing in the classroom, then it is probably best not to pass a ball around. Instead, you could ask your students to stand up from their desks when it is their turn.
Word Association Topics
Another fun way to play word association games in class is to choose a particular topic and ask students to say words associated with that topic. Usually, when playing word association games, students would start at one word, and after a few turns, the words might become completely unrelated to the original topic.
But when playing a word association game with a particular topic, all words must be related to the main topic. For example, if you choose the topic ‘food’ then every word must be a kind of food. If a student says ‘milk’ for example, then that student would be out as it is a drink and not a food.
Here are some topics you could use for your next word association game:
- Types Of Food
- Types Of Drinks
- Countries
- Hobbies
- Sports
- Superheroes
- Colors
- Furniture in a house
- School Subjects
- Types Of Weather
Guess The Secret Word
A really fun way to get your students thinking while playing a word association game is to have them try and guess a secret word. Rather than have students say any associated word that comes to mind, instead think of a secret word and tell them some words associated with that.
Then students should try to guess what the secret word is. To make it more fun you could even ask students to guess other words which might be associated to the secret word.
For example, if the secret word was ‘yellow’ you could say the word “banana” to your students. Then they might guess something like “apple” and you can tell them it is not related. But when they say something like “lemon” you can tell them that it is associated with it.
After some time students will be able to guess the secret word. This way of playing a word association game is a fantastic way to get students to practice their thinking skills while learning new vocabulary.
Ryhming Words
This way of playing word association games can lead to some hilarious answers. Simply give students a word and ask them to come up with a word which rhymes. In this game, the words don’t necessarily have to be related. They just need to rhyme.
For example, you might say the word “cold” and students might say “old”, “mold”, “bold”, “told”, etc. The first student who can’t come up with a rhyming word is out.
Chain Game
This last word association style game is one you have probably played at some point in your life. In this game a student would say one word and then the next student must say a word which starts with the last letter of the previous word.
For example, if the word was ‘pizza’ then the next student must say a word beginning with ‘a’. Then, the next student might say “apple” and so the next student must say a word beginning with ‘e’. And so, on. The first student who cannot say a word is out.
Thanks for reading. I hope you found some inspiration for your next word association game.
Before you go, don’t forget to check out our free lesson materials, including ESL Games, PowerPoint Games, ESL Worksheets, ESL PowerPoints, and ESL Printables.
If you’re looking for a fun word association game or activity, then you’re certainly in the right place. Keep on reading for everything you need to know about fun word association games.
Word Association Activity
This ESL word association activity is an ideal way to help students activate prior knowledge that they might have about a topic. Or, you can use it at the end of a unit to show students how much they have learned!
The key to having a happy ESL classroom is to mix things up in your classes. After all, nobody likes doing the same thing over and over again. Try out some new activities today…here’s a simple vocabulary one you can start with.
Skills: Reading/writing/speaking
Age: 7+ (must be able to read + write)
Materials Required: Workbook or butcher paper and pens
Word Association is an ESL vocabulary activity that can be used to introduce a new topic, lesson, theme, etc. You have to write a single relevant word in the middle of the board or paper and have students take turns adding as many words or images related to that word as possible.
For example…the centre word could be “school.” Some of the other branches could be subjects (Math, English, History, Gym, etc) while another branch could be school supplies (pen, paper, ruler, etc.) Finally, you might have one about recess or break time (play games, tag, climb, jump, swing set). And keep going with more associations from there.
The subject or topic can be whatever you’re teaching that day. Another topic it works well for is body parts. Check out some more parts of the body activities here.
For large classes, have students work in groups with separate pieces of paper taped to the wall or the top of the table/ grouped desks. After a given amount of time (3-5 minutes, or when you see no one is adding anything new), discuss their answers.
It’s also a nice activity for teaching English online so give it a try today!
Teaching Tips for This ESL Vocabulary Activity
For large classes, butcher paper works best, so more students can write at one time. If that isn’t possible, have 5-6 board markers available.
If using butcher paper, prepare in advance, including taping to the wall, unless students will be working at their desks. Finally, if students will be working at their desks, write the word on each table’s page in advance, but don’t hand them out until you have given your instructions.
This activity is often quite a fun way to start off a holiday themed class. For even more ideas, check out: ESL Christmas Activities and Games.
Procedure for Word Association Game
1. Write a single word relevant to your new topic, lesson, or theme on the white board or butcher paper.
2. Have students take turns adding as many words or images related to that word as possible. My rule is that each student has to add at least one word, no matter how small.
3. After 3-5 minutes (or less, if no one is adding anything new), discuss their answers.
4. For larger classes, put students into groups of 4-6 and let them work together on this. You can choose the most well-organized one to show as an example to the rest of the class. And these papers can act as resources for the rest of the class.
Word Associations Activity for ESL
Follow-Up to this Word Association Activity
You may wish to spend quite a bit of time teaching your students how to do mind-mapping, or brainstorming the first time they do it. This is because it can be a very useful skill that they can take with them to all of their classes. It’s often a great first step before doing almost any kind of writing task or project.
Remember to teach your students that they’re not to edit their ideas at this point. Just to write down anything that comes to mind. And that they should also be doing this very quickly.
Word Associations Worksheets
Do you want to give your students some extra practice with this kind of thing? The good news is that there are a ton of great word association exercises online that you can just print off and use in your classes. If that’s not some ESL teaching gold then I’m not sure what it! Here are some of the best options:
ISL Collective
ESL Printables
ESL Galaxy
Did you Like this Word Associations Game?
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Word Association ESL Vocabulary Activity: Join the Conversation
Do you like this activity, or do you have some other favourite word association games? Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts. We’d love to hear from you about anything word association game!
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Word association game
Last update on 2022-07-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Word association games
Here are some fun activities that can be used as warmers, fillers, and also more involved speaking exercises. Some of these word association games require no preparation at all. Others require some printouts but everything you need is available for free here at ESL Vault.
The word association games are all about using words that are related in some way and are perfect for practising vocabulary. If you are not familiar with these kinds of activities read on and you will be!.
1 – Word Association circle
This is the most commonly know word association game that almost everyone has played at some point. To play this game, get your students to form a circle. Going around the circle students must say a word related to the previous word. An example might be as follows – Water – Drink – Coffee – Black – Night – Stars etc.
If they cannot think of one within 5 seconds, they are out of the game. The winner is the last person remaining in the game. If there is any dispute that a word is not associated let the whole class vote on whether it is a reasonable answer or not. If your class is too big to form a circle just get the students to stand up to play and sit down if they are eliminated from the game.
2 – Word association gameshow
This is quite similar to the game above. Instead of putting the class in a circle, break the class up into teams. Have 1 player from each team come to the front of the class and sit in a chair.
Give these chosen players a category, let’s say fruit for an example. The students take turns to come up with the name of a fruit within 5 seconds. So they might say this – student 1 “apple”, student 2 “banana”, student 3 “watermelon”. If a player cannot think of a word or repeats one that has already been used they are out. Continue until 1 player is remaining, that player is the winner and earns a point for their team.
Next, get the teams to send new players to the chairs and play and repeat the activity. Play several rounds and tally up the points at the end to find the winning team.
3 – Taboo
This word association game requires players to guess a target word from clues. The catch is that the clues cannot use certain words which are “taboo words”. One student must try to explain the target word while the rest of the class tries to guess what it is.
For complete instructions and free printable game cards gave a look here.
4 – Word association point scoring
For this, you need premade word cards that have a target word and 4 associated words. You can also print out the free taboo cards from the link in the previous game.
The game can be played 1 on 1, or in groups. First, a player or team chooses a random card and reads aloud the target word at the top. The opposing team must say 4 words they think are associated. For every match on the card, they get a point for their team. The next team takes a card and repeats the process. At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins.
For a variation on this activity, you can get teams to move pieces around a board game and race to the finish. One point gives them 1 move forward.
You can also set a target number of points. For example, the first team to amass 25 points is the winner.
5 – Things that go together game
In this activity, students must match things that are associated and go together. With sets of words or pictures ask your students to match the objects or words that belong together. For example – bat and ball, moon and stars, shoes and socks. These are all pairs of words that belong together.
You can create word or picture cards yourself if you have target vocabulary that you want to revise. The easiest thing to do is to download and print the things that go together cards here on ESL Vault. This is one of the word association games that is also suitable for younger learners.
6 – Word association sentences
For this activity you need groups of associated words with a target word to play, 3 associated words is a good number. A group may look like this – MILK, cow, baby, white. Again you can use the taboo cards that are linked above in game 3.
One player at a time comes to the front of the class and must construct a sentence that includes the 3 words. The idea is to get the rest of the class to guess the preassigned target word.
For Example, the target word is milk, the associated words are – cow, baby, and white. The student could make the sentence – “The white cow had a baby”. The student who correctly guesses the word milk gets a point as does the player who made the sentence.
7 – Guess your partner’s word association
This game requires you to download one of the word association worksheets here on ESL Vault.
To play the students must try to guess what words their partners will write to associate with certain words/pictures. To make it even more fun the class can try to guess what their teacher will associate with the words. The student that gets the most correct guesses is the winner!
8 – Word association chain
To play this game you start with a noun. For example, “a tiger”. The first student must add an adjective to the noun such as “a fast tiger”. The next student adds another adjective and recites all the previous words as well – a white, fast, tiger. Continue in this fashion until your class can no longer think of a word to add. If a student cannot add a word they are out of the game. The winner is the last remaining player.
You can either get students to write their words on the board, but it is more fun to get them to say the words aloud and have them try to remember all the previous adjectives. It gets very difficult when the chains are over 10 words long!
Variations of this game start using sentences such as ”I am going on holiday and in my suitcase there is ….”, or “Yesterday, I went to the supermarket and bought…”. In this version of the game, students will be adding nouns.
9 – Family Feud
This is a popular TV game show where contestants try to match a list of responses to a question. In the adapted classroom version, a category is given instead and students have to match associated words.
Of all the word association games, this one is my favorite as it works for most levels and always gets a great response from the class. For full instructions and printable category and answer cards check the Family Feud for the classroom article.
More games
If you enjoyed the word association games and are looking for more fun activities for the classroom, you will want to also have a look at the 16 easy whiteboard games.
You might also like these
Mallet’s Mallet
ESL Word Association Game — Vocabulary: Revision — Group Work — Any Level — 20 minutes
This amusing word association game has been adapted from an English TV game show. One player from each team comes and sits on a chair at the front of the class. Give the two players a category, e.g. sports. The two players then take it in turns to say a word associated with the category. If a player can’t think of a word, hesitates or repeats a word, they get hit with an inflatable hammer or toy and are out of the game. A new player from their team then comes and sits in the chair and the two players are given a new category. When a student beats three opposing team members, they step down and let someone else play. The first team to run out of players loses.
Password
ESL Word Association Game — Vocabulary: Guessing — Group Work — Any Level — 20 minutes
Here is an imaginative ESL word association game to play in class with your students. One player from each team comes to the front of the class. Show the two players a word you wish to revise on a slip of paper. This is the ‘Password’. The aim of the game is for the teams to guess the password. To do this, the two players take it in turns to tell their team a word associated with the password. For example, if the password is ‘flower’, a player might say ‘roses’. The player’s teammates then consult with each other and try to guess the password by associating the word given with another word. If a team guesses correctly the first time, they score five points. On the second try, they score four points and so on. If both teams are unable to guess correctly after five tries, change the players and give a new password. When a password is correctly identified, two new players come to the front and start over with a new password. The team with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.
What’s the Topic?
ESL Word Association Game — Vocabulary: Guessing — Pair Work — Pre-intermediate (A2-B1) — 25 minutes
This word association game helps students practice vocabulary relating to a topic. Write a list of ten topics you want the students to practice on the board, e.g. holidays, happiness, technology, etc. Teams copy the topics from the board and then write three words they associate with each topic. You can specify whether the three words should be general or personal associations. When the students have finished, each team joins with another team. Teams then take it in turns to say one of their associated words to the other team. The other team has three chances to guess which topic the word refers to. If the team guesses the correct topic on their first try, they score three points. On their second try, they score two points. On their last try, they get one point. This process continues until all the words have been used. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. You can make the game longer or shorter by changing the number of topics and words the students write.
Word Association Game
ESL Word Association Game — Vocabulary: Revision — Any Level — 15 minutes
This word association game is easy to set up and play. All the students stand up. Give the students a word. The first student says a word that they associate with the chosen word. The second student then associates a word with the first student’s word. This continues from student to student, e.g. ocean, blue, green, field, flower, valentine, love, heart, etc. If a student can’t think of a word, repeats a word or is too slow to answer, they are out of the game and sit down. The last student left standing wins the game. Alternatively, students only associate words with your chosen word.
Word Disassociation Game
ESL Word Game — Vocabulary: Revision — Any Level — 15 minutes
Here is a fun game to play with any level. This game is the opposite of word association. Have the students stand in a circle. Tell the students that they are going to play a game where they call out words that are unassociated with each other. Choose a word at random. The first student says a word that is unassociated with the chosen word. The second student then says a word that is unassociated with the first student’s word and so on. If a student says a word that is connected with the previous word, takes too long to answer or repeats a word, they are out of the game and sit down. Anyone can challenge a student if they think there is a connection. If the connection is agreed upon, that student is out of the game. The last student left standing wins.
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