Hangman words
Good Hangman Words
60 good hangman words like penguin, pumpkin and volcano: fun, familiar words for family and class games, each scored by our solver for a close round.
Read the word list
A good hangman word is one both players can win. It should be a word everyone at the table knows, from a nine-year-old to a grandparent, and fun to watch appear letter by letter: penguin, pumpkin, volcano, wizard. This list is 60 of those, picked by hand to mix animals, food, monsters, everyday things and places, with no names, no office words and nothing anyone would need to look up.
Every word was then played by our solver, the same one that scores every list on the site. It counts the wrong guesses a careful player makes, and we kept only words scoring from 2 to 5: most land in Medium and ten reach Hard. That range is what makes a round feel close. Below it the word falls in a few guesses; above it, even a strong player loses more often than they win.
The scores also show something setters rarely expect. Short words are often harder than long ones: lemon and comet, five letters each, score 5, while penguin and jigsaw score 2. A J or a Z doesn't guarantee a hard word either. What matters is how many other words share the same pattern of blanks.
60 entries. Our solver needed 3.5 wrong guesses on average: 0 easy, 50 medium and 10 hard. The toughest is backpack (5 misses), the quickest castle (2).
- backpack Hard · 5
- circus Hard · 5
- comet Hard · 5
- goblin Hard · 5
- hammer Hard · 5
- kitten Hard · 5
- lemon Hard · 5
- mango Hard · 5
- muffin Hard · 5
- puddle Hard · 5
- burger Medium · 4
- cactus Medium · 4
- camel Medium · 4
- fairy Medium · 4
- marble Medium · 4
- pajamas Medium · 4
- parrot Medium · 4
- pebble Medium · 4
- pickle Medium · 4
- popcorn Medium · 4
- potato Medium · 4
- scarf Medium · 4
- sticky Medium · 4
- tomato Medium · 4
- turtle Medium · 4
- violin Medium · 4
- wiggle Medium · 4
- zombie Medium · 4
- alien Medium · 3
- balloon Medium · 3
- bicycle Medium · 3
- blanket Medium · 3
- candle Medium · 3
- chicken Medium · 3
- ghost Medium · 3
- goldfish Medium · 3
- octopus Medium · 3
- pancake Medium · 3
- pillow Medium · 3
- planet Medium · 3
- pumpkin Medium · 3
- shark Medium · 3
- spider Medium · 3
- splash Medium · 3
- spooky Medium · 3
- tractor Medium · 3
- trophy Medium · 3
- volcano Medium · 3
- walrus Medium · 3
- yogurt Medium · 3
- castle Medium · 2
- dolphin Medium · 2
- dragon Medium · 2
- jigsaw Medium · 2
- monster Medium · 2
- penguin Medium · 2
- pirate Medium · 2
- rocket Medium · 2
- snowman Medium · 2
- wizard Medium · 2
Words worth a closer look
- lemonScores 5 in five letters. After the E lands, the solver misses on S, R, A, I and T, because so many short words fit _E___, before the O, N and M close it out.
- cometScores 5. Familiar and short, but ___E_ fits dozens of five-letter words, and the solver misses on S, R, D, L and N before the C, O, M and T are all in.
- puddleScores 5. Once it reaches _UDDLE, huddle, cuddle and puddle all fit, so the solver guesses H and C before it gets to the P.
- muffinScores 5. Its only vowels are U and I, so a player who opens with E, A and O gets three misses straight away.
- zombieScores 4. The Z is the last letter the solver tries, after missing on A, R, S and L. Great for a group that loves spooky words.
- jigsawScores only 2 despite its J and W. Once the I, S and G show, almost nothing else fits _IGSA_, so the rare letters give themselves away.
- penguinScores 2. Only R and O miss. Once the P, E, I and N show, PEN__IN has one sensible answer. A good first word for a younger player.
How to use this list
This is the list to reach for when you have no idea who will be playing. It works for a classroom warm-up, a car ride or a family evening, because the words are familiar and the rounds are tense without being impossible. Give players six wrong guesses and most rounds will go to the last body part.
If a group wins too easily, move to the hard list. If someone is struggling, switch to the easy list, where every word scores 0 or 1. Mixing words from two lists in one session is a good way to keep a mixed-age group playing together.
Print a Good Hangman worksheet
Eight puzzles on one US Letter page, with a clue, letter blanks, an empty frame to draw in, an alphabet strip to cross off and circles to count misses. Page two is the answer key.
Need another sheet?
Draw eight different words from this list, right here. Same layout, new answer key.
Keep going
- Hard Hangman Words60 hard hangman words like jinx, yacht and gecko: familiar words with rare letters and crowded patterns, each scored hard by our solver.
- Hardest Hangman WordsThe 50 hardest familiar hangman words, like pop, fox, jazz and puppy. Each one cost our solver at least nine wrong guesses. Play online or print.