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Back to School Hangman Words
Back to school hangman words covering supplies, classroom routines and school places, ready to play online or print as a free sheet with answers.
Read the word list
The first weeks of school are full of new vocabulary: supplies to label, routines to learn, rooms to find. This list covers all three. Pencil, backpack and notebook are the items on the supply list, locker, cafeteria and library are the places, and schedule, recess and homework are the routines.
Words are chosen to be familiar to children who have been in a classroom, so the difficulty comes from the spelling and the letters, not from unfamiliar meanings. Kindergarten and calculator are long. Library, schedule and highlighter are among the words children tend to misspell, which makes them useful for the first spelling lessons of the year. Short words such as bus, bell and desk give the youngest players quick wins, and the phrases (lunch box, first day) are easy to read aloud.
68 entries. Our solver needed 2.8 wrong guesses on average: 23 easy, 32 medium and 13 hard. The toughest is lunch box (12 misses), the quickest eraser (0).
- backpack Hard · 5
- pencil Medium · 2
- notebook Medium · 2
- eraser Easy · 0
- ruler Medium · 4
- crayons Medium · 3
- markers Easy · 1
- scissors Medium · 2
- glue Medium · 4
- binder Hard · 5
- folder Medium · 4
- lunchbox Medium · 3
- locker Medium · 3
- desk Medium · 3
- teacher Easy · 0
- classroom Medium · 2
- student Easy · 0
- recess Medium · 2
- cafeteria Easy · 0
- bus Hard · 6
- homework Easy · 1
- schedule Medium · 3
- textbook Medium · 2
- calculator Medium · 2
- highlighter Easy · 0
- stapler Easy · 0
- library Easy · 1
- principal Medium · 2
- kindergarten Easy · 0
- grade Medium · 3
- learning Easy · 0
- reading Medium · 2
- writing Medium · 3
- math Hard · 6
- science Easy · 0
- friends Medium · 4
- september Easy · 1
- august Medium · 3
- uniform Medium · 2
- sneakers Easy · 0
- supplies Easy · 0
- bell Hard · 10
- assembly Easy · 1
- paperclip Easy · 0
- planner Medium · 4
- chalkboard Medium · 2
- whiteboard Easy · 1
- playground Medium · 2
- lesson Easy · 1
- quiz Hard · 8
- spelling Medium · 3
- alphabet Medium · 4
- cubby Hard · 5
- sharpener Easy · 0
- tablet Medium · 4
- orientation Easy · 0
- first day Hard · 7
- lunch box Hard · 12
- school bus Hard · 7
- pencil case Medium · 2
- new friends Medium · 4
- recess time Medium · 4
- show and tell Medium · 2
- back to school Hard · 5
- class schedule Easy · 0
- school supplies Easy · 1
- morning bell Hard · 10
- library card Hard · 5
Words worth a closer look
- pencilFrom the Latin penicillus, meaning little tail, which first named a fine paintbrush. The c before the i makes the s sound, which is a spelling trap.
- kindergartenA German word meaning children's garden, coined by Friedrich Froebel in the 1830s. English kept the German spelling, including the final en.
- libraryMany speakers drop the first r when saying it, so students write libary. Worth a look on the answer key.
- scheduleThe ch makes a sk sound in the US, as in school and scheme. Eight letters, three vowels.
- cafeteriaFrom American Spanish cafetería, a coffee shop. Five of its nine letters are vowels, so it opens quickly.
- crayonsFrom the French crayon, linked to craie, meaning chalk. The ay in the middle is the part to watch.
- highlighterThree h's and two g's, with the gh silent as in high and light. One correct h fills three spaces, so it opens faster than eleven letters suggest.
- calculatorFrom the Latin calculus, a small pebble used for counting. Two c's, two l's and two a's, so repeated guesses pay off.
Using this list in class
Use the list in the first week of school as a low-pressure warm-up while you learn names and routines. Put the phrases on the board for whole-class play, then give small groups the printed sheet so each group solves a few words and labels the items in the classroom with them.
For spelling, the list holds a handful of the words children misspell most (library, schedule, calculator), plus a useful group of compounds (backpack, lunchbox, whiteboard, playground). Kindergarten and first grade can stay with the shortest words, while grades three to five can move on to the long ones and write a sentence for each.
Print a Back to School 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
- School Hangman WordsSchool hangman words from the classroom, hallway and playground: supplies, places, people and routines, for kindergarten through middle school.
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- Summer Hangman WordsSummer hangman words about the beach, camp, picnics and warm-weather fun, with phrases and notes. Play online or print a sheet with an answer key.
- Christmas Hangman Words56 Christmas hangman words and 15 phrases, sorted by how hard they are to guess. Play online with this list or print a sheet with an answer key.
- Thanksgiving Hangman WordsThanksgiving hangman words covering the feast, the harvest, family traditions and early American history, from short table words to long, tricky ones.