Everyday and fun · hangman category
Fairy Tales Hangman Words
Fairy tale hangman words from classic Grimm, Andersen, Perrault and English folk tales: characters, places and objects, free to play or print.
Read the word list
These words come from the traditional tales that have been told for centuries, including those collected by the Brothers Grimm, retold by Charles Perrault and written by Hans Christian Andersen, along with older English folk stories. The list uses generic characters and objects rather than any one film or book: princess, wolf, beanstalk, spindle and the many other things that turn up in a story that begins once upon a time.
Because children often know these tales before they can read, the words are a gentle way to link spoken stories with spelling. Wolf, frog, king and pea are short and obvious. Gingerbread, enchanted, cauldron and stepmother have spelling patterns that give older children something to work out. The phrases, such as glass slipper and happily ever after, work well as a group guessing game, since the answer is often a line everyone has heard.
74 entries. Our solver needed 3.8 wrong guesses on average: 13 easy, 38 medium and 23 hard. The toughest is fox (15 misses), the quickest gingerbread (0).
- castle Medium · 2
- princess Easy · 1
- prince Easy · 1
- king Hard · 13
- queen Medium · 4
- dragon Medium · 2
- wizard Medium · 2
- witch Hard · 8
- fairy Medium · 4
- giant Hard · 5
- goblin Hard · 5
- troll Medium · 4
- dwarf Medium · 3
- elf Medium · 4
- mermaid Easy · 1
- wolf Hard · 8
- bear Hard · 10
- fox Hard · 15
- frog Hard · 6
- swan Medium · 4
- duckling Medium · 4
- gingerbread Easy · 0
- beanstalk Easy · 1
- slipper Easy · 1
- pumpkin Medium · 3
- carriage Medium · 2
- mirror Hard · 6
- spindle Medium · 3
- tower Medium · 3
- forest Medium · 2
- cottage Easy · 0
- cauldron Medium · 2
- magic Hard · 7
- wand Hard · 7
- spell Medium · 4
- wish Hard · 6
- enchanted Easy · 0
- kingdom Medium · 3
- treasure Easy · 0
- crown Medium · 4
- throne Medium · 3
- knight Hard · 6
- hood Hard · 6
- basket Medium · 3
- bridge Medium · 2
- goat Hard · 7
- pea Hard · 6
- porridge Medium · 3
- straw Hard · 5
- bricks Hard · 6
- miller Medium · 4
- shoemaker Easy · 0
- tailor Medium · 2
- stepmother Medium · 2
- cinders Medium · 4
- harp Hard · 7
- goose Medium · 3
- pigs Hard · 5
- village Medium · 2
- rose Medium · 2
- glass slipper Easy · 1
- gingerbread man Hard · 5
- magic mirror Medium · 4
- three bears Hard · 5
- big bad wolf Hard · 7
- fairy godmother Easy · 1
- wicked witch Medium · 4
- golden goose Medium · 2
- red riding hood Medium · 2
- spinning wheel Medium · 2
- frog prince Medium · 2
- once upon a time Medium · 4
- happily ever after Easy · 1
- ugly duckling Medium · 4
Words worth a closer look
- glass slipperCharles Perrault included the glass slipper in his version of Cinderella, published in 1697. Many older versions of the story have no glass at all.
- spindleA spindle is a tool for spinning thread, and it plays a part in both the Grimm and Perrault tellings of the sleeping princess. Seven letters with a d and l that players find late.
- mermaidFormed from mere, an old English word for sea, and maid. Hans Christian Andersen wrote his story of a sea princess in 1837.
- peaAndersen's story of the princess and the pea is one of his shortest. The word has only three letters and two of them are vowels, so it is one of the easiest on the list.
- cauldronThe au spelling is the trap. The word comes from an Old French word for a warm vessel, and many children try to spell it with an o only.
- ducklingThe suffix ling means small or young, as in gosling and sapling. Andersen's tale of an ugly duckling was first published in 1843.
- beanstalkA plain compound of bean and stalk. The English folk tale of Jack and the beanstalk is one of the best known in the language.
- goblinA small, mischievous creature in the folklore of many European countries. Six letters with a g, b and n that are not among the first guessed.
Using this list in class
A first or second grade teacher can use the list in a folk tale unit. After reading a story aloud, play the character and object words that belong to it, and ask children to retell the tale using the solved words. Three bears, porridge, chair and bowl, for example, make a short retelling prompt for the youngest readers.
Older students can compare versions: Grimm and Perrault both told the sleeping princess story, so spindle, tower and castle open a discussion of what changes between tellings. Parents at bedtime can play two or three rounds with a favorite story, and a librarian running a story hour can print the phrases as a game for the group between readings.
Print a Fairy Tales 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
- Books Hangman WordsBooks hangman words for reading class and library visits: story elements, parts of a book, genres and figurative language, free to play or print.
- Greek Mythology Hangman WordsGods, heroes, monsters and places from Greek myth as hangman words, from Zeus to the labyrinth. Play online or print a sheet with an answer key.
- Pirates Hangman WordsPirate hangman words about ships, sailing, maps and buried treasure, chosen to be friendly for kids and useful for themed parties and lessons.
- Halloween Hangman WordsHalloween hangman words with costumes, pumpkins, candy and friendly spooky themes. Play online or print a free sheet with an answer key.
- Animals Hangman WordsHangman words for animals from around the world, from lions and zebras to platypus and armadillo. Play online or print a sheet with an answer key.
- Sports Hangman WordsSports hangman words from soccer and tennis to gymnastics and triathlon, with phrases like slam dunk. Play online or print with an answer key.