Hangman words
Funny Hangman Phrases
Silly, family-friendly phrases and tongue twisters for hangman, from pickled pepper party to snoring snowman. Play online or print a sheet.
Read the phrase list
These phrases are built to be said aloud. Alliteration does most of the work: giggling goat, grumpy goblin and bubble bath bonanza all repeat their opening sounds, so a round turns into a small tongue-twister contest as soon as someone tries to read the answer back. Nothing here is rude or aimed at anyone, which makes the list safe for mixed-age groups.
Phrases suit hangman because the spaces reveal the shape of the answer before a single letter is guessed. A player who sees a pattern of five letters, then a space, then six, starts reasoning about the whole phrase instead of one letter at a time. The classic tongue twisters on the list, such as she sells seashells and six slippery snails, are fun for another reason: players often know the answer from the first two words and spend the rest of the round checking their spelling.
42 entries. Our solver needed 3.0 wrong guesses on average: 0 easy, 2 medium and 0 hard. The toughest is funny bone (4 misses), the quickest chicken noodle soup (2).
- pickled pepper party
- rubber baby buggy bumpers
- unique new york
- red lorry yellow lorry
- she sells seashells
- fuzzy wuzzy was a bear
- six slippery snails
- silly goose
- fancy pants
- chicken noodle soup Medium · 2
- wiggly worm
- jumping jellybeans
- banana pajamas
- soggy spaghetti
- flying pancake
- dancing donkey
- giggling goat
- sneezing sloth
- purple pickle
- bouncy bubble gum
- wobbly jelly
- tickle monster
- pillow fight
- whoopee cushion
- belly laugh
- funny bone Medium · 4
- knock knock
- bubble bath bonanza
- goofy grin
- cheeky monkey
- polka dot pickle
- slippery banana peel
- clumsy clown
- talking turnip
- sleepy sasquatch
- grumpy goblin
- noodle doodle
- squeaky shoes
- mashed potato mountain
- snoring snowman
- juggling jellyfish
- spaghetti hair
Words worth a closer look
- pickled pepper partyA nod to the well-known tongue twister about a peck of pickled peppers. The double p's and double c's give players several quick hits.
- she sells seashellsAnother classic twister. Count the s's: they fill a large share of the grid, so s is the best first guess.
- knock knockTwo matching words, so each correct letter appears twice. A solid warm-up phrase for younger players.
- whoopee cushionThe double o and double e help, but the w and the p twice make the middle tricky.
- funny boneNot a bone at all, but a spot on the elbow where a nerve runs near the surface. A small fact players tend to enjoy.
- belly laughA deep, hearty laugh. Short enough for a quick round, with the double l shared across both words.
- banana pajamasSilly picture plus plenty of a's: five of them in fourteen letters, so a is the obvious first guess.
How to use this list
Play these on a whiteboard with a whole group. Reveal the blanks, let teams call letters in turn, and make the team that solves the phrase say it three times fast. Keep a stopwatch handy; the race back through a tongue twister is usually where the laughter comes from.
For a writing task, ask students to invent a new phrase with the same pattern, such as a describing word, a creature and a place, all starting with one letter. Their new phrases make good material for the next round.
Print a Funny Hangman Phrases 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
- Funny Hangman WordsReal words that sound ridiculous, from kerfuffle to hullabaloo, ready to play as hangman online or print with an answer key.
- Hangman PhrasesCommon everyday phrases for hangman, from good morning to piece of cake. Play online or print a sheet with an answer key for classroom or home.
- Hangman IdiomsReal English idioms for hangman, from piece of cake to once in a blue moon, with meanings in the notes. Play online or print an answer key.
- Hangman Words for KidsConcrete, picture-able words for K to grade 3 hangman, from cat and hat to rabbit and teacher. Play online or print a sheet with an answer key.
- Two Word Hangman WordsEveryday two-word compounds and pairs for hangman, from ice cream and fire truck to high school. Play online or print a sheet with an answer key.
- Hardest Hangman WordsThe hardest hangman words in everyday English, ranked by how many wrong guesses a sensible player makes. Play the list online or print it.