Holidays and seasons · hangman category
Hanukkah Hangman Words
Hanukkah hangman words covering the menorah, candles, foods, history and family traditions, written for teachers and families. Play online or print.
Read the word list
Hanukkah is an eight-night Jewish festival that marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabean revolt. This list draws on the vocabulary of that story (maccabees, temple, miracle, courage, victory) alongside the objects, foods and customs of the celebration: the menorah, dreidel, latkes, gelt, candles and oil.
Hanukkah has several accepted English spellings, so the list includes both hanukkah and chanukah, since students may meet either. Difficulty varies widely. Eight, oil and nun are quick, while maccabees, rededication and candlestick ask for patient guessing and a few rarer letters. The phrases, such as festival of lights and potato pancakes, suit a mixed classroom because they describe customs without assuming prior knowledge, and each one gives a clear answer shape on a whiteboard.
69 entries. Our solver needed 2.4 wrong guesses on average: 25 easy, 33 medium and 11 hard. The toughest is wick (10 misses), the quickest maccabees (0).
- menorah Medium · 2
- candles Medium · 2
- maccabees Easy · 0
- eight Medium · 2
- nights Medium · 3
- oil Medium · 4
- miracle Easy · 0
- temple Medium · 3
- jerusalem Easy · 1
- rededication Easy · 0
- dedication Easy · 0
- doughnuts Medium · 3
- blessings Easy · 1
- light Hard · 7
- lighting Medium · 2
- festival Easy · 0
- family Hard · 6
- gifts Hard · 5
- tradition Easy · 1
- heritage Easy · 0
- spinning Medium · 2
- game Hard · 7
- hebrew Medium · 2
- nun Hard · 6
- shin Hard · 6
- judah Hard · 5
- courage Medium · 2
- freedom Medium · 2
- faith Medium · 3
- celebrate Easy · 0
- holiday Easy · 1
- applesauce Easy · 1
- potatoes Easy · 1
- pancakes Medium · 2
- fried Medium · 3
- brisket Easy · 1
- songs Medium · 4
- gathering Easy · 0
- window Medium · 2
- glow Hard · 6
- flames Medium · 3
- matches Medium · 3
- wick Hard · 10
- candlestick Easy · 0
- chanukah Medium · 2
- hanukkah Medium · 4
- story Medium · 3
- victory Medium · 3
- helper Easy · 1
- kindle Medium · 2
- dreidel Easy · 0
- latkes Medium · 2
- gelt Hard · 5
- gimel Hard · 5
- shamash Medium · 3
- kislev Medium · 3
- festival of lights Easy · 1
- spinning dreidel Easy · 1
- potato pancakes Medium · 2
- chocolate coins Easy · 1
- eight nights Medium · 2
- light the candles Easy · 1
- family gathering Easy · 1
- rededication of the temple Medium · 2
- jewish festival Medium · 2
- miracle of the oil Medium · 4
- winter holiday Easy · 1
- holiday blessings Easy · 1
- hanukkah gelt Medium · 2
Words worth a closer look
- hanukkahThe Hebrew word means dedication. English spellings vary, with chanukah the main alternative, because Hebrew letters have no exact English equivalent. Both spellings are correct.
- maccabeesThe family of Jewish fighters led by Judah Maccabee against the Seleucid ruler Antiochus. The double c and the ee ending are the spelling traps.
- menorahA candelabrum. The Hanukkah menorah holds eight candles plus a ninth, the helper candle called the shamash, which is used to light the others. Many players forget the final h.
- rededicationTwelve letters, built from the prefix re, dedicate and the ending tion. The repeated d and e make it long but workable for older students who know the story.
- dreidelA four-sided spinning top. Its sides carry the Hebrew letters nun, gimel, hey and shin, which stand for a phrase meaning a great miracle happened there. Two e's and two d's make it quicker than it looks.
- latkesPotato pancakes fried in oil, which ties the food to the story of the oil. The word comes from Yiddish. Only a and e are vowels, so it plays harder than six letters suggest.
- geltYiddish for money. It now usually means the chocolate coins given to children. Four letters with a single vowel, so it can take several misses.
- shamashThe helper candle used to light the other candles on the menorah. It stands apart from the eight, and appears on every night. Two a's and two s's, with sh at the start and the end.
- chanukahThe ch at the start stands for a throat sound that English lacks, which is why the h-spelling and the ch-spelling both exist. A player who guesses h early will find it in both words.
Using this list in class
Hanukkah falls in late November or December, so many classrooms use the list in the final weeks before winter break. Because it is a religious holiday, the list suits Jewish day schools and religious education settings as well as classrooms that teach about holidays around the world. A short read-aloud of the story before playing gives the words context, and students who celebrate can explain customs in their own words.
For literacy work, the list offers a prefix (the re in rededication), a pair of spellings of one name and a good set of compound words (candlestick, applesauce). Younger children can stick to the shorter words such as oil, nun and eight, and older ones can try the longest with the printed answer key for checking.
Print a Hanukkah 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
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