Six misses · no hints
Hard Hangman
Six wrong guesses, no hints, and a word list made of the words that gave our solver the most trouble. Most are short. That's the point.
Why these words are hard
Our solver plays every word on the site by always guessing the letter that appears in the most words still possible. A word lands on this list when the solver makes five or more wrong guesses on it. Three things do it again and again:
- Few letters. A three-letter pattern with one vowel matches dozens of words, and you can only test one letter at a time.
- Rare letters. J, Q, X and Z are each in fewer than 3% of common words, so a sensible player leaves them until last.
- Missing vowels. Words like rhythm, lynx and myrrh punish the usual opening of a, e, i, o, u.
How to beat it
Open with e and a, then switch to consonants the moment you have a vowel. After two misses on vowels, try y. Think in endings: a four-letter word ending in _ZZ has very few candidates once the double letter shows. The strategy guide lists the best opening letters for each word length, worked out from our dictionary.
Want to set a hard word for someone else? Browse the hardest hangman words or the words with J, Q, X and Z, then send one with the two-player link.
What "hard" means on this page
This page always starts on Hard: six wrong guesses with the gallows already drawn, and no hints. You can switch to Medium or Easy above the board if a word is too much, and the setting is remembered for next time. The words come from four lists: the hardest words overall, the hard words list, words with J, Q, X or Z that cost the solver five or more misses, and words with no a, e, i, o or u at all.
Expect to lose some. When the solver itself needs seven or eight wrong guesses, a six-miss game is a coin toss even for a careful player, and that is the appeal: every guess matters. Your win rate and current streak show under the board after each word, so you can see whether your opening letters are improving.