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School Hangman Words
School hangman words from the classroom, hallway and playground: supplies, places, people and routines, for kindergarten through middle school.
Read the word list
A school day is full of words that children use all the time and are surprisingly bad at spelling. This list collects them by place and person: the supplies in a backpack, the rooms down the hall, the adults who work there, and the routines that structure the day, such as recess, homework and attendance. Because every student knows the context, young players can guess from meaning as well as from letters.
That familiarity makes the list good for mixed-age groups. Desk, bell, glue and lunch are quick for kindergarteners. Principal, calendar, custodian and kindergarten itself take more care, because each hides a spelling trap that older children are still learning. The phrases, such as report card and show and tell, let a class talk about what happens in a school week while they play.
73 entries. Our solver needed 2.7 wrong guesses on average: 30 easy, 29 medium and 14 hard. The toughest is lunch box (12 misses), the quickest teacher (0).
- teacher Easy · 0
- student Easy · 0
- classroom Medium · 2
- desk Medium · 3
- chair Medium · 3
- backpack Hard · 5
- notebook Medium · 2
- pencil Medium · 2
- eraser Easy · 0
- marker Easy · 1
- crayon Medium · 3
- ruler Medium · 4
- scissors Medium · 2
- glue Medium · 4
- folder Medium · 4
- binder Hard · 5
- locker Medium · 3
- library Easy · 1
- cafeteria Easy · 0
- gymnasium Easy · 1
- playground Medium · 2
- principal Medium · 2
- recess Medium · 2
- lunch Hard · 6
- bell Hard · 10
- homework Easy · 1
- assignment Easy · 0
- test Easy · 1
- quiz Hard · 8
- grade Medium · 3
- report Easy · 1
- schedule Medium · 3
- calendar Easy · 0
- lesson Easy · 1
- subject Easy · 1
- reading Medium · 2
- writing Medium · 3
- spelling Medium · 3
- semester Easy · 1
- attendance Easy · 0
- chalkboard Medium · 2
- whiteboard Easy · 1
- projector Easy · 0
- textbook Medium · 2
- dictionary Easy · 1
- diploma Easy · 1
- graduate Easy · 1
- kindergarten Easy · 0
- elementary Easy · 0
- substitute Easy · 0
- custodian Easy · 1
- counselor Easy · 0
- bus Hard · 6
- hallway Medium · 3
- uniform Medium · 2
- paper Hard · 5
- stapler Easy · 0
- highlighter Easy · 0
- sharpener Easy · 0
- classmate Easy · 0
- school bus Hard · 7
- lunch box Hard · 12
- show and tell Medium · 2
- pencil case Medium · 2
- class pet Hard · 6
- report card Medium · 3
- field trip Hard · 6
- hall pass Medium · 4
- lost and found Hard · 5
- spelling test Medium · 2
- morning meeting Medium · 2
- book bag Hard · 11
- pop quiz Hard · 12
Words worth a closer look
- kindergartenGerman for children's garden. Friedrich Froebel opened the first one in 1837, and the word came into English unchanged, which is why it keeps the German spelling.
- principalA familiar memory trick: the principal is your pal. It is easy to mix up with principle, a rule or belief, which is a good spelling point for upper elementary.
- calendarOften misspelled as calender. The ending is ar, from the Latin kalendae, the first day of the month in the Roman system.
- diplomaFrom a Greek word meaning folded paper. Seven letters with three vowels, but the p, l and m are rarely guessed early.
- pencilComes from a Latin word meaning little tail, since the earliest pencils were fine brushes. The c before the i makes a soft sound, which is the spelling hurdle.
- custodianFrom the Latin custos, guardian or keeper. It names the person who looks after the building, and the stod in the middle is where most mistakes are made.
- cafeteriaBorrowed from American Spanish, where cafeteria meant a coffee shop. Nine letters and five vowels, but the f and t slow many players down.
- recessFrom the Latin recessus, a withdrawing or stepping back, and the same root as recede. The double s at the end is the spelling point.
Using this list in class
In the first week of the school year, play the supplies and rooms to help new students learn the names of everything around them. Put a printed list on the wall and tick off each word as it is solved. Kindergarten and first grade teachers can limit the round to words of four or five letters such as desk, bell, glue, chair and ruler.
Older students can race to solve the harder spelling-trap words, such as principal, calendar and custodian, and then write a sentence for each. A substitute teacher can print the sheet as a ready-made activity for the last ten minutes of the day. Parents who want to ease a child's back-to-school nerves can play the schedule and routine words at home the evening before the first day.
Print a 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
- Back to School Hangman WordsBack to school hangman words covering supplies, classroom routines and school places, ready to play online or print as a free sheet with answers.
- 100th Day of School Hangman WordsHangman words for the hundredth day of school: number words, counting terms and celebration words. Play online or print a sheet with an answer key.
- Math Hangman WordsMath hangman words for elementary and middle school: fractions, geometry, operations and data, with a printable sheet and answer key for the classroom.
- 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.
- Jobs Hangman WordsJobs and careers hangman words, from teacher and farmer to veterinarian and electrician. Play online or print a sheet with an answer key for class.
- Science Hangman WordsScience hangman words drawn from elementary and middle school units: the scientific method, matter, energy, life science and earth science.