Holidays and seasons · hangman category
Winter Hangman Words
Winter hangman words about snow, ice, cold weather and animals, with phrases and teaching notes. Play online or print a sheet with an answer key.
Read the word list
Winter vocabulary splits into three groups, and this list uses all of them: weather and ice (blizzard, sleet, icicle), clothing and gear (parka, mittens, snowshoe), and the things animals and people do to get through the cold (hibernate, shiver, bundle). It deliberately avoids holiday words, so it fits a January classroom as well as a December one.
Difficulty comes mainly from letter patterns. Snow, frost and ice are quick wins for early readers. Blizzard has a double z and almost no repeated letters, and solstice and thermometer are long enough that a player needs several correct guesses before the shape becomes obvious. Phrases like snow angel and winter solstice let a group see the word breaks and work out the rest together.
74 entries. Our solver needed 2.7 wrong guesses on average: 23 easy, 37 medium and 14 hard. The toughest is polar bear (10 misses), the quickest icicle (0).
- snow Hard · 5
- snowflake Medium · 2
- snowman Medium · 2
- snowstorm Medium · 3
- snowplow Medium · 3
- snowshoe Medium · 2
- snowboard Medium · 2
- blizzard Medium · 2
- flurry Hard · 5
- sleet Easy · 1
- hail Hard · 5
- frost Medium · 2
- ice Medium · 4
- icicle Easy · 0
- slush Medium · 4
- glacier Easy · 1
- avalanche Easy · 0
- freezing Medium · 2
- frozen Medium · 3
- chilly Hard · 5
- wintry Hard · 5
- blustery Easy · 0
- shiver Medium · 4
- bundle Medium · 2
- mittens Easy · 1
- gloves Hard · 5
- scarf Medium · 4
- parka Medium · 4
- boots Hard · 7
- coat Hard · 5
- flannel Medium · 3
- woolen Medium · 4
- hat Medium · 4
- skate Easy · 1
- skating Medium · 2
- sled Medium · 2
- sledding Easy · 0
- toboggan Medium · 3
- ski Hard · 6
- skiing Medium · 3
- igloo Medium · 2
- fireplace Easy · 0
- hearth Medium · 2
- cocoa Easy · 1
- hibernate Easy · 0
- hibernation Easy · 0
- penguin Medium · 2
- arctic Easy · 1
- polar Medium · 3
- cardinal Easy · 1
- evergreen Easy · 0
- solstice Medium · 2
- thermometer Easy · 1
- temperature Easy · 1
- december Easy · 1
- january Medium · 3
- february Easy · 1
- drift Hard · 6
- snowfall Medium · 2
- snowdrift Easy · 1
- snow day Hard · 9
- snow angel Medium · 2
- snowball fight Medium · 3
- hot chocolate Easy · 0
- winter solstice Medium · 3
- ice skating Medium · 2
- cold front Medium · 4
- winter wonderland Easy · 0
- snow boots Medium · 3
- polar bear Hard · 10
- warm blanket Hard · 5
- winter coat Medium · 4
- building a snowman Easy · 1
- icy roads Hard · 6
Words worth a closer look
- blizzardContains a double z, which is rare in English, and has no repeated letter apart from the z pair. Guessing common vowels only gets a player a and i, so it lasts longer than its length suggests.
- solsticeFrom the Latin solstitium, meaning sun standing still. The winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere is the shortest day of the year.
- hibernateComes from the Latin hibernare, to spend the winter. Its relative hibernation ends in the same ation pattern as celebration and migration.
- icicleSix letters with two i's and two c's. The repeated pairs make a good example of how a list word can look harder than it is once a player finds the first i.
- iglooTaken from the Inuit word iglu, which means house. It has three vowels in five letters, so players tend to fill it quickly.
- thermometerBuilt from two Greek roots, therme for heat and metron for measure. The th at the start and the repeated e and m give careful players plenty to work with.
- mittensA double t in the middle is the usual spelling slip. Compare it with kittens and buttons when teaching the pattern.
Using this list in class
January is the natural time to bring this list out, when the holiday lists are put away and students need a fresh game. Pair it with a weather unit: students can sort the words into weather, clothing and animal groups before or after a round, which turns a game into a quick vocabulary review.
For younger readers, play on the board with a mix of snow, ice and boots and let the class vote on each letter. Older students can use the longer words, thermometer and avalanche in particular, as a spelling check. Print the sheet for indoor recess on days when the weather keeps everyone inside.
Print a Winter 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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- Fall Hangman WordsFall and autumn hangman words on leaves, harvest, orchards and cozy weather, with phrases and notes. Play online or print with an answer key.
- Thanksgiving Hangman WordsThanksgiving hangman words covering the feast, the harvest, family traditions and early American history, from short table words to long, tricky ones.