Famous Pairs Icebreaker

Press Print this list for ten pairs, one half for each of twenty players, with a hint under every pair.

Famous Pairs Icebreaker

  1. Thunder and LightningYou see one, then hear the other.
  2. Knife and ForkOne on each side of a dinner plate.
  3. Nut and BoltOne screws onto the other.
  4. Broom and DustpanOne sweeps the floor into the other.
  5. Soap and WaterHands get washed with both.
  6. Chalk and ChalkboardOne writes on the other.
  7. Toothbrush and ToothpasteOne goes on the other, morning and night.
  8. Hammer and NailOne drives the other into wood.
  9. Hand and GloveOne fits inside the other.
  10. Washer and DryerLaundry goes through one, then the other.

Next step Matched? Find things in common next

How it works

In the famous pairs icebreaker each player gets half of a well-known pair, such as Lock or Key, and looks for the person holding the other half. The page opens on ten pairs, enough for twenty players.

Read the full guide

Print the pairs and make the cards

Each row is one pair with a hint under it. The menu changes the kind of pair, and the size button gives 5, 10, 15 or 20 pairs. Print the list, then copy each half onto its own card or name tag.

Find your match icebreaker examples: three ways to play

Cards in hand: walk around until you meet your other half. On your back: wear a half you cannot see, ask yes-or-no questions to work it out, then find your partner. Pair and share: once matched, the two of you answer one question together and introduce each other.

Tips
  • Every half is used once in the whole list, so each card has one right partner.
  • Short everyday words are the ones to pick for name tags read from across a room.

Questions and answers

What are good famous pairs for an icebreaker?

Pairs the whole room knows at a glance: Salt and Pepper, Lock and Key, Thunder and Lightning, Tortoise and Hare. This list has about 200 in six kinds, from food to pairs from history and old stories.

Where do the story pairs come from?

From nursery rhymes, fables and books old enough to be in the public domain. Nothing was made for film, television or video games, and the list has no brand mascots and no living people.

What if there is an odd number of players?

The host plays the spare half. Or write your own set of three on cards, such as knife, fork and spoon, and let those three players find one another.

How many pairs do I need?

Half as many as there are players: 10 pairs for 20 people. The sheet comes in 5, 10, 15 or 20 pairs, which covers 10 to 40 players. For a bigger room, print a second sheet of another kind.

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All 203 pairs

Things that go together 36

  • Bat and Ball Both come out for a game in the park.
  • Bow and Arrow An archer carries both.
  • Broom and Dustpan One sweeps the floor into the other.
  • Brush and Comb Both tidy hair.
  • Button and Buttonhole One slips through the other.
  • Cap and Gown Both are worn at a graduation.
  • Chalk and Chalkboard One writes on the other.
  • Cup and Saucer One stands on the other.
  • Drum and Drumsticks One is played with the other.
  • Envelope and Stamp One sticks on the corner of the other.
  • Fishing rod and Reel An angler casts with one and winds in with the other.
  • Hammer and Nail One drives the other into wood.
  • Hand and Glove One fits inside the other.
  • Horse and Cart One pulls the other.
  • Kite and String One flies at the end of the other.
  • Knife and Fork One on each side of a dinner plate.
  • Lamp and Lightbulb One screws into the other.
  • Lock and Key One opens the other.
  • Map and Compass A hiker finds the way with both.
  • Mortar and Pestle One grinds spices in the other.
  • Needle and Thread One is pulled through the eye of the other.
Show all 203 pairs (182 more)

Things that go together, continued

  • Nut and Bolt One screws onto the other.
  • Pail and Shovel Both build a sandcastle.
  • Paint and Canvas An artist puts one on the other.
  • Pen and Paper A handwritten letter needs both.
  • Pillow and Blanket Both are found on a bed.
  • Scarf and Mittens Both come out when the weather turns cold.
  • Ship and Anchor One holds the other in place.
  • Shoes and Socks Both go on your feet.
  • Soap and Water Hands get washed with both.
  • Stars and Stripes Both are on the flag of the United States.
  • Table and Chairs You sit on one, pulled up to the other.
  • Thunder and Lightning You see one, then hear the other.
  • Toothbrush and Toothpaste One goes on the other, morning and night.
  • Train and Track One runs along the other.
  • Washer and Dryer Laundry goes through one, then the other.

Food pairs 34

  • Apples and Caramel A fall treat on a stick.
  • Bacon and Eggs A cooked breakfast plate.
  • Bagel and Cream cheese One is spread on the other.
  • Biscuits and Gravy One is split open and smothered in the other.
  • Bread and Butter One is spread on the other.
  • Burger and Fries The usual order at a drive-through window.
  • Cake and Ice cream Both are served at a birthday party.
  • Chicken and Waffles Fried and griddled, on one plate.
  • Chili and Cornbread A spicy bowl and the square of bread beside it.
  • Chips and Salsa One scoops up the other.
  • Coffee and Donuts A morning drink and a ring to go with it.
  • Corned beef and Cabbage Boiled together in one pot.
  • Hot chocolate and Marshmallows A warm drink and what floats on it.
  • Hummus and Pita A dip and the bread that scoops it.
  • Ketchup and Mustard The red bottle and the yellow bottle.
  • Lettuce and Tomato The two fresh layers in a sandwich.
  • Macaroni and Cheese Pasta and the sauce it is baked in.
  • Milk and Cookies One gets dunked in the other.
  • Oil and Vinegar Shaken together to dress a salad.
  • Pancakes and Syrup One is poured over a stack of the other.
  • Peaches and Cream A fruit and what is poured over it.
  • Peanut butter and Jelly The two fillings of a lunchbox sandwich.
  • Pork chops and Applesauce A meat and the fruit sauce beside it.
  • Pumpkin pie and Whipped cream A fall dessert and its topping.
  • Rice and Beans Two pantry staples cooked into one dish.
  • Salt and Pepper Two shakers on a dinner table.
  • Shrimp and Grits Shellfish served over a bowl of ground corn.
  • Soup and Sandwich A lunch of one bowl and one plate.
  • Spaghetti and Meatballs Long pasta and what rolls on top of it.
  • Steak and Baked potato A steakhouse plate.
  • Sugar and Spice In the nursery rhyme, they come with all that's nice.
  • Tea and Lemon A slice of one floats in a cup of the other.
  • Toast and Jam One is spread on the other at breakfast.
  • Turkey and Stuffing A holiday roast and what is cooked inside it.

Opposites 36

  • Asleep and Awake Before and after the alarm clock.
  • Big and Small Two sizes at opposite ends.
  • Black and White The two colors of piano keys.
  • Day and Night One has the sun and one has the stars.
  • Early and Late Either side of on time.
  • East and West Where the sun rises and where it sets.
  • Empty and Full The two ends of a fuel gauge.
  • Fast and Slow The two ends of a speed dial.
  • First and Last The two ends of a line.
  • Give and Take Two sides of a fair trade.
  • Hard and Soft A rock and a cushion.
  • Heavy and Light An anvil and a feather.
  • High and Low The two ends of a seesaw.
  • Hot and Cold The two faucet handles on a sink.
  • In and Out The two trays on an office desk.
  • Left and Right The two ways to turn at a corner.
  • Lost and Found The name of the box for dropped mittens.
  • Near and Far Close by and a long way off.
  • Noisy and Quiet A drum and a whisper.
  • North and South The top and bottom of most maps.
  • Old and New An antique and something fresh from the box.
  • Open and Closed The two sides of a store door sign.
  • Over and Under Two ways past a fence.
  • Push and Pull The two signs on a door.
  • Question and Answer One is asked, one is given.
  • Rough and Smooth Sandpaper and glass.
  • Start and Finish The two lines of a race.
  • Summer and Winter The warmest season and the coldest.
  • Sunrise and Sunset The two ends of a day.
  • Sweet and Sour Honey and a lemon.
  • Thick and Thin A dictionary and a pamphlet.
  • Top and Bottom The two ends of a ladder.
  • Up and Down The two buttons outside an elevator.
  • Wet and Dry Before and after a towel.
  • Win and Lose The two ways a game can end.
  • Yes and No The two answers in a guessing game.

History, science and exploration 30

  • Acid and Base The two ends of the pH scale.
  • Arteries and Veins Vessels that carry blood away from the heart, and back to it.
  • Athens and Sparta Two rival city-states of ancient Greece.
  • Auguste Lumiere and Louis Lumiere Brothers who showed their films to a paying audience in Paris in 1895.
  • Castor and Pollux Twin brothers of myth, and the two bright stars of Gemini.
  • Darwin and Wallace Two naturalists whose papers on natural selection were read together in 1858.
  • Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Reached the top of Mount Everest together in 1953.
  • Gilbert and Sullivan Wrote comic operas together in Victorian London.
  • Great Bear and Little Bear Two constellations of the northern sky, also called Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
  • Hydrogen and Oxygen The two elements in water.
  • Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm Brothers who collected German folk tales, first printed in 1812.
  • Latitude and Longitude The two sets of lines on a globe.
  • Lewis and Clark Led an expedition across the American West from 1804 to 1806.
  • Marie Curie and Pierre Curie Shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Henri Becquerel.
  • Mason and Dixon Surveyors of a boundary line in the 1760s that still carries both names.
  • Numerator and Denominator The top and the bottom of a fraction.
  • Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright Brothers who flew a powered airplane in 1903.
  • Phobos and Deimos The two moons of Mars.
  • Predator and Prey The hunter and the hunted in a food chain.
  • Proton and Electron One carries a positive charge and the other a negative one.
  • Rodgers and Hammerstein A composer and a lyricist who wrote stage musicals together.
  • Romulus and Remus The twin founders of Rome in Roman myth.
  • Sodium and Chlorine The two elements in table salt.
  • Spirit and Opportunity Twin rovers that landed on Mars in 2004.
  • Stalactite and Stalagmite One hangs from a cave ceiling and one rises from the floor.
  • Stanley and Livingstone An explorer and the missionary he found at Ujiji in 1871.
  • Supply and Demand The two curves in a first economics lesson.
  • Tigris and Euphrates The two rivers of Mesopotamia.
  • Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 Twin space probes launched in 1977.
  • Xylem and Phloem The two kinds of transport tissue in a plant stem.

Rhymes, fables and old books 33

  • Alice and White Rabbit She follows him down the rabbit hole.
  • Anne Shirley and Diana Barry Bosom friends in Avonlea.
  • Ant and Grasshopper In Aesop, one stores food all summer and one sings.
  • Captain Ahab and White whale A sea captain and what he hunts in Herman Melville's novel.
  • Crow and Pitcher In Aesop, a thirsty bird drops pebbles into it.
  • Dish and Spoon The two that ran away together in the rhyme about the cat and the fiddle.
  • Don Quixote and Sancho Panza A knight who tilts at windmills, and his squire.
  • Dorothy and Toto A Kansas girl and her little dog.
  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Two names for one man in Robert Louis Stevenson's tale.
  • Fox and Grapes In Aesop, one cannot reach the other and calls them sour.
  • Goose and Golden egg In Aesop, a bird and what she lays each day.
  • Hansel and Gretel A brother and sister in a tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.
  • Jack and Jill Went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.
  • Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver A cabin boy and a one-legged sea cook.
  • King Arthur and Merlin A king of legend and his wizard.
  • Lion and Mouse In Aesop, the small one gnaws the big one free of a net.
  • Little Bo-Peep and Sheep A nursery rhyme girl and what she has lost.
  • Little Miss Muffet and Spider One sat down beside the other and frightened her away.
  • Mole and Water Rat Two riverbank friends in Kenneth Grahame's tale.
  • Mowgli and Baloo A boy raised by wolves and the bear who teaches him the law of the jungle.
  • Old King Cole and Fiddlers three A merry old soul and the players he called for.
  • Peter Pan and Wendy The boy who would not grow up and the girl who flies to the Neverland.
  • Phileas Fogg and Passepartout A traveler racing to circle the globe, and his valet.
  • Pinocchio and Geppetto A wooden puppet and the woodcarver who made him.
  • Robin Hood and Little John An outlaw of Sherwood Forest and his tall right-hand man.
  • Robinson Crusoe and Friday A castaway and the companion he names after a day of the week.
  • Scrooge and Marley Two business partners in Charles Dickens's Christmas ghost story.
  • Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson The detective of Baker Street and the friend who tells his cases.
  • Simple Simon and Pieman In the rhyme, they met going to the fair.
  • Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn Two friends in Mark Twain's Mississippi River town.
  • Tortoise and Hare The two runners in one of Aesop's fables.
  • Town Mouse and Country Mouse Two friends who visit each other's homes in Aesop.
  • Tweedledum and Tweedledee Two look-alikes Alice meets on the far side of a mirror.

Short everyday words 34

  • Bee and Hive One lives in the other.
  • Bird and Nest One builds the other.
  • Cut and Paste Two keyboard shortcuts that travel together.
  • Dog and Bone A pet and its favorite chew.
  • Drag and Drop What a mouse does to a file.
  • Fire and Ice A flame and a frozen pond.
  • Flip and Flop A summer sandal, named for its sound.
  • Frog and Pond One sits on a lily pad in the other.
  • Hen and Chick A mother bird and her baby.
  • Hide and Seek One player counts and the rest do the first half.
  • Hip and Hop A kind of music whose two halves rhyme with pop.
  • King and Queen The two crowned heads in a deck of cards.
  • Land and Sea The two parts of a coastline.
  • Meet and Greet A get-together where everyone shakes hands.
  • Mix and Match Clothes that go together any way you like.
  • Mom and Dad Two names a child calls out at home.
  • Nook and Cranny Every little corner of a house.
  • Odds and Ends Bits left over in a drawer.
  • Part and Parcel A piece that cannot be left out of the whole.
  • Pea and Pod One grows inside the other.
  • Pots and Pans Everything that hangs over the stove.
  • Pros and Cons The two columns of a decision list.
  • Rise and Shine What you say to wake someone up.
  • Rock and Roll A kind of music with two names in one.
  • Safe and Sound Home with no harm done.
  • Show and Tell A school morning when you bring something from home.
  • Song and Dance A big fuss, or a number in a musical.
  • Stop and Go The red light and the green light.
  • Sun and Moon One lights the day and one the night.
  • Tick and Tock The sound of a clock, in two halves.
  • Trial and Error Learning by trying again.
  • Trick and Treat The two words children call at the door on Halloween, with an or between them.
  • Wear and Tear What years of use do to a sofa.
  • Zig and Zag A line that turns one way and then the other.

How this list was compiled: The list is the Game Night Generator editors' own, written for this page on 2026-10-02: pairs in six kinds for the find-your-match icebreaker, each with its two halves and a one-line hint, and every half used once in the whole list so that a card has one right partner. No pair was made for a film, a television show, a cartoon or a video game, and none is a brand mascot or a living person; several of the book characters are also known from later films. The pairs from history, science and exploration were checked on 2026-10-02 against the English Wikipedia articles on each (https://en.wikipedia.org/, text under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; only names and dates are taken): Lewis and Clark Expedition, Wright brothers, Marie Curie, 1953 British Mount Everest expedition, Henry Morton Stanley, Gilbert and Sullivan, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Romulus and Remus, Castor and Pollux, Mason-Dixon line, Brothers Grimm, Auguste and Louis Lumiere, Alfred Russel Wallace, Voyager program, Mars Exploration Rover, Tigris-Euphrates river system, Ancient Greece, Moons of Mars, Ursa Minor, Sodium chloride, Stalactite, Stalagmite and Xylem. The pairs from rhymes, fables and books are kept only where the work is in the public domain in the United States and is on Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/, read 2026-10-02): Aesop's Fables (the translations by George Fyler Townsend and by V. S. Vernon Jones), The Real Mother Goose, Grimms' Fairy Tales, and the novels and tales each hint points to, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to Treasure Island. Licence: own work