A needle in a haystackSomething almost impossible to find.
A taste of your own medicineBeing treated the way you treat others.
All earsListening closely.
Ants in your pantsToo restless to sit still.
Apples and orangesTwo things too different to compare.
Back to square oneStarting all over again.
Bark up the wrong treeLook for the answer in the wrong place.
Beat around the bushAvoid getting to the point.
Bigger fish to fryMore important things to do.
Bite off more than you can chewTake on too much.
Blessing in disguiseSomething that looks bad and turns out well.
Burn the midnight oilWork late into the night.
Bury the hatchetMake peace after a quarrel.
Butterflies in your stomachA nervous, fluttery feeling.
Cat got your tongueAsked of someone who has gone quiet.
Cold feetSudden nerves before something big.
Cut cornersDo a job the quick, careless way.
Elephant in the roomThe obvious problem nobody mentions.
Fish out of waterSomeone who feels out of place.
Go the extra mileDo more than you were asked.
Got up on the wrong side of the bedGrumpy from the start of the day.
Head in the cloudsNot paying attention, lost in thought.
Hit the nail on the headGet something exactly right.
Jump on the bandwagonJoin in because everyone else has.
The last strawThe final small thing that makes you lose patience.
Let the cat out of the bagGive away a secret by mistake.
Miss the boatBe too late for a chance.
On thin iceClose to getting into trouble.
Piece of cakeSomething very easy.
Pulling your legTeasing you with something untrue.
Put your foot in your mouthSay something embarrassing by mistake.
Read between the linesFind the meaning that is not said out loud.
Throw in the towelGive up.
The tip of the icebergA small sign of a much bigger problem.
Two left feetClumsy at dancing.
Two peas in a podTwo people who are very alike.
Walking on eggshellsBeing very careful not to upset someone.
Wild goose chaseA long search for something you will never find.
Zip your lipsStop talking, or keep a secret.
Funny scenes 42
A baby giraffe on ice
A cat stuck in a box
A chicken crossing the road
A cowboy on a tiny pony
A dog chasing its tail
A dog singing opera
A duck in rain boots
A flamingo doing yoga
A giraffe in a small car
A goldfish with a great memory
A hamster on a wheel
A haunted vacuum cleaner
A kangaroo on a pogo stick
A mime stuck in traffic
A ninja with hiccups
A penguin on a treadmill
A pigeon with an attitude
A pirate who gets seasick
A robot learning to hug
A seagull eyeing your fries
A shark at the dentist
A sleepy owl at noon
A sloth running late
A snowman in July
A squirrel hiding snacks
A statue with an itch
A superhero afraid of heights
A T. rex making a bed
A turtle in a hurry
A very dramatic sneeze
A wizard who lost his wand
Air guitar solo
An astronaut with an itchy nose
An invisible trampoline
An octopus putting on socks
Dad dancing at a wedding
The floor is lava
Grandma on a skateboard
Slow-motion high five
Two sock puppets arguing
Walking in flippers
Walking like a crab
Holidays and seasons 32
Back-to-school shopping
Birthday piñata
Building a gingerbread house
Candy cane
Carving a pumpkin
Carving the turkey
Costume party
Daylight saving time
Egg hunt
Fireworks
Four-leaf clover
The groundhog's shadow
Hanging a stocking
Holiday sweater
Hot cocoa
The kids' table
Leftovers
Matching family pajamas
New Year's countdown
New Year's resolution
Parade float
Reindeer
Roasting marshmallows
Secret gift exchange
Sledding
Snow day
Spinning a dreidel
Spring cleaning
Thank-you note
Trick-or-treating
Untangling a string of lights
Wishbone
How this list was compiled: Own work. All 300 words and phrases were written for this page, and only slips were kept that survive all three fishbowl rounds: you can describe it, act it out and hint at it with a single word. Screened line by line on 2026-09-19: no celebrity or other real names, no film, show, book or song titles, no brands, and nothing about alcohol, drugs, sex, self-harm, strangers, phones, removing clothes, risky food or anything illegal. Every slip was compared with every other deck on this site; no sibling deck shares more than a small part of this list. The meaning lines on the sayings are in our own words. The round order used on the page (describe, act it out, one word) and the turn rules were checked on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_(game), section on the Fish Bowl variant, on 2026-09-19; rules vary from house to house and the page says so. Licence: own work
How it works
These fishbowl game words are 300 things, actions, places, people, sayings and scenes, each chosen because it can be described, acted out and hinted at with a single word. Print slips to cut apart, or let the phone be the bowl: it deals one word at a time, runs a 60-second turn and keeps a score for each team.
Read the full guide
The three rounds in short
Fishbowl is a team guessing game in which one bowl of slips is played through three times. In round one the clue giver describes the word out loud without saying it. In round two the clue giver acts it in silence. In round three the clue giver may say one word and nothing more. Teams alternate turns of 30 to 60 seconds. A guessed slip scores a point and stays out. A slip nobody gets goes back in. When the bowl is empty the round ends and every slip goes back. Houses differ on the order of the rounds and on passing, so agree on both before the first turn.
Let the phone be the bowl
With no paper to hand, a filtered deck stands in for the bowl. Tap one topic, and a level for a smaller bowl: Funny scenes on Medium holds 20 words, Sayings on Easy holds 13. The clue giver presses Play a 1-minute round, then Next card for every word guessed. At 0:00 the end card counts the cards played in that turn. Press +1 under the team that many times. When the end card says all the cards are played, the bowl is empty. Press Start over and the same set returns for the next round.
Copy slips from the full list
For a paper game, open the full list under the tool. All 300 words are there by topic, and each of the 40 sayings comes with its meaning. Hand every player three to five slips and let them copy words they like or write their own. For fishbowl game words ideas that suit one crowd, mix the topics: two everyday things, an action and a funny scene per player keeps the acting round fair. Fold each slip twice.
Four slips per player is plenty: eight players fill a bowl of 32.
Listen closely in round one. The descriptions people give there are what make the one-word round possible.
For fishbowl game words funny enough to carry the acting round, tap Funny scenes: a ninja with hiccups, a T. rex making a bed.
Questions and answers
How many words do we need?
Three to five slips per player is the usual range, so six players use 18 to 30 words and ten players use 30 to 50. Fewer slips make short, fast rounds. On the phone, one topic with one level gives a bowl of 5 to 24 words, and a whole topic gives 32 to 56.
What makes a good fishbowl word?
It has to work three ways: you can describe it, act it and point to it with one word. Concrete things, actions and short scenes such as a penguin on a treadmill pass that test. Long quotes and vague ideas fall apart in the acting round. Every word here was weighed against all three rounds, and there are no celebrity names, no film or song titles and no brands.
Can I print the words as slips?
Yes. On the end card, Print gives slips, up to 120 at a time. Pick a topic or a level first to print only those words. The traditional way also works: each player copies three to five words from the full list by hand, so nobody knows the whole bowl.
What is the rule for skipping?
Houses differ. The common rule is that a slip nobody guesses goes back in the bowl, and whether a clue giver may pass in the middle of a turn is up to your group. On the phone, the clue giver simply presses Next card; the word turns up again after Start over.
Are the words suitable for children?
Yes. Every word was written for a mixed-age table: nothing sexual, no alcohol or drugs, nothing aimed at a group of people, and no real people at all. The 90 Easy words suit younger players. An idiom only works if you have heard it before, so leave the Sayings topic out for a young group.