Hangman Words: Good, Hard, Funny and Seasonal Lists

Pick a list, deal a word, count the blanks.

Hangman goes wrong at the first step, when the setter cannot think of a word. Each page here is one list written for that moment.

7 pages

Everyday, hard and funny 3

Three lists for any night: a broad set sorted by topic and length, a hard set for setters who play to win, and a clean funny set.

Holidays and seasons 4

A list for each big date, built from what that time of year looks like, and one page that holds all four seasons.

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Good words covers the everyday table: animals, food, space, Bible words, phrases and an easy set of long words. Hard words is for the setter who plays to win, funny words is for the table that wants to laugh, and Christmas, Halloween and Thanksgiving each have a list. One page holds the seasons, and a link opens it on the set you want: fall, winter, spring, Easter, which has a set of its own, or summer.

The level beside each word is measured, not guessed. Every single word on these pages was played against a dictionary of 210,773 words, each turn calling the letter found in the most words that still fit, and the wrong calls were counted. Two misses or fewer is easy, three to five is medium, six or more is hard, and the count is printed next to the word. Short words cost the most: Jazz took 16 misses, while the ten 12-letter words on the good list took 3 between them. The idea comes from a 2010 Wolfram Research study that played 15 million games. Its guesser picked letters partly at random, ours always takes the likeliest, so the two sets of numbers do not compare one to one.

Open a page and a word is already dealt, with its letter count, its level, its miss count and a clue to read out if the table gets stuck. Press Pick another word, or press a topic and a level together to narrow the draw. Keep the screen to yourself and draw the blanks on paper, or print the full list under the tool and choose by hand.

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