• 60 words

Thanksgiving Hangman Words for the Wait Before Dinner

Press Pick 5 new words, each with its blanks and a clue, while the turkey rests.

Thanksgiving Hangman Words for the Wait Before Dinner

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  1. Colony6 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: A settlement ruled from a distant country.
  2. Dressing8 letters, easy to guess, 1 miss. Clue: The other name for the bread mixture; which word you use depends on where you grew up.
  3. Stuffing8 letters, hard to guess, 6 misses. Clue: A savory bread mixture with onion and celery, cooked inside the bird or beside it.
  4. Yams4 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: What people often call the soft orange sweet potato in North America, though the true plant of this name is unrelated.
  5. Baste5 letters, medium to guess, 5 misses. Clue: To spoon the pan juices back over the bird while it cooks.

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All 60 words

The dinner 14

  • Casserole 9 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: The green bean kind was invented in 1955 to promote canned cream of mushroom soup.
  • Cornbread 9 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: A golden quick bread, and the base for dressing in the South.
  • Cranberry 9 letters, easy to guess, 1 miss. Clue: The tart red berry served as a sauce beside the bird.
  • Dressing 8 letters, easy to guess, 1 miss. Clue: The other name for the bread mixture; which word you use depends on where you grew up.
  • Drumstick 9 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: The leg of the bird, eaten with one hand.
  • Giblets 7 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: The small bag of parts packed inside the bird, such as the heart, liver, gizzard and neck.
  • Gravy 5 letters, hard to guess, 8 misses. Clue: Thick but pourable, often made from the pan drippings.
  • Pie 3 letters, hard to guess, 10 misses. Clue: Pumpkin, pecan or apple, and missing in 1621 for lack of butter, wheat flour and sugar.
  • Potatoes 8 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: Usually mashed, and there were none at the 1621 feast.
  • Rolls 5 letters, hard to guess, 7 misses. Clue: Small soft breads passed around in a basket.
  • Sage 4 letters, medium to guess, 5 misses. Clue: The standard herb in the bread mixture.
  • Stuffing 8 letters, hard to guess, 6 misses. Clue: A savory bread mixture with onion and celery, cooked inside the bird or beside it.
  • Turkey 6 letters, medium to guess, 5 misses. Clue: The bird at the center of the meal, usually roasted.
  • Yams 4 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: What people often call the soft orange sweet potato in North America, though the true plant of this name is unrelated.

Kitchen and table 10

  • Apron 5 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: Tied around the cook to keep the splatters off.
  • Baste 5 letters, medium to guess, 5 misses. Clue: To spoon the pan juices back over the bird while it cooks.
  • Carve 5 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: To slice the cooked bird for serving.
  • Napkin 6 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: A square of cloth or paper for your lap.
  • Platter 7 letters, medium to guess, 3 misses. Clue: The big oval dish the bird is carried in on.
  • Potluck 7 letters, medium to guess, 3 misses. Clue: A meal where every guest brings a dish.
  • Recipe 6 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: Written cooking instructions, often handed down from a grandparent.
  • Roast 5 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: To cook in dry oven heat, the traditional way to do the bird.
  • Tablecloth 10 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: It covers the dining surface and catches the spills.
  • Whisk 5 letters, hard to guess, 6 misses. Clue: A wire tool that beats the lumps out of a sauce.

1621 and after 12

  • Colony 6 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: A settlement ruled from a distant country.
  • Feast 5 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: A large celebratory meal; the one in 1621 lasted three days.
  • Mayflower 9 letters, easy to guess, 1 miss. Clue: The ship that carried 102 passengers across the Atlantic in 1620.
  • Pilgrim 7 letters, hard to guess, 6 misses. Clue: One of the English settlers at the 1621 harvest celebration; the buckle on the hat is a later invention.
  • Plymouth 8 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: The colony where the 1621 celebration took place, and the English port the ship sailed from.
  • President 9 letters, easy to guess, no misses. Clue: The office holder who is presented with a live bird at the White House every year.
  • Proclamation 12 letters, easy to guess, 1 miss. Clue: A formal public announcement, like the one Abraham Lincoln issued in 1863 to set a national day of thanks.
  • Thursday 8 letters, medium to guess, 3 misses. Clue: The day of the week the holiday always falls on, the fourth one in November.
  • Tradition 9 letters, easy to guess, 1 miss. Clue: A custom handed down in a family, such as who slices the bird or who says the prayer.
  • Venison 7 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: Deer meat, on the menu in 1621 after Massasoit's hunters killed five deer.
  • Voyage 6 letters, medium to guess, 5 misses. Clue: A long trip by sea; the one in 1620 took about ten weeks.
  • Wampanoag 9 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: The Native people whose leader Massasoit came to the 1621 celebration with some ninety men.

Thanks and family 12

  • Abundance 9 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: More than enough of everything, which is what the horn of plenty stands for.
  • Blessing 8 letters, easy to guess, 1 miss. Clue: A good thing in your life that you count.
  • Cornucopia 10 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: The horn of plenty, a horn-shaped basket spilling fruit and vegetables.
  • Cousins 7 letters, medium to guess, 3 misses. Clue: The children of your aunts and uncles, often seated at a table of their own.
  • Gathering 9 letters, easy to guess, no misses. Clue: People coming together in one place.
  • Grace 5 letters, medium to guess, 3 misses. Clue: The short prayer many families say before the meal.
  • Grateful 8 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: Glad for what you have, and a spelling trap: it does not start with great.
  • Gratitude 9 letters, easy to guess, 1 miss. Clue: The feeling of appreciation that the day is about.
  • Relatives 9 letters, easy to guess, no misses. Clue: Aunts, uncles and everyone else you are kin to.
  • Reunion 7 letters, easy to guess, no misses. Clue: A get-together of people who have been apart.
  • Thankful 8 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: How the holiday asks you to feel.
  • Volunteer 9 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: Someone who gives time for free, for example by serving holiday dinners.

Parade, football and after 12

  • Balloon 7 letters, hard to guess, 6 misses. Clue: A giant one shaped like a cartoon character floats above the marchers.
  • Float 5 letters, easy to guess, 1 miss. Clue: A decorated platform that rolls along the route between the marching bands.
  • Football 8 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: The sport of the afternoon, a holiday habit since the late 19th century.
  • Halftime 8 letters, easy to guess, 2 misses. Clue: The break in the middle of the game, when the second helpings come out.
  • Kickoff 7 letters, hard to guess, 6 misses. Clue: The play that starts the game.
  • Leftovers 9 letters, easy to guess, no misses. Clue: They fill the refrigerator that night and the sandwiches the next day.
  • Nap 3 letters, hard to guess, 8 misses. Clue: What happens on the couch after the meal.
  • Parade 6 letters, medium to guess, 4 misses. Clue: New York's first marched in 1924 and ends with Santa Claus.
  • Pardon 6 letters, medium to guess, 5 misses. Clue: What a live bird has received at the White House every year since 1989.
  • Touchdown 9 letters, medium to guess, 3 misses. Clue: Six points for reaching the end zone.
  • Trot 4 letters, medium to guess, 3 misses. Clue: The name for a holiday morning footrace; the one in Buffalo, New York dates to 1896.
  • Wishbone 8 letters, easy to guess, 1 miss. Clue: The forked bone two people pull apart; the bigger piece usually gets the wish.

How it works

Thanksgiving hangman words fill the hour when the turkey is resting and the table is not yet set. This page holds 60 in five themes, from the dinner to 1621, the parade and football. Every word shows its letter count, a miss count and a clue. Press Pick 5 new words, hide the phone, choose one and draw the blanks on scrap paper.

Read the full guide

One setter at a time, around the table

Pass the phone to the left after each word so every guest sets once. The theme list under the button keeps a round on topic: The dinner while plates are full, Thanks and family for the gentlest deal. It works with the lengths under More filters, so 1621 and after with 9 to 12 letters deals the history buffs five long words, Mayflower to Proclamation. In place of a gallows, draw a turkey and add one tail feather per miss.

Pie is harder than Proclamation

The misses were counted by a program that knows a dictionary (how the test works). Pie cost it 10 and Proclamation cost 1. Of the 60 words, 28 scored easy (two misses or fewer) and 9 hard (six or more). The dinner is the hardest theme: Pie, Gravy, Rolls and Stuffing all scored hard. Thanks and family has no hard word, and Gathering, Reunion and Relatives cost no misses.

  • The clues carry the history: the 1621 feast had no potatoes, a South American crop that had not yet spread, and no pie, because the colonists had no butter, wheat flour or sugar.
  • Grateful is the spelling trap: it does not start with great. Count the eight blanks twice.
  • Wampanoag looks like the hardest word here and scored easy, at 2 misses: three of its nine letters are A.

Questions and answers

Which word on the list is hardest to guess?

Pie, at 10 misses, then Nap and Gravy at 8 and Rolls at 7. Short words have lookalikes: with I and E showing, the blanks still fit Lie, Tie and Vie. The 18 words of nine letters or more averaged 1.4 misses.

Do the history clues stick to the record?

Yes. The 1621 event was a three-day harvest celebration at Plymouth. The Wampanoag leader Massasoit came with some ninety men and his hunters killed five deer, which is why Venison is on the list. The buckled hat is a later invention.

Can I print the words for Friendsgiving?

Yes. All 60 are listed under the tool by theme, ready to print from your browser. No word names a brand or a team: the football words are plain ones, Kickoff, Halftime, Touchdown.

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