Create your own Hangman game and play in class today!
Hangman is a fantastic classroom game for reviewing vocabulary, practicing spelling, or simply adding a fun warm-up to your lesson. Our editable Hangman game is super easy to use — you can create a game for your class in just a few clicks! Simply enter your own custom words, or choose from a variety of ready-made word lists on popular English vocabulary topics, and you’re ready to play.
If you’re not familiar with Hangman, the goal is to guess the secret word by guessing one letter at a time. Traditionally, a stick figure is drawn with each wrong guess — until a full “hanging man” is complete. Since that image isn’t exactly classroom-friendly, we’ve replaced it with hearts to represent lives. Each incorrect guess costs one life, and the game ends when students either solve the word or run out of lives.
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How To Play
Step 1: Choose “Use pre-made list” or “Enter custom words”
Pick a ready-made word list by topic, or start fresh and enter your own custom words.
Step 2: Enter or edit your word list
If you chose a pre-made list, you can tweak it to suit your class. If you’re entering your own, just type one word per line.
Step 3: Choose how many lives
Select the difficulty level:
- 10 lives – Easy
- 5 lives – Medium
- 3 lives – Hard
Step 4: Click “Start Game”
The first word will appear with blank spaces for students to guess.
Step 5: Ask students to guess a letter
Click on the letter they choose. If it’s in the word, it will be revealed. If not, a heart (life) is lost.
Students must guess all the letters before running out of hearts!
Suggested Ways to Use This Tool
Hangman is a great game to use in the classroom — it’s simple, engaging, and perfect for building vocabulary and spelling skills. Here are some of our favorite ways to use this online version in your lessons.
Warm-Up Activity
Start your lesson with a quick game of Hangman to grab your students’ attention and get them thinking. Choose a word that connects to the topic you’re about to teach — for example, a key vocabulary word from the upcoming lesson or unit. You can offer hints to help them along and build excitement. This not only activates their prior knowledge, but also gets them engaged, focused, and ready to dive into the lesson.
Vocabulary Review
Use Hangman as a fun and interactive way to reinforce key vocabulary from a recent lesson or unit. Enter a list of target words and let students take turns guessing them, either individually or in teams. As each word is revealed, take a moment to pause and discuss its meaning, usage, or pronunciation. This turns a simple guessing game into a meaningful review session that helps solidify students’ understanding and recall.
Spelling Practice
Hangman is a great way to reinforce spelling skills in an engaging, low-pressure format. Use it to practice weekly spelling lists or commonly misspelled words. You can focus on one word at a time or create a themed list around a topic you’re covering.
As students guess letters, they’re actively thinking about letter patterns and word structure — which helps improve spelling retention in a more interactive way than traditional drills.
Team Challenge
Turn Hangman into a collaborative class activity by putting students into teams. Have each team come up with a list of words to challenge another team with. You can then enter one team’s words into the game and let the opposing team guess them.
For an extra layer of fun, let students challenge the teacher by entering their own words and seeing if you can guess them correctly. This flips the dynamic and keeps everyone engaged — plus, it gives students ownership over their learning.
Ready to get started?