Hangman
Guess the word before you run out of mistakes. Pick a category, play with a friend using a secret word, or send someone a challenge link.
Wrong letters: none
Letters A to Z only, 3 to 20. It is not shown on screen.
There is a word in progress. Start another one?
How to play
- Pick letters to uncover the word. If a letter is in the word, it shows in every position where it appears.
- If it is not there, you get a mistake and the drawing grows. Reach the maximum number of mistakes and you lose.
- The alphabet is the 26 letters from A to Z, so there are no accents to worry about.
- Type letters on your keyboard or tap the keys on the screen.
How to use it
- Choose a category, a difficulty level, and how many mistakes you want to allow.
- Select the letters on the on-screen keyboard or type them on your own keyboard.
- Every correct letter shows up in all of its positions. Every wrong one adds a mistake and the drawing grows.
- You win by completing the word before you reach the maximum number of mistakes. You can ask for a hint at the cost of one mistake.
Frequently asked questions
Does the game use accents or special letters?
No. The alphabet is the 26 letters from A to Z. The words in the list have no accents or hyphens, and the secret word in two-player mode or in a challenge can only contain those letters.
How many mistakes do I get?
You can choose 6 or 8. With 6 mistakes the figure is drawn one piece at a time. With 8 the gallows is built first and then the figure, so you have a little more room.
How does two-player mode work?
One person types the secret word in a hidden field (you see dots, not letters). Then you hand over the device and the other person plays. The word is not shown until the game ends.
What is a challenge link?
You type a word and the game creates a link. Whoever opens it plays that word on their own device. The word travels inside the link, without going through any server.
What does the hint do?
It reveals a missing letter, but it counts as one mistake. It is not available when that mistake would end the game.
Where do the words come from?
From a handwritten list of common English nouns, sorted by category and length. Words do not repeat while there are others left to play.
How to guess more words
- Start with the most common vowels in English: E first, then A, O, and I. Between them they appear in almost every word.
- Move on to the most frequent consonants, roughly in this order: T, N, S, R, H, L, and D. Leave the rare letters (Z, Q, X, J, K) for last.
- Look at the length of the word and at the category. A six-letter animal cannot be just anything, and the category cuts the options down a lot.
- Once a letter shows up, think about which words fit the pattern before you pick the next one. A word that ends in a blank followed by an E often ends in -ate, -ine, or -ure.
- Keep common endings in mind: -ing, -ed, -er, -ly, -tion, and plurals in -s or -es. A double letter in the middle is usually an L, an S, an E, or an O.
Difficulty and mistakes allowed
Easy words have up to 6 letters, medium words have 7 or 8, and hard words have 9 or more. The fewer mistakes you allow, the harder the game gets: with 6 mistakes the full figure is drawn, and with 8 the gallows is drawn as well. Asking for a hint reveals a letter, but it costs you one mistake.
No accents to worry about
The game uses the plain 26-letter English alphabet. There is nothing to memorize about accents or special characters: you only need the letters A to Z, on the screen or on your keyboard.
Playing with other people
In two-player mode one person types the secret word in a hidden field and the other person guesses it. With “Create challenge” you get a link that contains the word: whoever opens it plays that challenge on their own device, with no servers in between. It works well for classroom vocabulary, birthdays, or friendly challenges.
A very old game
Hangman has been played with pen and paper for well over a century, and people know it in almost every country. It is a quick way to practice spelling and build vocabulary, for kids and adults alike. If you like words, also try the word search or the memory game with your own words.
Updated on September 29, 2026