Hangman game: play online

Hangman in your browser

This hangman game is the word game you played on the back of a notebook: a word is hidden, you guess one letter at a time, and every wrong letter adds a stroke to the drawing. Find the word before the drawing is finished and you win. The drawing is plain line art, and a "Melting snowman" option replaces the gallows for younger players. Everything stays on your device.

How to play hangman online

1. Pick a "Mode": "One player" (a random word), "Word of the day" (the same word for everyone that day) or "Two players".
2. Set the "Level": "Easy (10 mistakes)" uses everyday words of 4 to 6 letters, "Medium (8 mistakes)" words of 6 to 8 letters, and "Hard (6 mistakes)" long or unusual words of 9 letters or more. Under "Words" you can pick a topic instead: Animals, Fruit, Countries, Jobs or Christmas. The level then only sets how many mistakes you get.
3. Tap the letters on screen or type them on your keyboard. The "Keyboard" setting offers QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ or "Alphabetical".
4. Stuck? "Hint (costs one mistake)" reveals a letter. Tick "Guess the whole word" to try the full answer; a wrong guess counts as one mistake.

In "Two players" mode, the first player types the word into "Word to guess" (it stays masked), adds a category if they like, then taps "Hide the word and start".

How the drawing counts

The drawing always has 10 parts. On "Easy", each mistake adds one. On "Hard", with only 6 mistakes allowed, it moves faster: 2 parts after the first mistake, 4 after the second, and the figure is complete on the sixth. Accented letters in a word typed by a player, such as the É in "café", are revealed by the plain letter E.

Tips to win

Start with vowels, then the most common consonants. In English text the most frequent letters are E, T, A, O, I, N, S, H and R, roughly in that order. In single words, S and R come up a lot because of plurals and endings such as -ER. Keep J, Q, X and Z for last. Watch for common endings too, such as -ING, -ED, -TION and -LY.

The "Word of the day" is worked out from the date, so friends can play the same word and compare their number of mistakes. Only your first game of the day counts in the stats.

Hangman in the classroom

Hangman is a quick way to review spelling words or vocabulary. Use "Two players", type a word from this week's list, put the screen on the board and let pupils call out letters in turn. Tricky spellings such as "rhythm" or "necessary" make everyone remember each letter. For younger children, choose the "Melting snowman" instead of the gallows, the "Easy" level and a topic like Animals or Fruit.

FAQ

How many mistakes am I allowed?

10 on "Easy", 8 on "Medium" and for the "Word of the day", 6 on "Hard". Each hint and each wrong whole-word guess counts as one mistake. The hint button is switched off when only one mistake is left.

Are my stats saved?

Yes, on this device only: games played, games won, win rate, current streak and best streak. "Reset" clears them.

Can the hidden word be read in the page in two-player mode?

No. The input box is cleared as soon as the game starts, and only the letters found so far are shown. The full word only appears when the game ends.

Does it work with a screen reader?

Yes. Each guess is announced with how many times the letter appears, the word is read out with its blanks, and the state of the drawing is described in text, part by part.