How to run hangman in a classroom without losing the room
A lesson plan for hangman by age group, with the rules that keep thirty children involved instead of three.
Aurangzeb Khan · 10 October 2026 · 4 min read
Guides
Longer pieces about playing and teaching the game. Each one uses this site’s own word data, so the numbers in them are computed rather than quoted.
Hangman for ESL learners, and why the usual advice misleads them
The game teaches English spelling patterns rather than vocabulary, which changes how it should be set up for a language class.
Aurangzeb Khan · 10 October 2026 · 4 min read
Why A beats E as a first guess on short words
Letter frequency in running text is not letter frequency across distinct words, and hangman is played against one word.
Aurangzeb Khan · 10 October 2026 · 4 min read
The hardest short words, and why length is not difficulty
Twenty-five words of five letters or fewer that outscore most long ones, with what they have in common.
Aurangzeb Khan · 10 October 2026 · 4 min read
Hangman strategy by word length
How many blanks you can see should change your opening, your second guess and when to take a risk.
Aurangzeb Khan · 10 October 2026 · 4 min read
How to pick a fair word for a child
Fair does not mean easy. The test is whether the first two guesses can put something on the board.
Aurangzeb Khan · 10 October 2026 · 4 min read
Where hangman came from, and the versions that replaced the gallows
A Victorian parlour game, a name that has aged badly, and the substitutions teachers now use instead.
Aurangzeb Khan · 10 October 2026 · 4 min read
Playing hangman with phrases: the rules worth agreeing first
Spaces, apostrophes and hyphens all need a house rule, and the usual difficulty scoring stops working.
Aurangzeb Khan · 10 October 2026 · 4 min read
Halloween word games for a class, with the words that actually work
Four games, the vocabulary that suits each, and how to keep it costume-and-sweets rather than horror.
Aurangzeb Khan · 10 October 2026 · 4 min read
How the difficulty score works, with the arithmetic shown
Four measurements, four weights, and three worked examples including the one everybody argues about.
Aurangzeb Khan · 10 October 2026 · 4 min read