8 letter hangman words
294 words of exactly 8 letters, hardest first, each with a clue and a difficulty score. 154 easy, 111 medium, 29 hard.
Average score
3.5
Site average is 3.7
Hardest
chipmunk
9.3
Easiest
notation
-2.1
Length is the first thing a guesser learns about a word, before anybody has guessed a letter, so it is worth knowing what 8 blanks actually tells you. These 294 words average 3.5 against a site average of 3.7, which makes them easier than a word picked at random from here.
The reason runs against instinct. A long word looks intimidating and is generous: every correct letter uncovers more of the board, and long words are almost always built from ordinary letters. A short word can be made entirely of letters nobody opens with, and then a guesser can spend half their allowance learning nothing.
These words are drawn from 23 categories, and the full scoring formula is on the methodology page. If you are mid-game rather than choosing, the solver takes the length and the letters you have missed and narrows it from there.
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All 294 words
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| chipmunk | Striped cheek-stuffer of the forest floor | 8 / 8 distinct | 9.3 | Hard |
| lunchbox | The best part of the morning | 8 / 8 distinct | 9.3 | Hard |
| backpack | Carries far more than it should | 8 / 5 distinct | 8.6 | Hard |
| dumpling | Filling wrapped in dough and steamed or fried | 8 / 8 distinct | 8.5 | Hard |
| plumbing | Fine until it is not | 8 / 8 distinct | 8.5 | Hard |
| multiply | Repeated addition, done quickly | 8 / 7 distinct | 8.1 | Hard |
| burgundy | Dark red, named after the wine region | 8 / 7 distinct | 8.1 | Hard |
| symphony | Usually four movements, usually large | 8 / 7 distinct | 7.9 | Hard |
| blizzard | Snow plus wind plus no visibility | 8 / 7 distinct | 7.7 | Hard |
| kerplunk | The sound of something dropping into water | 8 / 7 distinct | 7.7 | Hard |
| kentucky | Bourbon, bluegrass and a derby | 8 / 7 distinct | 7.7 | Hard |
| zimbabwe | Named after a great stone-built ruin | 8 / 7 distinct | 7.6 | Hard |
| lollygag | To dawdle when you should be moving | 8 / 5 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| workshop | Where the toys are made, in the story | 8 / 7 distinct | 7.3 | Hard |
| olympics | Every four years, and the whole world watches | 8 / 8 distinct | 7.3 | Hard |
| plughole | Where things go missing | 8 / 7 distinct | 7.1 | Hard |
| platypus | Egg-laying mammal with a duck's bill | 8 / 7 distinct | 6.9 | Hard |
| climbing | Route, hold, and a great deal of finger strength | 8 / 7 distinct | 6.9 | Hard |
| chopping | The board it happens on | 8 / 7 distinct | 6.9 | Hard |
| cucumber | Long green salad vegetable, cool and mild | 8 / 6 distinct | 6.8 | Hard |
| sandwich | Named after an earl who did not want to stop playing cards | 8 / 8 distinct | 6.8 | Hard |
| squabble | A petty, noisy argument | 8 / 7 distinct | 6.7 | Hard |
| handball | Seven a side, thrown rather than kicked | 8 / 6 distinct | 6.5 | Hard |
| puppetry | Performance through an object | 8 / 6 distinct | 6.5 | Hard |
| landmark | The thing everyone photographs | 8 / 7 distinct | 6.5 | Hard |
| wrapping | Torn off in seconds after all that effort | 8 / 7 distinct | 6.5 | Hard |
| snowball | Packed, thrown, and immediately regretted | 8 / 7 distinct | 6.5 | Hard |
| haystack | Where the needle is | 8 / 7 distinct | 6.5 | Hard |
| forklift | Lifts pallets, and only pallets | 8 / 7 distinct | 6.5 | Hard |
| homework | The part that follows you home | 8 / 7 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| hanukkah | Eight nights and a branched candlestick | 8 / 5 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| jeweller | Works in millimetres and magnification | 8 / 5 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| swimming | Four strokes, and the flip turn matters | 8 / 6 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| twilight | Light without the sun being up | 8 / 6 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| cupboard | The one nobody has tidied | 8 / 8 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| hydrogen | The lightest element and the most common | 8 / 8 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| spectrum | Light separated into its component colours | 8 / 8 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| graphics | Everything that has to be drawn | 8 / 8 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| platform | Mind the gap | 8 / 8 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| birthday | Cake, candles and presents | 8 / 8 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| doughnut | Fried ring of dough, usually glazed | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| compound | Elements chemically bonded in fixed proportions | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| schedule | The plan for the day | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| unicycle | One wheel, and a great deal of practice | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| velocity | Speed, but with a direction attached | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| keyboard | Where the letters live | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| softball | Larger ball, underarm pitch, shorter diamond | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| assembly | Everyone in the hall at once | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| spelling | Where hangman gets its cruelty | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| playlist | A sequence somebody thought about | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| midnight | The moment everyone counts down to | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| stuffing | Cooked inside, argued about outside | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| maryland | Wraps around a very large bay | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| tricycle | One more wheel, considerably less dignity | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| daffodil | Yellow trumpet that announces spring | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.5 | Medium |
| tracking | The camera moving with the subject | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.5 | Medium |
| stocking | Hung up, and mysteriously full by morning | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.5 | Medium |
| follicle | Where a hair grows from | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.5 | Medium |
| wildfire | Fast, hot, and shaped by the wind | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.5 | Medium |
| firewall | Decides what is allowed through | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.5 | Medium |
| exchange | Where the rate is never the one you saw | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.5 | Medium |
| malarkey | Talk that means nothing | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.5 | Medium |
| kayaking | One paddler, one double-bladed paddle | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| knockout | Lose once and you are finished | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| woodland | Trees with enough gaps for light to reach the floor | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| download | Bringing it to your machine | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| currency | The maths gets harder on holiday | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| sidekick | Along for all of it, credited for none | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| werewolf | Human until the moon is full | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| shepherd | Watched their flocks by night | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| windpipe | The tube to the lungs | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| plankton | Drifts, and feeds almost everything | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.2 | Medium |
| password | The thing everybody reuses | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.2 | Medium |
| sparkler | Held at arm's length, mostly | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.2 | Medium |
| hedgehog | Small and spiny, rolls into a ball when scared | 8 / 5 distinct | 5.1 | Medium |
| flamingo | Pink wading bird that stands on one leg | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| portugal | Westernmost country on mainland Europe | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| champion | The one holding the trophy at the end | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| halftime | Fifteen minutes to fix everything | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| platinum | Rarer than gold and used in catalysts | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| textbook | Heavy, expensive, and mostly unopened | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| compiler | Turns what you wrote into what it runs | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| computer | It only ever does exactly what it was told | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| campfire | The reason to stay outside after dark | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| cauldron | Bubbling, and nothing good is in it | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| shoulder | Where the arm meets the rest of you | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| halloumi | Cheese firm enough to grill without melting | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.9 | Medium |
| mishmash | Same idea, fewer letters | 8 / 5 distinct | 4.9 | Medium |
| postcard | Arrives after you get home | 8 / 8 distinct | 4.8 | Medium |
| alphabet | Twenty six letters, in an agreed order | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| mechanic | Diagnoses by listening as much as looking | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| producer | Finds the money and keeps the schedule | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| gigabyte | About a thousand megabytes, roughly | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| hologram | An image with depth recorded into it | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| megabyte | About a million bytes, roughly | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| michigan | Two peninsulas and four Great Lakes | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| placemat | Protects the table from the plate | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| mahogany | Rich red-brown wood | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| molecule | Two or more atoms bonded together | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.5 | Medium |
| festival | Several stages and no chance of seeing everything | 8 / 8 distinct | 4.5 | Medium |
| subtract | Take one number away from another | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.4 | Medium |
| chestnut | Spiky case, glossy nut inside | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.4 | Medium |
| broccoli | Little green trees your parents insisted on | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.3 | Medium |
| mushroom | Grows in the dark and is not a plant at all | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.3 | Medium |
| football | The world's most watched game | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.3 | Medium |
| momentum | Mass times velocity, and hard to stop | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.3 | Medium |
| cablecar | Suspended, and best not looked down from | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.3 | Medium |
| december | The month it all happens in | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.3 | Medium |
| doorbell | Rung far more than usual tonight | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.3 | Medium |
| oklahoma | Panhandle, plains and a musical | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.3 | Medium |
| charcoal | Very dark grey | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.3 | Medium |
| squirrel | Bushy-tailed climber that buries nuts and forgets them | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.2 | Medium |
| marzipan | Sweet almond paste that gets rolled thin | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.2 | Medium |
| surveyor | Measures the land before the plans are drawn | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.2 | Medium |
| lavender | Purple, fragrant, and full of bees | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.2 | Medium |
| firmware | Software that thinks it is hardware | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.2 | Medium |
| carnival | Costumes, music and no sleep | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.2 | Medium |
| wardrobe | Where the clothes live, and sometimes a lion | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.2 | Medium |
| junction | Where the lines meet | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.2 | Medium |
| slovakia | Central European country of castles and hills | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.1 | Medium |
| catalyst | Speeds a reaction without being used up | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| hardware | The part you can drop | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| swimsuit | Packed first, worn once | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| thriller | Built entirely on what happens next | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| baseball | Nine innings, three strikes, and a diamond | 8 / 5 distinct | 3.9 | Medium |
| honduras | Central American country on two seas | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| biathlon | Cross-country skiing plus rifle shooting | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| chlorine | Keeps swimming pools clean and smells of it | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| graphite | Pure carbon, and the lead in your pencil | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| magnetic | Attracts iron and lines up a compass | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| sycamore | Seeds that spin as they fall | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| boarding | The bit everyone queues for too soon | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| campsite | Flat ground and a tap, if you are lucky | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| ligament | Attaches bone to bone | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| colander | For draining, and holding on your head | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| bulgaria | Black Sea nation of roses and mountains | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.6 | Medium |
| cambodia | Where Angkor Wat rises out of the forest | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.6 | Medium |
| colombia | Two ocean coasts and a great deal of coffee | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.6 | Medium |
| yuletide | The old word for the season | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.6 | Medium |
| fuselage | The body of the aircraft | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.6 | Medium |
| stingray | Flat swimmer that glides with winglike fins | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.5 | Easy |
| barnacle | Glues itself to rocks and ships for life | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| elephant | The largest land animal, with a trunk and tusks | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| porridge | Oats and liquid, stirred until thick | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| turmeric | Golden root that stains everything it touches | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| thailand | Southeast Asian kingdom never colonised | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| geometry | The mathematics of shape and space | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| composer | Writes it down for other people to play | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| seedling | Everything a tree will ever be, small | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| mandolin | Paired strings and a rapid tremolo | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| subtitle | The translation along the bottom | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| ceremony | The formal part, before the food | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| paraguay | Landlocked South American country of two rivers | 8 / 6 distinct | 3.3 | Easy |
| novelist | Finishes the draft, then starts again | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.3 | Easy |
| software | The part you can only blame | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.3 | Easy |
| brouhaha | An uproar, usually overblown | 8 / 6 distinct | 3.3 | Easy |
| starfish | Five-armed sea animal that can regrow a limb | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.1 | Easy |
| protocol | The rules both ends already agreed to | 8 / 6 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| template | The shape before the content | 8 / 6 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| monument | Built so that something is not forgotten | 8 / 6 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| ensemble | A small group playing as one | 8 / 6 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| dialogue | What the characters say to each other | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| sequence | Several scenes doing one job | 8 / 6 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| delaware | First to ratify the Constitution | 8 / 6 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| armchair | One person, and nobody else's | 8 / 6 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| botswana | Diamond-rich country of the Kalahari | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| pakistan | South Asian nation of the Indus valley | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| srilanka | Teardrop island off the south of India | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| skeleton | Two hundred and six bones in an adult | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| nebraska | Prairie, and the only unicameral legislature | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| emulator | Pretends to be different hardware | 8 / 8 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| wireless | The same data, without the cable | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| district | A part of the city with its own character | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| passport | Without it you are going nowhere | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| stuntman | Does the part the star cannot | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| nativity | The scene set up at the base of the tree | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| thruster | Small, and used for aiming | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| seashell | The house an animal left behind | 8 / 5 distinct | 2.6 | Easy |
| couscous | Tiny steamed semolina grains from North Africa | 8 / 4 distinct | 2.5 | Easy |
| organism | Any individual living thing | 8 / 8 distinct | 2.5 | Easy |
| fraction | A part of a whole, written over a line | 8 / 8 distinct | 2.5 | Easy |
| terminal | Where the text-only work still happens | 8 / 8 distinct | 2.5 | Easy |
| clarinet | Single reed, and a wide range | 8 / 8 distinct | 2.5 | Easy |
| lemonade | Sharp fruit, sugar and water over ice | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| meringue | Whipped egg white and sugar, baked crisp | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| mongolia | Vast steppe country between Russia and China | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| musician | Practises far more than they perform | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| acoustic | No amplification required | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| canoodle | To cuddle affectionately | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| hooligan | Someone causing trouble in public | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| gruesome | Too much detail, and all of it unpleasant | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| forehead | Above the eyebrows, below the hairline | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| saucepan | With a lid, ideally | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| cerulean | A lighter, greener blue | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| slovenia | Small alpine country between Italy and Hungary | 8 / 8 distinct | 2.3 | Easy |
| question | The thing worth more than the answer | 8 / 8 distinct | 2.3 | Easy |
| souvenir | Bought instantly, regretted slowly | 8 / 8 distinct | 2.3 | Easy |
| scorpion | Eight legs, pincers and a stinging tail | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| parmesan | Hard aged cheese grated over almost anything | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| rosemary | Woody herb with needle-like leaves | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| lacrosse | Netted sticks carry the ball at speed | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| marathon | Twenty six miles and three hundred and eighty five yards | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| electron | Negatively charged, and very small indeed | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| friction | The force that turns motion into heat | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| genetics | The study of what gets passed on | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| predator | Hunts, and is usually outnumbered | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| designer | Decides what it looks like and why | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| director | Decides what the audience will notice | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| sediment | What settles when the water slows | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| robotics | Machines that sense, decide and move | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| roadtrip | The route matters more than the arrival | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| falsetto | Above the natural range, and lighter | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| trombone | The one with the slide | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| confetti | Fun to throw, terrible to clear up | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| pancreas | Makes insulin and digestive enzymes | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| solstice | The longest or shortest day | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| basement | Damp, and full of the same | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| baguette | Long crusty loaf carried under one arm | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| calamari | Squid, sliced into rings and fried | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| malaysia | Split between a peninsula and part of Borneo | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| disguise | Good enough that nobody knows you | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| familiar | The witch's animal companion | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| colorado | Where the Rockies do most of their work | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| overtime | When ninety minutes was not enough | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| vacation | The same thing, said differently | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| universe | All of it, as far as anyone can tell | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| elevator | Vertical transport, and small talk | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| kangaroo | Hops on strong back legs and carries young in a pouch | 8 / 6 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| cinnamon | Warm brown spice peeled from tree bark | 8 / 6 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| notebook | Blank until the first week of term | 8 / 6 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| gardener | Works with time as much as with soil | 8 / 6 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| salesman | Persuades, and knows the product | 8 / 6 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| concerto | One soloist against the whole orchestra | 8 / 6 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| overture | Played first, and often written last | 8 / 6 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| greeting | The card, and what is written inside | 8 / 6 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| virginia | Birthplace of eight presidents | 8 / 6 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| aircraft | The general term for all of them | 8 / 6 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| seatbelt | Click it before you start | 8 / 6 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| dinosaur | Ruled the planet for over a hundred million years | 8 / 8 distinct | 1.5 | Easy |
| mattress | Turned twice a year, allegedly | 8 / 6 distinct | 1.5 | Easy |
| pressure | Force spread over an area | 8 / 5 distinct | 1.4 | Easy |
| corridor | No running, ever | 8 / 5 distinct | 1.4 | Easy |
| audience | Half of what makes a performance | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.4 | Easy |
| staccato | Short and detached | 8 / 5 distinct | 1.4 | Easy |
| arkansas | Spelled nothing like it sounds | 8 / 5 distinct | 1.3 | Easy |
| equation | Two expressions claimed to be equal | 8 / 8 distinct | 1.3 | Easy |
| antelope | Fast, slender grazer with ringed horns | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| smoothie | Fruit blended until you can drink it | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| tiramisu | Coffee-soaked layers under mascarpone | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| canoeing | Kneeling, with a single-bladed paddle | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| bacteria | Single-celled, everywhere, mostly harmless | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| solution | One substance dissolved evenly in another | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| scissors | Blunt-ended, for very good reason | 8 / 5 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| tutorial | One to one, or nearly | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| optician | Better with one, or with two | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| mountain | High ground that makes its own weather | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| suitcase | Always slightly too small on the way back | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| monorail | One rail, usually elevated | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| nitrogen | Makes up most of the air you are breathing | 8 / 7 distinct | 0.9 | Easy |
| ornament | Hangs on the tree and always one gets broken | 8 / 7 distinct | 0.9 | Easy |
| mongoose | Quick enough to fight a snake and win | 8 / 6 distinct | 0.8 | Easy |
| titanium | Strong, light, and does not corrode | 8 / 6 distinct | 0.8 | Easy |
| database | Structured storage you can ask questions of | 8 / 6 distinct | 0.8 | Easy |
| carriage | One section of the train | 8 / 6 distinct | 0.8 | Easy |
| missouri | Where two great rivers meet | 8 / 6 distinct | 0.8 | Easy |
| odometer | Counts the miles | 8 / 6 distinct | 0.8 | Easy |
| seaplane | Lands on water, floats on it | 8 / 6 distinct | 0.8 | Easy |
| revision | Going over it again before the exam | 8 / 7 distinct | 0.7 | Easy |
| training | The unglamorous part that decides the result | 8 / 6 distinct | 0.5 | Easy |
| omelette | Eggs beaten, cooked flat and folded | 8 / 5 distinct | 0.4 | Easy |
| premiere | The first public screening | 8 / 5 distinct | 0.4 | Easy |
| illinois | Chicago, and a silent S | 8 / 5 distinct | 0.4 | Easy |
| tanzania | Home to Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti | 8 / 5 distinct | 0.3 | Easy |
| asteroid | Rocky object orbiting mostly between Mars and Jupiter | 8 / 8 distinct | 0.3 | Easy |
| reaction | Where bonds break and new ones form | 8 / 8 distinct | 0.3 | Easy |
| baritone | Between tenor and bass | 8 / 8 distinct | 0.3 | Easy |
| espresso | Small, dark, and pushed through under pressure | 8 / 5 distinct | 0.1 | Easy |
| ethiopia | Ancient highland nation where coffee began | 8 / 7 distinct | 0.1 | Easy |
| semester | Half a school year | 8 / 5 distinct | 0.1 | Easy |
| sentence | A complete thought with a full stop | 8 / 5 distinct | 0.1 | Easy |
| ethernet | The cable that is still faster | 8 / 5 distinct | 0.1 | Easy |
| audition | Two minutes to get the part | 8 / 7 distinct | 0.1 | Easy |
| parasite | Lives on a host and gives nothing back | 8 / 7 distinct | -0.1 | Easy |
| animator | Twenty four decisions per second | 8 / 7 distinct | -0.1 | Easy |
| seahorse | Fish that swims upright; the male carries the eggs | 8 / 6 distinct | -0.5 | Easy |
| radiator | Bled once a year, in theory | 8 / 6 distinct | -0.5 | Easy |
| airliner | The one you queue for | 8 / 6 distinct | -0.5 | Easy |
| sinister | Something is wrong here | 8 / 6 distinct | -0.8 | Easy |
| engineer | Works out whether it will actually stand up | 8 / 5 distinct | -0.9 | Easy |
| reindeer | Antlered, and famously airborne once a year | 8 / 5 distinct | -0.9 | Easy |
| narrator | Tells you what you are seeing | 8 / 5 distinct | -1.1 | Easy |
| tortoise | Slow land reptile that outlives most owners | 8 / 6 distinct | -1.8 | Easy |
| anteater | Long snout and longer tongue, no teeth at all | 8 / 5 distinct | -2.1 | Easy |
| notation | Music written so someone else can play it | 8 / 5 distinct | -2.1 | Easy |
Questions
What are some 8 letter words for hangman?
There are 294 on this site, every one with a clue and a difficulty score. The hardest is CHIPMUNK at 9.3 and the easiest is NOTATION at -2.1.
Are 8 letter words hard in hangman?
On average they score 3.5, against 3.7 across every word here, so they are easier than the site average. Short words are generally harder than people expect, because a long word reveals more of the board with every correct guess.
How do I guess a 8 letter word?
Start with E and A, then move to consonants rather than clearing the remaining vowels. At 8 letters the number of blanks is itself a strong clue, and once two or three positions are filled the pattern usually narrows the field faster than frequency does.
Can the solver work from just the length?
Yes. Set the length, leave every box empty and mark the letters you have already missed, and it will return every 8 letter word that still fits along with the best letter to try next.