Countries hangman words
85 countries words, each with a clue and a difficulty score computed from its spelling. 48 easy, 29 medium, 8 hard.
Average score
3.3
Across all 85 words
Hardest
cyprus
Scores 8.3
Easiest
indonesia
Scores -1.0
Country names split cleanly into two groups. Names that were adapted into English centuries ago, such as Greece, Egypt and Canada, behave like ordinary English words. Names transliterated more recently, such as Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan, do not, and they carry the rare letters that make this category the hardest of the geographic sets.
The Z and K names are where games end. Kazakhstan alone has three letters most players never guess. If you want a fair game rather than a public execution, filter to easy and medium and leave the -stans for a round you have warned people about.
One quiet advantage of this category is that guessers can use knowledge as well as letters. Once the pattern shows a word ending in -land or -stan, the field narrows fast, which is not true of any other category on this site.
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Easy countries words48
The usual opening guesses cover most of it, so it tends to fall quickly.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| afghanistan | Landlocked and mountainous, at a crossroads of empires | 11 / 8 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| albania | Balkan nation with a long Adriatic coast | 7 / 5 distinct | 0.4 | Easy |
| argentina | Home of tango and vast grassy pampas | 9 / 7 distinct | -0.1 | Easy |
| armenia | First nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion | 7 / 6 distinct | -0.6 | Easy |
| australia | A country that is also a continent | 9 / 7 distinct | 0.1 | Easy |
| austria | Alpine country that gave the world the waltz | 7 / 6 distinct | -0.6 | Easy |
| azerbaijan | Caspian nation whose name suggests fire | 10 / 8 distinct | 2.9 | Easy |
| bolivia | Andean nation with a vast white salt flat | 7 / 6 distinct | 3.3 | Easy |
| botswana | Diamond-rich country of the Kalahari | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| canada | Second largest country, with the longest coastline | 6 / 4 distinct | 1.3 | Easy |
| croatia | Adriatic coastline dotted with a thousand islands | 7 / 6 distinct | -0.6 | Easy |
| ecuador | Named for the line that runs through it | 7 / 7 distinct | 2.7 | Easy |
| ethiopia | Ancient highland nation where coffee began | 8 / 7 distinct | 0.1 | Easy |
| georgia | Caucasus country that claims the oldest winemaking | 7 / 6 distinct | 0.9 | Easy |
| ghana | West African nation, first to gain independence there | 5 / 4 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| greece | Islands, olives and the birthplace of democracy | 6 / 4 distinct | 1.3 | Easy |
| guatemala | Where the Maya built cities under the jungle | 9 / 7 distinct | 2.3 | Easy |
| indonesia | Thousands of islands across the equator | 9 / 7 distinct | -1.0 | Easy |
| ireland | Green island west of Britain | 7 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| jamaica | Caribbean island where reggae was born | 7 / 5 distinct | 3.1 | Easy |
| lebanon | Mediterranean country famed for its cedars | 7 / 6 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| lithuania | Baltic country famous for amber | 9 / 7 distinct | 1.2 | Easy |
| madagascar | Island nation where most wildlife lives nowhere else | 10 / 7 distinct | 2.9 | Easy |
| malaysia | Split between a peninsula and part of Borneo | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| malta | Tiny island nation of limestone and harbours | 5 / 4 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| mongolia | Vast steppe country between Russia and China | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| morocco | Sahara, Atlas mountains and blue-painted towns | 7 / 4 distinct | 2.6 | Easy |
| namibia | Where the desert runs into the Atlantic | 7 / 5 distinct | 0.4 | Easy |
| netherlands | Low-lying country of dykes, bikes and canals | 11 / 9 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| nicaragua | Central American country of lakes and volcanoes | 9 / 7 distinct | 1.2 | Easy |
| nigeria | Africa's most populous country | 7 / 6 distinct | -0.6 | Easy |
| oman | Arabian country of forts and frankincense | 4 / 4 distinct | 1.5 | Easy |
| pakistan | South Asian nation of the Indus valley | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| panama | Country split by a famous canal | 6 / 4 distinct | 1.3 | Easy |
| paraguay | Landlocked South American country of two rivers | 8 / 6 distinct | 3.3 | Easy |
| philippines | Archipelago of more than seven thousand islands | 11 / 7 distinct | 3.5 | Easy |
| romania | Carpathian country and home of the Dracula legend | 7 / 6 distinct | -0.6 | Easy |
| senegal | West African nation on the Atlantic coast | 7 / 6 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| singapore | City, island and country all at once | 9 / 9 distinct | 1.7 | Easy |
| slovenia | Small alpine country between Italy and Hungary | 8 / 8 distinct | 2.3 | Easy |
| srilanka | Teardrop island off the south of India | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| tanzania | Home to Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti | 8 / 5 distinct | 0.3 | Easy |
| thailand | Southeast Asian kingdom never colonised | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| tunisia | North African country on the Mediterranean | 7 / 6 distinct | -0.6 | Easy |
| uganda | Landlocked country on the equator and Lake Victoria | 6 / 5 distinct | 3.5 | Easy |
| ukraine | Europe's breadbasket on the Black Sea | 7 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| vietnam | Long, narrow country with two great river deltas | 7 / 7 distinct | 3.3 | Easy |
| yemen | Southern Arabia, with tower houses of mud brick | 5 / 4 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
Medium countries words29
You will get a foothold, then have to work out the rest properly.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bangladesh | Delta country crossed by enormous rivers | 10 / 9 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| belarus | Eastern European country of forests and marsh | 7 / 7 distinct | 3.9 | Medium |
| bhutan | Himalayan kingdom that measures happiness | 6 / 6 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| brazil | Largest country in South America | 6 / 6 distinct | 6.3 | 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 |
| chile | Extremely long and extremely narrow | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| colombia | Two ocean coasts and a great deal of coffee | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.6 | Medium |
| denmark | Nordic country of many islands and one peninsula | 7 / 7 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| finland | Land of a thousand lakes and long dark winters | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| honduras | Central American country on two seas | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| iceland | Volcanoes, glaciers and almost no trees | 7 / 7 distinct | 3.9 | Medium |
| jordan | Desert kingdom containing the rock city of Petra | 6 / 6 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| kazakhstan | The largest country with no coastline | 10 / 7 distinct | 5.4 | Medium |
| kenya | East African country of the Great Rift Valley | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| mexico | North American nation of pyramids and two coasts | 6 / 6 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| moldova | Small landlocked country between Romania and Ukraine | 7 / 6 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| mozambique | Long Indian Ocean coastline in southern Africa | 10 / 9 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| nepal | Home to the highest mountain on earth | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| norway | Long coastline carved into deep fjords | 6 / 6 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| peru | Where the Inca built Machu Picchu | 4 / 4 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| portugal | Westernmost country on mainland Europe | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| slovakia | Central European country of castles and hills | 8 / 7 distinct | 4.1 | Medium |
| switzerland | Alpine country famous for neutrality and precision | 11 / 11 distinct | 5.5 | Medium |
| turkey | A country on two continents at once | 6 / 6 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| uruguay | Small South American nation between two giants | 7 / 5 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| uzbekistan | Silk Road country of Samarkand and Bukhara | 10 / 10 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| venezuela | Home of the world's highest waterfall | 9 / 7 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| zambia | Shares Victoria Falls with its neighbour | 6 / 5 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
Hard countries words8
Rare letters, few vowels, or almost no repetition for a guesser to lean on.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| belgium | Chocolate, waffles and three official languages | 7 / 7 distinct | 6.7 | Hard |
| cuba | The largest island in the Caribbean | 4 / 4 distinct | 6.5 | Hard |
| cyprus | Mediterranean island divided since 1974 | 6 / 6 distinct | 8.3 | Hard |
| egypt | Where the Nile meets the pyramids | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| hungary | Central European nation on the Danube | 7 / 7 distinct | 6.4 | Hard |
| kyrgyzstan | Mountainous Central Asian country, mostly highland | 10 / 9 distinct | 8.2 | Hard |
| luxembourg | Tiny, wealthy and wedged between three neighbours | 10 / 9 distinct | 7.2 | Hard |
| zimbabwe | Named after a great stone-built ruin | 8 / 7 distinct | 7.6 | Hard |
Questions
What are good countries words for hangman?
The ones that survive a normal opening. A guesser starts with E, A, R and the other common letters, so a good word is one those letters barely touch. On this page that is the score: 85 countries words are listed and 8 of them rate hard.
How many countries words are on this list?
85, deduplicated, each with a clue and a computed difficulty score. They split into 48 easy, 29 medium and 8 hard.
What is the hardest word in this category?
CYPRUS, at 8.3. The easiest is INDONESIA at -1.0. Both numbers come from the same formula, which is published in full at hangmanwords.net/how-difficulty-is-scored/.
Can I play these words rather than read them?
Yes. The play link on this page loads a game that draws only from this countries list, so every word you get is one of the 85 below.