Science hangman words
82 science words, each with a clue and a difficulty score computed from its spelling. 48 easy, 30 medium, 4 hard.
Average score
3.2
Across all 82 words
Hardest
chlorophyll
Scores 7.7
Easiest
erosion
Scores -2.0
Science words are long, Latin or Greek in origin, and remarkably regular. Photosynthesis is fifteen letters and one of the easier words on this site, because the letters in it are the ones everybody guesses first.
What makes this category hard is the element names. Magnesium, potassium and uranium share so much structure that a guesser can get most of the letters and still not know which one they are looking at, which is a different and more frustrating kind of difficulty than a rare letter.
This is the best category for a classroom, because a guesser who knows the subject genuinely has an advantage. That is not true of animals or food, where knowing the thing tells you nothing about the spelling.
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Easy science words48
The usual opening guesses cover most of it, so it tends to fall quickly.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| antibiotic | Works on bacteria and does nothing to a virus | 10 / 7 distinct | 0.1 | Easy |
| asteroid | Rocky object orbiting mostly between Mars and Jupiter | 8 / 8 distinct | 0.3 | Easy |
| astronaut | Trained to work where there is no air | 9 / 7 distinct | -0.1 | Easy |
| bacteria | Single-celled, everywhere, mostly harmless | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| chromosome | A packaged thread of DNA | 10 / 7 distinct | 2.9 | Easy |
| circuit | A complete loop that current can travel | 7 / 5 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| density | How much mass fits into a given volume | 7 / 7 distinct | 3.6 | Easy |
| diamond | The same element as graphite, arranged differently | 7 / 6 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| digestion | Breaking food down into something usable | 9 / 8 distinct | 1.3 | Easy |
| dinosaur | Ruled the planet for over a hundred million years | 8 / 8 distinct | 1.5 | Easy |
| eclipse | One body passing in front of another | 7 / 6 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| ecosystem | Everything living in a place, plus the place | 9 / 7 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| electron | Negatively charged, and very small indeed | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| equation | Two expressions claimed to be equal | 8 / 8 distinct | 1.3 | Easy |
| erosion | Wind and water slowly taking things apart | 7 / 6 distinct | -2.0 | Easy |
| evolution | Change in a population across generations | 9 / 8 distinct | 2.3 | Easy |
| experiment | A test designed to be able to fail | 10 / 8 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| fossil | Evidence of life turned to stone | 6 / 5 distinct | 3.2 | 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 |
| habitat | Where a particular species can actually live | 7 / 5 distinct | 1.6 | Easy |
| immune | The system that recognises and remembers | 6 / 5 distinct | 3.5 | Easy |
| laboratory | Where the careful part happens | 10 / 7 distinct | 1.9 | Easy |
| laser | Light that is all one colour and marching in step | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| magnesium | Burns with a blinding white light | 9 / 8 distinct | 3.6 | Easy |
| meteorite | The bit that survives the trip through the atmosphere | 9 / 6 distinct | -1.3 | Easy |
| microscope | Makes the invisible large enough to study | 10 / 8 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| mineral | A naturally occurring solid with a fixed structure | 7 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| neuron | A cell that carries a signal | 6 / 5 distinct | 0.2 | Easy |
| neutron | Sits in the nucleus and carries no charge | 7 / 6 distinct | 0.6 | Easy |
| nitrogen | Makes up most of the air you are breathing | 8 / 7 distinct | 0.9 | Easy |
| orbit | Falling forever without ever landing | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| organism | Any individual living thing | 8 / 8 distinct | 2.5 | Easy |
| parasite | Lives on a host and gives nothing back | 8 / 7 distinct | -0.1 | Easy |
| photosynthesis | Light, water and carbon dioxide become sugar | 14 / 9 distinct | 2.5 | Easy |
| potassium | Element K, and bananas are famous for it | 9 / 8 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| predator | Hunts, and is usually outnumbered | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| pressure | Force spread over an area | 8 / 5 distinct | 1.4 | Easy |
| radiation | Energy travelling as waves or particles | 9 / 7 distinct | -1.0 | Easy |
| reaction | Where bonds break and new ones form | 8 / 8 distinct | 0.3 | Easy |
| satellite | Anything in orbit around something larger | 9 / 6 distinct | 0.7 | Easy |
| skeleton | Two hundred and six bones in an adult | 8 / 7 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| solution | One substance dissolved evenly in another | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| supernova | A star ending in an enormous explosion | 9 / 9 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| telescope | Collects light from very far away | 9 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| titanium | Strong, light, and does not corrode | 8 / 6 distinct | 0.8 | Easy |
| tsunami | A wave set off by the sea floor moving | 7 / 7 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| uranium | Heavy, radioactive, and used for fuel | 7 / 6 distinct | 2.3 | Easy |
Medium science words30
You will get a foothold, then have to work out the rest properly.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| algorithm | A finite list of steps that always terminates | 9 / 9 distinct | 4.8 | Medium |
| calcium | The element your bones are built from | 7 / 6 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| catalyst | Speeds a reaction without being used up | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| chlorine | Keeps swimming pools clean and smells of it | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| comet | Ice and dust that grows a tail near the sun | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| compound | Elements chemically bonded in fixed proportions | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| crystal | Atoms arranged in a repeating pattern | 7 / 7 distinct | 6.1 | Medium |
| earthquake | Sudden movement along a fault | 10 / 8 distinct | 3.9 | Medium |
| frequency | How many times something happens per second | 9 / 8 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| glacier | A river of ice that carves valleys | 7 / 7 distinct | 3.9 | Medium |
| graphite | Pure carbon, and the lead in your pencil | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| gravity | The reason everything falls down | 7 / 7 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| helium | Lighter than air, and it changes your voice | 6 / 6 distinct | 5.7 | Medium |
| hydrogen | The lightest element and the most common | 8 / 8 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| hypothesis | A statement you have not tested yet | 10 / 8 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| magnetic | Attracts iron and lines up a compass | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| mercury | The only metal liquid at room temperature | 7 / 6 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| molecule | Two or more atoms bonded together | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.5 | Medium |
| momentum | Mass times velocity, and hard to stop | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.3 | Medium |
| nebula | A cloud of gas and dust where stars are made | 6 / 6 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| oxygen | Element eight, and hard to do without | 6 / 6 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| platinum | Rarer than gold and used in catalysts | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| spacecraft | Built to survive vacuum and enormous cold | 10 / 8 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| spectrum | Light separated into its component colours | 8 / 8 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| theory | In science, an explanation supported by evidence | 6 / 6 distinct | 3.7 | Medium |
| vaccine | Teaches the immune system in advance | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.4 | Medium |
| velocity | Speed, but with a direction attached | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| virus | Cannot reproduce without a host cell | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| volcano | Where molten rock reaches the surface | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.4 | Medium |
| voltage | The push behind an electric current | 7 / 7 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
Hard science words4
Rare letters, few vowels, or almost no repetition for a guesser to lean on.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| chlorophyll | The pigment that makes plants green | 11 / 7 distinct | 7.7 | Hard |
| galaxy | Billions of stars held together by gravity | 6 / 5 distinct | 7.7 | Hard |
| muscle | Contracts to pull, never to push | 6 / 6 distinct | 7.0 | Hard |
| wavelength | The distance between one crest and the next | 10 / 9 distinct | 6.6 | Hard |
Questions
What are good science 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: 82 science words are listed and 4 of them rate hard.
How many science words are on this list?
82, deduplicated, each with a clue and a computed difficulty score. They split into 48 easy, 30 medium and 4 hard.
What is the hardest word in this category?
CHLOROPHYLL, at 7.7. The easiest is EROSION at -2.0. 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 science list, so every word you get is one of the 82 below.