Space hangman words
76 space and astronomy words, each with a clue and a difficulty score computed from its spelling. 42 easy, 29 medium, 5 hard.
Average score
3.2
Across all 76 words
Hardest
vacuum
Scores 8.0
Easiest
orion
Scores -2.4
Space vocabulary is long, Latin or Greek in origin, and unusually regular. Constellation and magnetosphere look intimidating and are generous: almost every letter in them is one a guesser tries early.
The planets are the trap. Mars, Venus and Pluto are short, and Pluto in particular has almost nothing a standard opening will touch. If you want a quick, brutal round, that is where to find it.
This is the best category on the site for a classroom, because a guesser who knows the subject genuinely has an advantage. Knowing what a pulsar is narrows the field once two letters are up, which is not true of the colours or the household list.
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Easy space and astronomy words42
The usual opening guesses cover most of it, so it tends to fall quickly.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| asteroid | Rocky, and 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 |
| astronomer | Studies things too far away to visit | 10 / 8 distinct | 0.2 | Easy |
| atmosphere | The gas a planet manages to hold on to | 10 / 9 distinct | 2.5 | Easy |
| aurora | What the solar wind does to the sky | 6 / 4 distinct | -1.7 | Easy |
| booster | The bit that falls away first | 7 / 6 distinct | 0.6 | Easy |
| celestial | Of the sky, generally | 9 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| constellation | A pattern people agreed to see | 13 / 9 distinct | 1.3 | Easy |
| cosmonaut | The same job, a different programme | 9 / 8 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| cosmos | The same thing, said more poetically | 6 / 4 distinct | 2.7 | Easy |
| crater | Left behind by an impact | 6 / 5 distinct | 1.5 | Easy |
| dark matter | Most of the mass, and nobody has seen it | 10 / 7 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| eclipse | One body passing in front of another | 7 / 6 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| exoplanet | A planet round another star | 9 / 8 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| expansion | What it has been doing ever since | 9 / 8 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| habitable | The zone where liquid water could sit | 9 / 7 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| horizon | Where the sky appears to meet the ground | 7 / 6 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| magnetosphere | The field that deflects the solar wind | 13 / 11 distinct | 2.5 | Easy |
| mars | Red, dusty, and thoroughly explored by robots | 4 / 4 distinct | 3.5 | Easy |
| meteor | The streak of light on the way down | 6 / 5 distinct | 0.2 | Easy |
| meteorite | The bit that survives and lands | 9 / 6 distinct | -1.3 | Easy |
| mission | The whole plan, with a name | 7 / 5 distinct | 0.1 | Easy |
| neptune | Farthest planet, and very blue | 7 / 5 distinct | 1.6 | Easy |
| observatory | Built somewhere dark and high | 11 / 9 distinct | 2.9 | Easy |
| orbit | Falling forever without ever landing | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| orion | The hunter, with a very famous belt | 5 / 4 distinct | -2.4 | Easy |
| propulsion | Whatever is making it move | 10 / 8 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| quasar | The brightest thing in the sky, and very far away | 6 / 5 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| radiation | Energy travelling as waves or particles | 9 / 7 distinct | -1.0 | Easy |
| reentry | The hottest few minutes of any flight | 7 / 5 distinct | 1.3 | Easy |
| rover | Drives, drills, and photographs | 5 / 4 distinct | 2.7 | Easy |
| satellite | Anything going round something larger | 9 / 6 distinct | 0.7 | Easy |
| saturn | The one with the rings everybody draws | 6 / 6 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| solar | Of the sun | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| solstice | The longest or shortest day | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| spacesuit | A one-person spacecraft with legs | 9 / 8 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| supernova | A star ending in an enormous explosion | 9 / 9 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| telemetry | Measurements sent home automatically | 9 / 6 distinct | 2.7 | Easy |
| telescope | Collects light from very far away | 9 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| thruster | Small, and used for aiming | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| universe | All of it, as far as anyone can tell | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| uranus | Tipped over on its side | 6 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
Medium space and astronomy words29
You will get a foothold, then have to work out the rest properly.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| airlock | Two doors, never open at once | 7 / 7 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| big bang | How it apparently started | 7 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| capsule | The part that comes back | 7 / 7 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| comet | Ice and dust that grows a tail near the sun | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| countdown | Ten to one, out loud | 9 / 7 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| dark energy | Whatever is pushing it apart faster | 10 / 8 distinct | 4.2 | Medium |
| equinox | Day and night of equal length | 7 / 7 distinct | 4.4 | Medium |
| gravity | The reason any of this holds together | 7 / 7 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| jupiter | Largest planet, with a storm bigger than Earth | 7 / 7 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| lander | Gets down, and stays there | 6 / 6 distinct | 3.7 | Medium |
| launch pad | Where it all starts, loudly | 9 / 8 distinct | 6.1 | Medium |
| liftoff | The moment the clamps release | 7 / 5 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| lightyear | A distance, not a time | 9 / 9 distinct | 4.8 | Medium |
| lunar | Of the moon | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| mercury | Closest to the sun, and no atmosphere to speak of | 7 / 6 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| module | One section of a larger craft | 6 / 6 distinct | 5.7 | Medium |
| nebula | A cloud of gas and dust where stars are made | 6 / 6 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| parsec | Another distance, and a larger one | 6 / 6 distinct | 3.7 | Medium |
| payload | The reason the rocket was built | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.9 | Medium |
| pluto | Reclassified in 2006 and still argued about | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| probe | Sent out and not expected back | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| pulsar | A spinning star that ticks like a clock | 6 / 6 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| rocket | Throws mass one way to go the other | 6 / 6 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| shuttle | Flew like a spacecraft, landed like a plane | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| solar wind | Particles streaming off the sun | 9 / 9 distinct | 3.7 | Medium |
| trajectory | The path, worked out in advance | 10 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| venus | Hottest planet, and it spins backwards | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| weightless | Not the absence of gravity, but of support | 10 / 8 distinct | 4.8 | Medium |
| zenith | Directly overhead | 6 / 6 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
Hard space and astronomy words5
Rare letters, few vowels, or almost no repetition for a guesser to lean on.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| blackhole | Gravity so strong that light cannot leave | 9 / 8 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| docking | Two craft meeting at closing speeds of centimetres | 7 / 7 distinct | 7.3 | Hard |
| galaxy | Billions of stars held together by gravity | 6 / 5 distinct | 7.7 | Hard |
| spacewalk | Outside, and attached by a tether | 9 / 8 distinct | 7.1 | Hard |
| vacuum | No air, and therefore no sound | 6 / 5 distinct | 8.0 | Hard |
Questions
What are good space and astronomy 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: 76 space and astronomy words are listed and 5 of them rate hard.
How many space and astronomy words are on this list?
76, deduplicated, each with a clue and a computed difficulty score. They split into 42 easy, 29 medium and 5 hard.
What is the hardest word in this category?
VACUUM, at 8.0. The easiest is ORION at -2.4. 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 space list, so every word you get is one of the 76 below.