Sports hangman words
80 sports words, each with a clue and a difficulty score computed from its spelling. 27 easy, 37 medium, 16 hard.
Average score
4.5
Across all 80 words
Hardest
rugby
Scores 9.4
Easiest
referee
Scores -1.9
Sports vocabulary is unusually long. Basketball, gymnastics and championship all run past ten letters, and long words are more forgiving than they look: every correct guess uncovers more of the board.
The difficulty here sits in the short ones. Golf, darts and judo give a guesser almost nothing, and judo hides a J that most people never try. If you want a quick brutal round, this is where to find it.
This category also has more compound words than any other. Once a guesser sees -ball or -board at the end, they can often finish the whole word from two or three letters, so compounds play faster than their length suggests.
Advertisement
Easy sports words27
The usual opening guesses cover most of it, so it tends to fall quickly.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| athletics | Track and field, from sprints to the javelin | 9 / 8 distinct | 3.3 | Easy |
| badminton | Played with a shuttlecock rather than a ball | 9 / 8 distinct | 3.3 | Easy |
| canoeing | Kneeling, with a single-bladed paddle | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| captain | Wears the armband and calls the toss | 7 / 6 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| darts | Treble twenty is the target, then double out | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| endurance | Not how fast, but how long | 9 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| equestrian | Horse and rider judged together | 10 / 9 distinct | 1.4 | Easy |
| goalkeeper | The only one allowed to use their hands | 10 / 8 distinct | 3.1 | Easy |
| karate | Strikes, blocks and formal patterns | 6 / 5 distinct | 1.4 | 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 |
| motocross | Motorbikes over dirt jumps | 9 / 6 distinct | 1.6 | Easy |
| offside | The rule that causes the loudest arguments | 7 / 6 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| overtime | When ninety minutes was not enough | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| polo | Played on horseback with long mallets | 4 / 3 distinct | 3.3 | Easy |
| referee | Whistle, cards, and nobody's friend | 7 / 3 distinct | -1.9 | Easy |
| sailing | The wind decides most of the tactics | 7 / 6 distinct | 2.0 | Easy |
| scoreboard | The only opinion that counts | 10 / 8 distinct | 2.2 | Easy |
| skateboard | Four wheels and a great deal of falling over | 10 / 9 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| snooker | Reds and colours, and a very long table | 7 / 6 distinct | 1.6 | Easy |
| sprint | Everything decided in a few seconds | 6 / 6 distinct | 3.3 | Easy |
| substitute | Comes off the bench to change the game | 10 / 6 distinct | 1.6 | Easy |
| tennis | Love, deuce, and a very specific scoring system | 6 / 5 distinct | -0.2 | Easy |
| tournament | A run of matches with only one winner | 10 / 8 distinct | 1.2 | Easy |
| training | The unglamorous part that decides the result | 8 / 6 distinct | 0.5 | Easy |
| trampoline | Height, shape and control are all scored | 10 / 10 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| triathlon | Swim, then bike, then run, without stopping | 9 / 8 distinct | 2.2 | Easy |
Medium sports words37
You will get a foothold, then have to work out the rest properly.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| archery | Bow, arrow, and a very small gold ring | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| baseball | Nine innings, three strikes, and a diamond | 8 / 5 distinct | 3.9 | Medium |
| basketball | Five a side, and the hoop is ten feet up | 10 / 7 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| biathlon | Cross-country skiing plus rifle shooting | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| billiards | Cue sport played on a pocketed table | 9 / 7 distinct | 4.1 | Medium |
| boxing | Twelve rounds and two gloved fists | 6 / 6 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| champion | The one holding the trophy at the end | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| cricket | Two innings, eleven a side, and stumps | 7 / 6 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| decathlon | Ten events over two days | 9 / 9 distinct | 4.8 | Medium |
| discus | Spun and released from a circle | 6 / 5 distinct | 4.8 | Medium |
| diving | Somersaults on the way down, no splash at the end | 6 / 5 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| dribble | Keeping the ball close while moving | 7 / 6 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| fencing | Foil, epee or sabre, and right of way | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| football | The world's most watched game | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.3 | Medium |
| gymnastics | Beam, bars, vault and floor | 10 / 9 distinct | 5.1 | Medium |
| halftime | Fifteen minutes to fix everything | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| javelin | Thrown for distance, with a run-up | 7 / 7 distinct | 5.6 | 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 |
| netball | Seven players, no dribbling, no backboard | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| paragliding | A fabric wing and rising warm air | 11 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| penalty | A punishment that often decides the match | 7 / 7 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| podium | Three places, and only one at the top | 6 / 6 distinct | 5.7 | Medium |
| rematch | The second attempt, with everything to prove | 7 / 7 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| rowing | Backwards, in time, with a coxswain shouting | 6 / 6 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| shot put | Pushed rather than thrown | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| skiing | Two planks, poles, and a mountain | 6 / 5 distinct | 4.4 | Medium |
| snowboard | Both feet strapped to one board | 9 / 8 distinct | 4.1 | Medium |
| softball | Larger ball, underarm pitch, shorter diamond | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| squash | Both players share the court and the front wall | 6 / 5 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| stadium | Where the crowd sits and the noise gathers | 7 / 7 distinct | 3.9 | Medium |
| surfing | Waiting for the set, then standing up | 7 / 7 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| swimming | Four strokes, and the flip turn matters | 8 / 6 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| tackle | Taking possession, legally if possible | 6 / 6 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| taekwondo | Korean martial art built around kicking | 9 / 8 distinct | 3.9 | Medium |
| whistle | Stops play instantly | 7 / 7 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| wrestling | Two competitors, no strikes, plenty of leverage | 9 / 9 distinct | 5.2 | Medium |
Hard sports words16
Rare letters, few vowels, or almost no repetition for a guesser to lean on.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bowling | Ten pins and two attempts per frame | 7 / 7 distinct | 7.3 | Hard |
| climbing | Route, hold, and a great deal of finger strength | 8 / 7 distinct | 6.9 | Hard |
| curling | Stones on ice, and furious sweeping | 7 / 7 distinct | 6.4 | Hard |
| cycling | Road, track or mountain, always pedalling | 7 / 6 distinct | 8.6 | Hard |
| golf | The lowest number of shots wins | 4 / 4 distinct | 8.5 | Hard |
| handball | Seven a side, thrown rather than kicked | 8 / 6 distinct | 6.5 | Hard |
| hockey | Sticks, a hard ball or puck, and a goal to defend | 6 / 6 distinct | 8.0 | Hard |
| hurdle | You have to get over it without slowing down | 6 / 6 distinct | 7.0 | Hard |
| judo | Throws, holds, and a coloured belt system | 4 / 4 distinct | 8.0 | Hard |
| kickboxing | Punches and kicks, gloved and timed | 10 / 8 distinct | 7.5 | Hard |
| olympics | Every four years, and the whole world watches | 8 / 8 distinct | 7.3 | Hard |
| pommel | Gymnastics apparatus with two handles | 6 / 5 distinct | 6.5 | Hard |
| rugby | Fifteen players and no forward passing | 5 / 5 distinct | 9.4 | Hard |
| skydiving | Freefall first, canopy second | 9 / 8 distinct | 7.9 | Hard |
| trophy | What everybody says they are not playing for | 6 / 6 distinct | 6.7 | Hard |
| volleyball | Three touches allowed before it must cross the net | 10 / 7 distinct | 7.6 | Hard |
Questions
What are good sports 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: 80 sports words are listed and 16 of them rate hard.
How many sports words are on this list?
80, deduplicated, each with a clue and a computed difficulty score. They split into 27 easy, 37 medium and 16 hard.
What is the hardest word in this category?
RUGBY, at 9.4. The easiest is REFEREE at -1.9. 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 sports list, so every word you get is one of the 80 below.