Travel hangman words
83 travel words, each with a clue and a difficulty score computed from its spelling. 39 easy, 40 medium, 4 hard.
Average score
3.5
Across all 83 words
Hardest
backpack
Scores 8.6
Easiest
oasis
Scores -2.4
Travel words are mostly compounds and mostly long, which makes this a comfortable category for a group that has not played much. Roadtrip and campfire give themselves away as soon as one half appears.
The French borrowings are where it gets harder. Boulevard, promenade and funicular all keep their original spelling, and funicular in particular defeats people who have never taken one.
This category works well as a themed round for a holiday or a school trip. Pick ten words that match where you are actually going and the game does some quiet teaching.
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Easy travel words39
The usual opening guesses cover most of it, so it tends to fall quickly.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| adventure | The part that did not go to plan | 9 / 8 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| aeroplane | Heavier than air and flying anyway | 9 / 7 distinct | 0.1 | Easy |
| airline | Sells the seat and the legroom separately | 7 / 6 distinct | -0.6 | Easy |
| airport | Arrive early, then wait | 7 / 6 distinct | 0.6 | Easy |
| arrival | The other board, watched more anxiously | 7 / 5 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| bazaar | A covered market, and haggling expected | 6 / 4 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| caravan | The house follows the car | 7 / 5 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| carriage | One section of the train | 8 / 6 distinct | 0.8 | Easy |
| cruise | The hotel moves while you sleep | 6 / 6 distinct | 2.3 | Easy |
| departure | Listed on a board, subject to change | 9 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| district | A part of the city with its own character | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| excursion | A short trip out from where you are staying | 9 / 9 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| expedition | A journey with a purpose and a lot of kit | 10 / 8 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| harbour | Sheltered water where boats can rest | 7 / 6 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| helicopter | Beats the air into submission | 10 / 9 distinct | 3.5 | Easy |
| horizon | Always the same distance away | 7 / 6 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| insurance | Boring until the day it is not | 9 / 8 distinct | 1.3 | Easy |
| itinerary | The plan that survives about a day | 9 / 7 distinct | -0.1 | Easy |
| metro | Underground, frequent, and confusing at first | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| monument | Built so that something is not forgotten | 8 / 6 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| oasis | Water where there should not be any | 5 / 4 distinct | -2.4 | Easy |
| palace | Built to impress rather than to defend | 6 / 5 distinct | 3.5 | Easy |
| passport | Without it you are going nowhere | 8 / 6 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| promenade | Made for walking beside water | 9 / 8 distinct | 2.4 | Easy |
| reception | Where the keys and the answers are | 9 / 8 distinct | 1.3 | Easy |
| roadtrip | The route matters more than the arrival | 8 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| safari | You are the visitor, and the animals know it | 6 / 5 distinct | 0.2 | Easy |
| sandals | Sensible until you have to walk far | 7 / 5 distinct | 2.7 | Easy |
| scooter | Two wheels and no ambition to hurry | 7 / 6 distinct | 0.6 | Easy |
| souvenir | Bought instantly, regretted slowly | 8 / 8 distinct | 2.3 | Easy |
| suitcase | Always slightly too small on the way back | 8 / 7 distinct | 1.1 | Easy |
| sunscreen | Applied too late, by tradition | 9 / 6 distinct | 1.6 | Easy |
| sunset | The reason half the photographs exist | 6 / 5 distinct | 1.5 | Easy |
| taxi | Available except when raining | 4 / 4 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| tent | Poles, fabric and optimism | 4 / 3 distinct | 0.3 | Easy |
| terminal | The building, not the diagnosis | 8 / 8 distinct | 2.5 | Easy |
| timetable | Optimistic by design | 9 / 7 distinct | 2.1 | Easy |
| translator | Carries meaning, not just words | 10 / 7 distinct | 0.7 | Easy |
| visa | Permission, granted in advance | 4 / 4 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
Medium travel words40
You will get a foothold, then have to work out the rest properly.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| binoculars | Two telescopes and a neck strap | 10 / 10 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| boarding | The bit everyone queues for too soon | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| boulevard | A wide street with trees down the middle | 9 / 9 distinct | 5.7 | Medium |
| cabin | Your room, at sea or in the air | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| cablecar | Suspended, and best not looked down from | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.3 | Medium |
| campfire | The reason to stay outside after dark | 8 / 8 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| campsite | Flat ground and a tap, if you are lucky | 8 / 8 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| castle | Built for defence, kept for tourists | 6 / 6 distinct | 3.7 | Medium |
| cathedral | Took centuries and several architects | 9 / 8 distinct | 4.4 | Medium |
| compass | Still works when the phone does not | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| currency | The maths gets harder on holiday | 8 / 6 distinct | 5.3 | Medium |
| customs | Anything to declare | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| exchange | Where the rate is never the one you saw | 8 / 7 distinct | 5.5 | Medium |
| ferry | Carries vehicles across water | 5 / 4 distinct | 4.8 | Medium |
| funicular | Two cars on a slope, balancing each other | 9 / 8 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| gallery | Where the pictures are hung | 7 / 6 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| glacier | Ice moving downhill, slowly | 7 / 7 distinct | 3.9 | Medium |
| guidebook | Right about the map, late about the restaurants | 9 / 8 distinct | 4.5 | Medium |
| hostel | Cheap, sociable, and bring earplugs | 6 / 6 distinct | 3.7 | Medium |
| hotel | Somebody else makes the bed | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| hotspring | Naturally heated, and usually smells of it | 9 / 9 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| jetlag | Your body still in the previous time zone | 6 / 6 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| journey | The whole of it, not just the destination | 7 / 7 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| layover | Time you did not ask for in a city you cannot leave | 7 / 7 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| luggage | The bags, collectively, and the anxiety | 7 / 5 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| market | Where a place shows you what it eats | 6 / 6 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| museum | Where the objects are kept and explained | 6 / 4 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| platform | Mind the gap | 8 / 8 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| postcard | Arrives after you get home | 8 / 8 distinct | 4.8 | Medium |
| railway | Two rails, and remarkably efficient | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.4 | Medium |
| shuttle | Goes back and forth, and only that | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| skyline | A city, seen as a shape | 7 / 7 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| snorkel | A tube and a whole new world | 7 / 7 distinct | 4.4 | Medium |
| suburb | Where the city thins out | 6 / 4 distinct | 6.0 | Medium |
| swimsuit | Packed first, worn once | 8 / 6 distinct | 4.0 | Medium |
| tramway | Rails in the street | 7 / 6 distinct | 5.6 | Medium |
| village | Small enough that people notice you arrive | 7 / 6 distinct | 5.9 | Medium |
| volcano | Now a viewpoint, formerly a hazard | 7 / 6 distinct | 4.4 | Medium |
| voyage | A long journey by sea | 6 / 6 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| waterfall | Loud, wet, and worth the walk | 9 / 7 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
Hard travel words4
Rare letters, few vowels, or almost no repetition for a guesser to lean on.
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| backpack | Everything you own, on your shoulders | 8 / 5 distinct | 8.6 | Hard |
| bicycle | Still the most efficient machine ever built | 7 / 6 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| highway | Long, straight and largely uneventful | 7 / 6 distinct | 8.4 | Hard |
| landmark | The thing everyone photographs | 8 / 7 distinct | 6.5 | Hard |
Questions
What are good travel 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: 83 travel words are listed and 4 of them rate hard.
How many travel words are on this list?
83, deduplicated, each with a clue and a computed difficulty score. They split into 39 easy, 40 medium and 4 hard.
What is the hardest word in this category?
BACKPACK, at 8.6. The easiest is OASIS 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 travel list, so every word you get is one of the 83 below.