Guide
How to Play Hangman
Hangman is a game of letters and deduction. Read the category, guess letters from most common to least, and use the pattern you build to solve the word before six wrong guesses finish the drawing.
Play HangmanThe objective
Reveal the hidden word, letter by letter
Hangman shows a single hidden word as a row of blanks — one per letter — with a category above it. You guess one letter at a time. A letter that is in the word is filled into every place it appears; a letter that is not adds one part to the hangman drawing.
You win the round the moment every letter is revealed. You lose it on the sixth wrong guess, when the figure — head, body, two arms, two legs — is complete. There is no timer forcing your hand; the challenge is which letters you try and in what order.
The game is free, runs in the browser, and needs no account. Open the board when you want to play; use this guide for the rules, the scoring, and the habits that solve more words.
The puzzle
A category, a row of blanks, and six tries
Every round draws a single common English word, four to twelve letters long, from the category you chose on the deal screen — Animals, Countries, Food & Drink, Sports, Science, Music, Nature, Around the House, Jobs, or Travel — or from all of them if you leave it on “Surprise me”. The category is shown above the blanks and is your only free clue.
You start with six wrong guesses in hand and two hints. A hint reveals one random unguessed letter without costing a try, but it lowers the points the round can score.
Controls
Type a letter or tap a key
Every method guesses the same letters. Pick whichever fits the device in your hand.
Everywhere
On-screen keyboard
Tap a letter key to guess it. Correct letters turn solid, wrong letters dim and lock, and already-used letters cannot be tapped again. The keyboard sits below the word so it stays in reach on a phone.
Desktop
Physical keyboard
Just type A–Z to guess. Press Enter or Space to deal the next word from the finish screen. H asks for a hint, N starts a new word, and M mutes the sound.
Deal screen
Category picker
Choose a category before you deal, or leave it on "Surprise me" to pull from every list. Your choice is remembered on this device for next time.
The loop
Four steps you repeat every word
Reading the category, choosing a letter, and reading the new pattern is the whole game.
- 1
Read the puzzle
A hidden word appears as a row of blanks — one blank per letter — with a category above it, such as Animals or Countries. The category is your only free clue about what the word might be. Spaces and hyphens, if any, are shown from the start.
- 2
Guess a letter
Type a letter on your keyboard or tap it on the on-screen keys. If the letter is in the word, every place it appears is filled in at once. If it is not, one piece is added to the hangman figure and you lose one of your six tries.
- 3
Use the category and the letters you have
Start with common letters — E, A, R, I, O, T, N, S — then use the shape of the word and the category to narrow it down. A limited hint can reveal one letter for free when you are stuck. Wrong letters stay greyed out on the keyboard so you never repeat one.
- 4
Solve it before the drawing is finished
Reveal every letter in the word to win the round, bank the points, and extend your streak. Six wrong guesses complete the hangman and end the round with the answer shown. Either way, the next word is one tap away — no page reload.
Rules & scoring
Every rule that decides a round
The objective
Identify the hidden word by guessing its letters one at a time. You win the round the moment every letter is revealed.
Correct guesses
A guessed letter that appears in the word is filled into every position it occupies. Correct guesses never cost you a try, so a letter that shows up three times is still just one guess.
Wrong guesses
A guessed letter that is not in the word adds one part to the hangman drawing: head, body, two arms, then two legs. Six wrong guesses complete the figure and you lose the round.
Hints
Each round gives you two hints. A hint reveals one random unguessed letter of the word for free — it does not count as a wrong guess — but every hint used lowers the points the round can score.
Scoring and streak
A win scores from a base of 60, plus 12 for every unused try, a bonus for the length of the word, and a fading speed bonus, minus 25 per hint. A win adds one to your streak; a loss resets the streak to zero. Best score, fastest solve, and longest streak are kept on your device.
Common mistakes
Why winnable words get lost
Guessing rare letters early
Opening with Z, Q or X burns a try on a letter that most words never use. Clear the vowels and the common consonants first and let the pattern tell you when a rare letter is worth the risk.
Ignoring the category
The category is a free clue and the single biggest edge you have. A word in "Jobs" that ends in -ER or -IST is a different guess from the same blanks in "Food & Drink".
Spending hints too soon
A hint used on the first blank is a hint you cannot use when you are one wrong guess from losing. Each hint also trims the round score, so treat both as an emergency reserve.
Not reading the whole pattern
Players often fixate on one gap. Step back and look at every revealed letter together — double letters, a lone vowel, a familiar suffix — and the word usually falls out.
- Open with the vowels A, E, I, and O — most English words lean on at least two of them.
- Remember "ETAOIN SHRDLU", the letters ranked by how often they appear in English. After the vowels, try T, N, S, R, and L.
- Let the category steer you. A five-letter Country with an O in the middle is a very different search than a five-letter Animal.
- Look at word endings: -ING, -ION, -ED, -LY and -ER cover a huge share of longer words.
- Once you have a few letters, say the pattern out loud. "_ E _ E _ A _" often clicks into a whole word.
- Hold your two hints until you genuinely stall — spending one early throws away points you could have kept.
- Save J, Q, X and Z for last unless the letter pattern or the category points straight at them.
Where you can play
Same game on phone and desktop
hangmangame.app runs in any modern browser with no app to install. Progress stays on the device you played on.
Desktop browsers
Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari all run the game with no plugin. Type letters directly on the keyboard, press H for a hint, and N for a new word. The word, figure, and keys all fit above the fold.
Phones and tablets
The layout is touch-first. The word sits at the top, the hangman drawing beside it, and a full-width A–Z keyboard fills the bottom of the screen so every key is an easy thumb reach. Restart is instant.
Progress on this device
Games played, games won, win rate, current and longest streak, best score, and fastest solve are stored in local browser storage. They stay until you reset them or clear site data, and they never sync between devices.
Still stuck on a rule? Read the Hangman FAQ or jump in and play.
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