Adults like games. They don't like being treated like children, and that is where most vocabulary games go wrong. A flashcard race with stickers feels silly at 35. A game with real rules, a real winner and a real chance to lose feels like a game.
The eight games below are built for adult classes on a video call. Each one makes students use a word, not just recognize it. You only need the tools every platform has: the chat, breakout rooms, screen sharing and a poll. Every game also has a version for one-to-one lessons, where you are the other player.
Nothing here needs printing. The free PDF is a screen-share deck with one landscape page per game: the board, the words and the rules in large type. You open page 5, share your screen, and Code Words is ready.
The games at a glance | # | Game | Level | Time | | 1 | Categories | A1-A2 | 10 min | | 2 | Connections | A1-B1 | 10 min | | 3 | Just One | A2-B1 | 15 min | | 4 | Three Banned Words | B1-B2 | 15 min | | 5 | Code Words | B1-B2 | 20 min | | 6 | Hot Seat | B1-B2 | 10 min | | 7 | Just a Minute | B2-C1 | 15 min | | 8 | Shades of Meaning | B2-C1 | 15 min |
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| Free · screen-share PDFVocabulary Games OnlineAll eight games below, one landscape page each and numbered like this post. Open the page, share your screen, play. Each page has the board or the word list in large type and the rules at the bottom. Pages with secret words are marked Keep private, and the answer key is on page 9.8 games9 pagesA1 to C1Nothing to printDownload the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
What makes a vocabulary game work on a video call
- The word is the move. Students score by producing a word: typing it, explaining it or defending it. Recognizing it is not enough.
- Everyone plays at once. On a call, a game where one student talks and nine wait is a lecture. Hidden answers in the chat, breakout rooms and private messages keep the whole class working.
- Secrets go in private chat. A private message is the online version of a card face down on the table, and four of the games below are built around it.
- The board is on screen. When the words and the rules are on one shared page, you don't spend five minutes of the call explaining.
Teaching in a classroom this week? The printable board, dice and battleship games are in ESL speaking games for adults, seven idiom games, including Bluff and an idiom auction, are in idiom games for adults, and grammar games are in present simple games for adults. The eight below are the ones you play on a call.
Games for beginners (A1 to A2)
1of 8A1-A210 minWhole classThe chatFree printable · page 1 Categories How to play- Share page 1. It has five categories: a food, a job, something you wear, a room or a thing in a house, and something you do in the morning.
- Say a letter. Students have one minute to type a word for every category in the chat, and nobody presses Enter until you say Go.
- On Go, everyone sends at once, and all the answers appear together.
- A word scores one point, but only if no other student wrote it.
| ExampleLetter Ssalad, a secretary, socks, a sofa, take a shower |
| Why it works Common words cancel out, so students reach for the less obvious ones, which is the point. Holding Enter until Go stops the fastest typist from giving everyone else ideas. The categories come from three beginner worksheets, Food Vocabulary, Jobs and Occupations Vocabulary and Clothes Vocabulary, so one round checks all three. |
One to one: Play against the student. You may not use any word you have taught them this month, which is harder than it sounds. | Free printable · page 1The five categories, a model row, empty rows to type into on the shared screen, and 11 letters that work for every category. A sample answer for each letter is on page 9.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
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2of 8A1-B110 minPairsBreakout roomsFree printable · page 2 Connections How to play- Share page 2, sixteen words in a grid. Paste the same words into the chat, so every breakout room has them.
- Pairs go to breakout rooms and find four groups of four words that belong together.
- Every group needs a reason: They are all jobs.
- The first pair to send you four groups and four reasons in a private chat message wins. A group without a reason doesn't count.
| ExampleFour of the wordsnurse, scarf, fridge, fog |
| Why it works If your students play the New York Times puzzle, they already know this one. Sorting makes students think about what a word means, not only what it looks like, and the one trap word on the board starts the best arguments in the breakout rooms. The weather group comes from Weather Vocabulary, an A1-A2 worksheet with words like foggy, windy and stormy. In October, the free Halloween Vocabulary worksheet gives you a set for a second board. |
One to one: Make the grid together in a shared document. The student types sixteen words for you, with one trap, and you solve it aloud. | Free printable · page 2The 16-word board, lines for four groups and four reasons, and a warning about the trap. The answers are on page 9.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
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3of 8A2-B115 minGroups of 4+Private chatFree printable · page 3 Just One How to play- One student is the guesser. Send a secret word from page 3, for example umbrella, to every other student in a private chat message.
- Each of them sends you one clue word, also in private.
- Remove any clue that appears twice, and paste the rest into the main chat.
- The guesser has one guess. The class plays ten words together and tries to beat its own score next time.
| ExampleSecret wordumbrellaClues sentrain, rain, open, wet, bagThe guesser seesopen, wet, bag |
| Why it works Because matching clues are cancelled, students avoid the obvious rain and look for a second word. The game is easier online than in a classroom, because only you see the clues before they are checked. Everyday objects make the best secret words, and House and Furniture Vocabulary has 14 of them, from the mirror to the bathtub, for a second round at A1-A2. |
One to one: You and the student both write a clue for an imaginary third player, then show them at the same time. If your clues match, choose a better one together. It turns into a conversation about which words are closest. | Free printable · page 3A Keep private page: 20 secret words in four sets, the rules for a clue and a worked example. Tick each word as you use it.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
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4of 8B1-B215 minTwo teamsPrivate chatFree printable · page 4 Three Banned Words How to play- One student explains a word to their team without saying the word or its three banned words.
- Copy a card from page 4 into a private chat message to the explainer, and to one student on the other team.
- The team guesses out loud. The student on the other team listens for banned words.
- One point for each word the team guesses in 90 seconds. A banned word gives the point to the other team.
| ExampleCardcommuteDon't saywork, travel, train |
| Why it works Banning the obvious words forces paraphrase, the skill adult learners need most when they forget a word in real life. The fastest way to paraphrase is a relative clause: it's a person who, it's the thing that. Who, Which, Where, That is an A2-B1 worksheet built on exactly that: students define words that English doesn't have, such as hygge and tsundoku. |
One to one: Take turns explaining to each other. Choose the banned words for the student's cards yourself, so they are exactly the words they lean on. | Free printable · page 4A Keep private page: 12 cards to copy into the chat, each with three banned words, and five paraphrase starters to paste for the explainers.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
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5of 8B1-B220 minTwo teamsScreen sharingFree printable · page 5 Code Words How to play- Share page 5, a board of 25 words that each have two meanings, like spring, bank and match.
- Each team has a clue-giver. Send both clue-givers the key from page 9 in private chat: 8 pink words, 7 green words and one trap.
- The clue-giver says one word and a number, for example money, 2. The team names squares, and you mark them on the shared screen.
- The first team to find all its words wins. Choosing the trap word loses the game at once.
| ExampleCluemoney, 2The team choosesA3 bank, D5 change |
| Why it works It plays like the board game Codenames, and it suits adults because the clue-giver has to hold every meaning of every word in mind at once. Spring is a season and a metal coil, and a bank holds money or sits next to a river. A clue that links two of your words and avoids the trap is real vocabulary work, and the team's discussion before each choice is speaking practice you don't have to set up. |
One to one: You give the clues and the student guesses, then swap. Play with only the pink words and count how many clues the student needs. | Free printable · page 5The 25-word board with square numbers, the team colors and the clue rule. The key for the clue-givers is on page 9.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
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6of 8B1-B210 minTwo teamsScreen sharingFree printable · page 6 Hot Seat How to play- One student from Team A is in the hot seat. They look away from the screen or minimize the call window, and keep the sound on.
- Share page 6. Team A describes the five words of one round, in order, until the player says each one.
- Stuck? The team says pass and goes to the next word.
- Count the words guessed in 90 seconds. Then Team B plays the next round.
| ExampleRound 4 · Healthheadache, pharmacy, appointment, sore throat, prescription |
| Why it works It is a well-known game, and it works online because the whole team speaks at once, so nobody is left out. Ask teams to take turns speaking if the call gets too noisy. Each round is one topic, so it doubles as a review: round 4 recycles the language of At the Doctor's, an A2-B1 lesson on describing health problems and understanding medical advice. |
One to one: The student is in the hot seat and you describe. Then swap. Keep a list of the words they couldn't explain and use them next lesson. |
Games for advanced classes (B2 to C1)
7of 8B2-C115 minGroups of 4A timerFree printable · page 7 Just a Minute How to play- One student speaks for 60 seconds on a topic from page 7 and uses its five target words, without hesitating or repeating a word.
- Any other player can challenge by typing an exclamation mark in the chat. The chat shows who typed first, so there is no argument about it.
- The challenger gives a reason: hesitation, repetition or a word used wrongly. If the challenge is fair, the challenger takes over the topic for the rest of the minute.
- The speaker at 60 seconds gets the point, plus one point for every target word used correctly.
| ExampleTopic 5Phones at the dinner tableTarget wordsrude, distracted, scroll, notification, make a rule |
| Why it works It is based on the BBC radio game of the same name. The challenge rule makes the listeners work as hard as the speaker, because they win by catching a word used wrongly. At this level, the words challenged most are make and do: do a mistake, make research. Make vs Do Collocations is a B1-B2 worksheet with more than 50 collocations by topic, from make a decision to do the dishes. |
One to one: Take turns. Challenge the student only on the target words at first, then add hesitation in round two. | Free printable · page 7Eight topic cards with five target words each, and the three reasons to challenge.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
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8of 8B2-C115 minTeams of 3The chatFree printable · page 8 Shades of Meaning How to play- Share page 8: six rows of five words, from How happy? to How much do you like it?
- Each team puts the words of one row in order, from mild to strong, and types its order in the chat. Two minutes a row.
- Show the order from page 9. One point for each row in the right order.
- A team with a different order can still win the point with an example sentence that shows why.
| ExampleHow angry?furious, annoyed, livid, irritated, angry |
| Why it works Advanced students know plenty of words. What they get wrong is the strength: livid about a late bus, pleased about winning the lottery. Ordering the words forces that decision, and the example-sentence rule turns the answer key into a discussion. Beyond Happy and Sad is a B1-B2 worksheet that teaches 12 precise emotions and asks students to order them from mild to strong, so it works as the lesson before this game. |
One to one: The student orders a row and explains each choice. You disagree with one word, and the student defends it with an example. | Free printable · page 8Six scales of five words in shuffled order. The order, with the pairs where both orders are accepted, is on page 9.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
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Vocabulary Games OnlineAll eight games in one free PDF, one landscape page each, ready to share on screen.Download the free PDF |
How to fit a game into an online lesson
- Pick the moment. At the start, a vocabulary game shows you which words the class already has. At the end, it recycles the words from the lesson before students leave the call.
- Keep it to ten or fifteen minutes. Stop while they still want to play. Open the PDF and write the private messages before the lesson, because setting up on a call takes longer than in a room.
- Keep a list. Keep a document open during the game and add every word that caused a problem. Paste the list into the chat at the end, so students keep it, and bring those words back next lesson. That list is the real result of the game.
- Teach the call language once. You're on mute, You froze and Can you share your screen? come up in every online game. You Are Breaking Up A Bit is a B1-B2 listening lesson about an online meeting where the connection keeps failing.
- Want a game for every week? 14 ready-to-play games is our pack of 14 games and 8 bonus resources on Miro, for A2 to C1, with teacher tips for each one.
Mistakes your students will make
Teacher's reference Slips to listen for while they play | Students say | Better | Why | | It's a thing for cut paper. | It's a thing for cutting paper. | After for, use the -ing form, or say a thing you use to cut paper. | | It's a person which fixes cars. | It's a person who fixes cars. | Who for people, which for things. | | I did a mistake. | I made a mistake. | Make goes with mistake, decision and plan. | | I'm very furious. | I'm absolutely furious. | Strong words like furious and exhausted don't take very. | | Can you explain me this word? | Can you explain this word to me? | You explain something to a person. | | How do you say in English? | How do you say it in English? | Say needs an object, or ask What's the word for ...? |
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Lessons to go with the games
