How many wrong guesses are allowed?

Six distinct wrong letters end the round and reveal the answer. Correct guesses reveal every occurrence without adding a miss. Guessing the same letter again changes neither the history nor the miss count. Finding every letter wins immediately; finished rounds cannot receive more guesses.

Where do the common words come from?

The game uses an original reviewed list of 247 familiar words from the shipped public-domain ENABLE dictionary. Before common-word play, it checks the same-origin dictionary's byte count, SHA-256 and membership of every selected word. No outside definitions, commercial game answer list or online opponent service is used. A failed load leaves common-word play unavailable with retry; custom phrases remain usable.

Can two players play with a custom phrase?

Choose Same-device phrase. One player enters up to 80 characters, including spaces and the supported punctuation: period, comma, exclamation mark, question mark, apostrophe, hyphen, colon, semicolon and parentheses. ASCII letters are normalized to uppercase. Other characters are rejected with their one-based positions, and a phrase needs at least one letter. Press Conceal phrase and start; the editor is removed so you can pass the device to the guesser. This is local turn-taking, without a synchronized remote board.

Reveal one letter shows the first still-hidden letter in every matching position without adding a miss. It permanently marks the round as assisted practice. Reveal answer ends the round as revealed practice, without adding a win or loss. Neither action can produce an unassisted challenge score.

How do challenge scores work?

A canonical challenge is one fresh six-letter word from the fixed sorted pool, with no timer and six misses allowed. A win scores six minus wrong guesses; a sixth-miss loss scores zero. Higher is better. The recipient explicitly starts the same verified seeded setup, finishes independently, sees the signed score difference and may reshare their own eligible result. Hints, reveals, restored rounds, repeated seeds and words already encountered during the visit disable scored sharing. Scores are self-reported. Challenge links, cards and copied summaries omit the word. This is asynchronous score comparison, without a live room or chat. Custom phrases are not sent in challenge links.

Will refreshing keep my round?

After you start playing, the current answer, guesses and local totals are saved in this browser, including custom phrases. Refresh restores the same validated round as ordinary practice, never as an independent challenge result. A finished saved round does not add another win or loss. Storage restrictions may prevent saving without preventing play; the page's Start over control clears this tool's saved data.

Can I play without using a mouse?

Yes. Tab to the letter buttons and activate them, or focus the word board and type A–Z. The board has a text equivalent with visible punctuation and hidden-letter placeholders. The displayed controls also provide hint, reveal and next-round actions.

Can teachers make themed or ESL Hangman games?

Use Common words for familiar English practice, or Same-device phrase for a word or phrase you supply. For a Christmas game, SNOWBALL is a valid custom word; for Halloween, PUMPKIN; for science, SOLAR SYSTEM. The editor accepts English A–Z and the stated punctuation, without a themed dictionary or translation. Choose Word length in Common words to use four through twelve letters.

Can I play on a phone or in a classroom browser?

Use a current browser on a phone, tablet or computer. Letter buttons work with touch, and the focused board accepts a physical keyboard. No account, app or download is needed to play. School or workplace network restrictions are controlled by that network; this page cannot bypass them.

Hangman Game

Play free Hangman in your browser with common English words, or create a custom phrase for two players sharing one device. Guess letters with the on-screen keyboard or type while the board is focused. Six wrong letters end a round. A separate seeded challenge lets friends play the same word independently and compare scores.

English A–Z · six distinct misses · no timer. Repeated letters never cost another guess.

Ready to play

Find a word, one letter at a time.

Start common-word play, prepare a phrase for someone using this device, or complete a fresh six-letter challenge.

Guessing P in APPLE reveals both P positions without using a miss. This is an example, not an active round.

Letter keyboard

Choose a letter button, or focus the word board and type A–Z. Spaces and punctuation are visible without guessing. A hint reveals one letter in every matching position.

Next round settings

Word lengthSeed (optional)

Dictionary: loads when you start common-word play. 247 reviewed common words; 68 six-letter challenge words. Pool enable-common-v1.

Word length: 6

Misses: 0 / 6

Remaining: 6

Local practice totals: 0 wins / 0 losses

Worked examples

Repeated letterAPPLE; guess P
Both P positions; no miss
Duplicate guessGuess E twice
One history entry; same misses
Terminal lossSix distinct wrong letters
Round ends; answer revealed

Common-word source: shipped public-domain ENABLE, 172,823 words. The same-origin file is checked against its fixed byte count and SHA-256 before common-word play. No definitions or external game corpus are used.

Accuracy. English A–Z letters are guessed with case normalization; supported spaces and punctuation stay visible. Common words come from a reviewed subset of the shipped public-domain ENABLE list. Scores describe local play, not vocabulary ability.

Common questions

How many wrong guesses are allowed?: Six distinct wrong letters end the round and reveal the answer. Correct guesses reveal every occurrence without adding a miss. Guessing the same letter again changes neither the history nor the miss count. Finding every letter wins immediately; finished rounds cannot receive more guesses.
Where do the common words come from?: The game uses an original reviewed list of 247 familiar words from the shipped public-domain ENABLE dictionary. Before common-word play, it checks the same-origin dictionary's byte count, SHA-256 and membership of every selected word. No outside definitions, commercial game answer list or online opponent service is used. A failed load leaves common-word play unavailable with retry; custom phrases remain usable.
Can two players play with a custom phrase?: Choose Same-device phrase. One player enters up to 80 characters, including spaces and the supported punctuation: period, comma, exclamation mark, question mark, apostrophe, hyphen, colon, semicolon and parentheses. ASCII letters are normalized to uppercase. Other characters are rejected with their one-based positions, and a phrase needs at least one letter. Press Conceal phrase and start; the editor is removed so you can pass the device to the guesser. This is local turn-taking, without a synchronized remote board.
What does a hint do?: Reveal one letter shows the first still-hidden letter in every matching position without adding a miss. It permanently marks the round as assisted practice. Reveal answer ends the round as revealed practice, without adding a win or loss. Neither action can produce an unassisted challenge score.
How do challenge scores work?: A canonical challenge is one fresh six-letter word from the fixed sorted pool, with no timer and six misses allowed. A win scores six minus wrong guesses; a sixth-miss loss scores zero. Higher is better. The recipient explicitly starts the same verified seeded setup, finishes independently, sees the signed score difference and may reshare their own eligible result. Hints, reveals, restored rounds, repeated seeds and words already encountered during the visit disable scored sharing. Scores are self-reported. Challenge links, cards and copied summaries omit the word. This is asynchronous score comparison, without a live room or chat. Custom phrases are not sent in challenge links.
Will refreshing keep my round?: After you start playing, the current answer, guesses and local totals are saved in this browser, including custom phrases. Refresh restores the same validated round as ordinary practice, never as an independent challenge result. A finished saved round does not add another win or loss. Storage restrictions may prevent saving without preventing play; the page's Start over control clears this tool's saved data.
Can I play without using a mouse?: Yes. Tab to the letter buttons and activate them, or focus the word board and type A–Z. The board has a text equivalent with visible punctuation and hidden-letter placeholders. The displayed controls also provide hint, reveal and next-round actions.
Can teachers make themed or ESL Hangman games?: Use Common words for familiar English practice, or Same-device phrase for a word or phrase you supply. For a Christmas game, SNOWBALL is a valid custom word; for Halloween, PUMPKIN; for science, SOLAR SYSTEM. The editor accepts English A–Z and the stated punctuation, without a themed dictionary or translation. Choose Word length in Common words to use four through twelve letters.
Can I play on a phone or in a classroom browser?: Use a current browser on a phone, tablet or computer. Letter buttons work with touch, and the focused board accepts a physical keyboard. No account, app or download is needed to play. School or workplace network restrictions are controlled by that network; this page cannot bypass them.

English A–Z letters are guessed with case normalization; supported spaces and punctuation stay visible. Common words come from a reviewed subset of the shipped public-domain ENABLE list. Scores describe local play, not vocabulary ability.