Let’s Have Fun: 8 Most Entertaining Vocabulary Games For Adults

Why is vocabulary important?

The answer is simple: if you don’t build and improve your vocabulary, you can’t speak the language.

But memorizing all those new words and phrases can be quite dull.

Learning expressions out loud or continuously writing them down isn’t something you want to do every day. It can make you have an aversion toward the language. And you don’t want that.

Luckily, some smart people found a way to help anyone improve their vocabulary the fun way.

Those are games that can help you with your vocabulary.

Who says that games are only for kids?

Games, especially if they are here to help you learn the vocabulary, are more than welcome.

So, if you want to spice up your daily routine and learn words and phrases some other, entertaining way, keep up reading because we will show you some fun and yet quite useful games to help you expand your vocabulary.

Let’s dive in.

The List of 8 Most Entertaining Vocabulary Games

Find the eight most entertaining games to help you build and improve your vocabulary activities in the following lines.

Charades

Even without a particular goal, such as learning, Charades are one of the best games and an ideal opportunity to spend time with your friends.

It is a word guessing game where one person shows hints, and participants have to guess the word or phrase he explains by mimics.

So, if you want to have a win-win situation, call your friends for a fun charades night.

Divide into two groups. Choose one person to be representative of each group. Write down words and phrases. You can begin with verbs for a start because they are far easiest to guess, and then you can turn to more complicated words and abstract phrases.

Set the time for about three to four minutes. For every correctly guessed word, a group gets points. The team that first reaches ten points is a winner.

And don’t forget to get some snacks and juice for the guests.

Pictionary

Most of you are surely familiar with Pictionary. It is one of the most favorite games that bonds people together. But why don’t you use it for building your vocabulary?

Just like Charades are word guessing, Pictionary is a picture guessing game. 

You’ll need a board and cards. You can use the cards from the game, or you can make up your own. The rules are simple: at least two teams are playing. Each member of the group chooses a card. Then he has to draw the word or phrase from the card. His teammates have to guess the word. It is not allowed to use symbols, mentioning the word or phrase others have to guess or make gestures with hands. For the game to be more exciting, set the time for about three minutes top. Each correctly guessed word gets one point. The team that gathers 10 points is a winner.

Hangman

Here’s one more word guessing game everyone loves. Not only this game can help you with words, but you can also learn how to spell them.

In case you aren’t familiar with this game, here’s an explanation.

Choose one word. Phrases and sentences are also allowed, but if you are a beginner, stick to the words for a start.

Write the dashes on a paper. You have to write the exact number of dashes because every dash represents a letter from the word.

Others start guessing the letters. For every letter you guess, write it down in all correct positions. The participant can get points for guessing correctly. 

When the letter doesn’t exist in the word, you draw one element of a hanged man to a stick figure. There are eight parts of the hangman: the post, the head, the body, left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, and a nose. It means that you can make a mistake eight times. 

If the participant guesses the word, the game is over, and he wins.

This game is fun for every age and proficiency level. It simply can’t become boring.

Scrabble

This game is ideal for two to four players.

To make the game entertaining, first, make a list of the words you’ve recently learned. If you don’t have a special scrabble board, you can make one.

Place letters on the board’s tiles. The tiles have to form words, similar to crosswords, from left to right and downward in columns.

You can agree about the points. For example, count the value of letters in every new word each participant formed. You can also have some extra bonus points when placing the letters on some squares or when the player first finishes all the words.

Synonyms

You can play this game with two, four, or as many people willing to participate.

You can play in teams, or each of you can play separately.

The point of the game is that one player says the word, and another has to find the synonym.

To make it more entertaining, make a time limit. For example, three or five seconds should be enough. If you want to play in groups, set the time limit for each group player.

You can also include antonyms. If, for example, a team says perfect synonyms three times in a word, they can think of the word’s antonym for extra points.

This game gives you space to shape it according to your needs and add some additional rules, so feel free to experiment.

We should mention that perhaps it isn’t quite suitable for beginners due to the words and phrases you will use in the game, but only for intermediate and advanced students.

Categories

The game is ideal both for kids and adults, beginners, or advanced learners. So, anyone who’s willing to play categories is welcome.

Similar to the game Synonyms, you can choose your own rules for this game.

Take a paper and divide it into six different categories, for example. Name the categories you wish, such as countries, cities, names, furniture, adjectives, verbs, etc.

Let one of you choose the letter. You can also open a book and with closed eyes pick a letter.

Every player has to write down words that begin with the chosen letter for each category. You can set the time limit as well.

As for the points, you can give, for example, 10 points if each of the players has a different word in the category and 5 points for the same words. If only one of the participants has the word, but others don’t, he can get 20 points. The winner is the player with most of the points.

Word Association

Besides perfect for any age, from 7 to 107, the game is ideal for expressing creativity as well.

The rules are pretty straightforward. One player says a word. It can be any word that comes to his mind. The next player says the word that begins with the same letter as the first one. The following player then has to think of a word that is associated with the previous word. 

The point is that every word is related to the previous one in any category; letter, color, feeling, etc.

If you want to make the game more active and challenging, set the time limit.

Word Search

This is the game ideal for individuals. When you want to play the game by yourself, try Word Search.

The challenging part of the game is preparing it to play. Or you can find some fantastic word search games on the internet and download them. 

The goal is to find as many words among the mess of the letters. At first sight, it may seem that you won’t find not even three words. But, take a big breath, and start searching words slowly. Many words are hiding behind all that letter chaos.

The game is suitable for all levels, from beginners to advanced language learners. Even if you search for more advanced words, no matter your proficiency level, you can find them with hard work.

Final Thoughts

Now you have eight amazing vocabulary building games that can improve your vocabulary in one place. And not only that; these games are perfect because, according to your needs, you can change some rules and still remain the original game.

You can also practice your spelling, improve listening and speaking skills by making the rules to speak in the target language. And if you want to be more confident, you can turn to Justlearn tutors, who not only can help you but give you more creative ideas for expanding your vocabulary and improving your language.

What are your methods for learning new words in a fun way?

Share with us in the comments below!