Communication is an essential part of a successful work team. In fact, 86% of employees cite a lack of communication as contributing to a workplace failure. Smart business leaders will do all that they can to enhance collaboration, cooperation, and connectivity. 

One way to do that is through games that are fun and engaging, but also educational. With vocabulary games, you can enhance skills that are helpful in the office, while also creating more opportunities for socializng and bonding. The best part is the majority of them are free, easy to set up, and simple to execute. 

Don’t forget, you can find other ideas for team-building without materials or team-building activities for work on our blog. 

Without further ado, here are our favorite workplace vocabulary games. 

1. Vocabulary Pictionary

Pictionary is a game of charades where players draw words instead of acting them out. To get started, follow these steps: 

1. Split the group into teams.
2. For every round, pick one team member to draw.
3. Provide the drawing team member a word.
4. Set a timer for up to sixty seconds for teammates to guess.
5. Use a point system where if the team guesses correctly, they get one point. 

You can make things more challenging by giving teams the opportunity to steal or move onto the next team’s turn. This game is not only a good way to learn new vocabulary, but to help with visual skills as players connect a word with an image. You can also play this game virtually, so it’s perfect for almost any gathering. 

2. Word Association

This is one of the best games for classrooms, but you can modify it for adult teams. It doesn’t require a large vocabulary and the rules are simple. This makes it a good game for most occasions. You’ll want to have people get into groups of two, and then: 

1. The first player says a word. 
2. The other player responds with the first thing that comes to mind (in one word). 
3. Player one can either choose a new word or respond to the word that player two used. 
4. This game continues until one of the players repeats a word or can’t come up with a new one. 

Ideally, the game is played at a rapid pace so that people need to think quickly on their feet. This generates more excitement and tends to produce humorous answers. You can also expand the exercise by having people explain why their word is fitting. Ideally, everyone should get a few extra seconds to respond so that players never feel embarrassed. The idea isn’t to put people on the spot, but to help them learn new word associations and think about the ways that we use language. 

You can also play via Zoom, where one player speaks a word and then other students use the chat to answer. From there, the group can count up how many matching answers they have and try to guess the reasoning behind answers. Find more communication games on our website. 

3. Hangman

This game sounds diabolical, but is actually a common childhood game. You need a chalkboard or white board (or digital whiteboard). Here is how to play: 

1. Assign one player a word. 
2. They need to draw a series of blanks representing the number of letters in the word. 
3. Other players will guess the letters in the word. 
4. If the letter they say is in the word, then the “executioner” fills in the correct blank. If not, the person draws one portion of the illustrated gallows. 
5. The game will end when the players guess the right word, or when the gallows picture is complete. 

Tip: some of the best words to use for hangman contain letters that we don’t see as much, such as z, x, or q. Think: zigzagging or quadrant. 

4. Custom Word Search

Word searches are common fun for people of all ages, but they can really help with word-play. A word search is perfect if you want to use a handout with a group. You can also play via teleconference using a whiteboard feature. Research some options online to come up with a personalized word search with words that apply to your business or industry. 

5. Crossword

Similar to a word search, you can use online resources to develop a custom crossword puzzle with words that your team would recognize from your workplace or event. For those unfamiliar, a crossword puzzle consists of a series of interconnecting boxes. Each one starts blank but will contain a letter by the end of the game. Alongside the puzzle are two lists of clues - one for “across”, and one for “down”. Solvers will need to consider various word meanings, along with the number of letters, context, and surrounding words. That makes this game strategic as well as literary - and fun!

6. Word Scramble

Most people get a kick out of these language brain teasers. Simply mix up the order of the letters and have players unscramble them to find the original words. You can fill the page with words from company or industry happenings to keep them top of mind, and then use an online letter scrambler to come up with the puzzle. It’s also a good idea to print a second sheet with an answer key. 

7. Scrabble

You’re probably familiar with Scrabble because it’s one of the most popular word games for adults and children alike. Most people will have played it at some time in their life. The general basis is that players must use letter tiles to assemble words on the game board. Here are instructions: 

1. Every player should draw seven letter tiles from the bag provided with the game.
2. Taking turns, each player will play tiles on the board or exchange them for new letters. 
3. The goal is to build words on the board, with each new word connected to an existing one. 
4. Every tile has a point value assigned depending on how challenging the letter will be to play. When a player produces a word, they’ll tally the letter and add the score to the point board. 

8. Scattergories

This is a really simple game that happens to be really fun, too. The game challenges players to come up with words that all begin with the same letter. Here’s how it works: 

1. One player rolls a letter dice (or uses a letter generator) to choose the first letter. 
2. Set a timer for 60 seconds. 
3. Players should write down one answer per category starting with the letter. 
4. Once the time runs out, players will read their answers and receive a point for every answer. 

If you want to add some challenges, have alliterative phrases count for double or triple points. You can also set up rules like two players having the same answer cancel the answer out (so no points for either). The player with the most points wins. Need some category ideas? 

• Names (like girl’s name, boy’s name, or neutral name)
• Capitals of cities or countries 
• Types of breakfast
• Historic events 
• Different professions 
• Movie characters
• Common websites
• Appetizers

9. Vocabulary Pyramid

For this game, players guess words based on context clues. The pyramid is a collection of six words with three on the bottom, two in the center, and one at the top. To win the game, teams need to guess all of the words within the pyramid within the timeframe you set. To play:

1. Break a large group into smaller teams. 
2. Give one player on each team the pyramid. 
3. The pyramid-holder should give hints to their teammates to describe each word without using the actual words of the item. 
4. When a player guesses correctly, the pyramid-holder will move onto the next word. On the other hand, they can also say “pass” and return to the word later.
5. Every correct guess is worth a point. 

Before you set the time limit, think about the difficulty of the words you chose. A good rule of thumb is 30 seconds per word (which is 3 minutes total), but you can add or take away time as necessary. This can be a fun group activity, too. For more quick team-building activities, make sure to browse our blog. 

10. Invisible Bridge

Think of this game like the classic six degrees of Kevin Bacon exercise. In each game, you need to figure out a way to connect two seemingly distant ideas. While six degrees of Kevin Bacon uses celebrities, Invisible Bridge uses words. To play: 

1. One player suggests two unrelated words. 
2. The first player should give a number of planks. That’s how many steps other players have to use to relate the two words. 
3. Other players come up with words that share similar traits, synonyms, or other connector words to get from one term to the next. 

Here’s an example:

1. Lion, Ship; three planks
2. Lion - Carnivore - Meteor - Astronaut - Ship

This is also a great game to encourage creativity since there are endless options of correct answers. It also encourages players to think about the nature of words and the relationship between phrases. 

11. Poetry Improv

Here is an exercise that will challenge participants and help them to think on the spot. Start by picking a poetry style, like a sonnet, haiku, or limerick. Then:

11. Give everyone vocabulary words to use within the poem. 
12. Set a timer for five or ten minutes for the groups or individuals to complete their verses. You can also do this online via meeting software by using breakout rooms to work in private. 
13. Have your brilliant poets read the masterpieces aloud. 

You might want to come up with some extra fun by having judges rate poems, or coming up with awards for the best poem, worst poem, most creative, etc. If you want to enhance the improv component, have players finish each others’ phrases on the spot. 

12. Synonym Memory

This is another game that has been adapted from a childhood classic. Memory rules are simple: flip over two cards at a time and find  matching pictures or words. When players find pairs, they take the cards off the board. The player with the most pairs of cards at the end of the game wins. Using synonyms instead of pictures or simple words makes things a bit challenging, but helps people to brush up on their language skills. Come up with a list of sample matches like enticing/tempting, assume/suppose, or patience/restraint. This game is also a visual way of learning how other people use words and how different phrases have different meanings. 

13. 20 Questions

It’s likely that some of your team members have played this on road trips before. To play, one player comes up with an object or thing while the other players try to guess what it is by asking up to 20 yes or no questions. For example, “Is the item bigger than an apple?” “Is the item living?” “Is the item in someone’s home?” The player doing the guessing can guess the object at any point, but if they happen to guess incorrectly they lose the round. Check out our blog for a lot more question games for coworkers. 

14. Bananagrams

A fast-paced board game, this is one you’ll need to purchase in advance. When you have the game in hand, distribute the letter tiles among the players. Every player will flip their tiles and start forming a crossword grid of intersecting words. Players can rearrange their grid at any time to make new words. Once a player uses all their tiles, they can shout "Peel!" and everyone has to draw an additional tile. The game goes on until there are fewer tiles than players, and the first player to use all their tiles - shouting  "Bananas!" - wins the game.

15. First Letter, Last Letter

For this game, have everyone form a circle and sit down. Choose one person to start first. That person writes or says a word and the person next to them has to come up with another word using the last letter or the last few letters of that word. This is a verbal game that doesn’t require any materials or special preparation, which makes it a great activity if you have some spontaneous time to fill and want it to be productive. 

Add vocab games to your next event

Your next team event is the perfect place to break out some of these games. Large team meetings, team-building retreats, or multi-day events offer the perfect opportunity to enhance the fun with guessing games,quick office games, or problem-solving games. All of these can help to hone the skills of your team while infusing your event with more fun and excitement. Break up various working sessions, lessons, or discussions with these vocabulary games or other conversation games for teams to improve collaboration and communication. If you need some help planning the perfect agenda or coordinating logistics, reach out to Surf Office.