Word to act out
Get random charades and Pictionary words — filter by difficulty or by type.
Runs locally in your browser. Nothing you generate is ever sent to a server.
Press "Generate Word" to see a result here.
Difficulty or type
Press Generate, keep the word to yourself, and act it out or draw it. The list covers actions, animals, objects, jobs and short everyday scenes, and each word is marked easy, medium or hard so you can pitch a round at the right level.
Easy words are single, physical things that almost anyone can mime in a few seconds — brushing your teeth, an elephant, an umbrella. Medium words need a bit more thought or a two-part mime. Hard words are the ones worth saving for a group that has warmed up: a revolving door, an air traffic controller, waiting for a slow lift.
The same words suit both games, but they play differently. Objects and animals are the easiest to draw, so they suit Pictionary. Actions and scenes are more fun to act out, since the humour comes from the mime rather than the picture. Filter to the type you want before you start and every round stays on theme.
Raise the quantity and press Generate once to get a full set of words with no repeats, then Copy All to paste them into a document. Print, cut into strips and fold them into a bowl and you have a game ready for a party without anyone having to think up words on the spot — which is what usually stalls a game before it starts.
They look interchangeable and are not. Pictionary rewards words with a recognisable outline - an umbrella, a ladder, a penguin - because the whole game is whether the shape reads. Charades rewards words with movement in them, which is why actions and short scenes work far better there than objects do. Filtering by type before you start keeps every round playable instead of leaving one player stuck with a word that cannot be done in their game.
Most groups reinvent these badly every time. The usual set: hold up fingers for the number of words, then for which word you are doing; tug your ear for "sounds like"; make a small pinching gesture for a short word like "a" or "the"; wave your hand towards yourself for "keep going, you are close". Agreeing them in the first minute saves ten minutes of confusion later.
The thing that stalls charades is not the acting, it is the moment when someone has to invent a word on the spot with everyone watching. Draw forty words beforehand, copy the list, print and cut it into strips, and the game starts immediately and never pauses. This is the single change that makes the difference between a game that runs for an hour and one that fizzles after four rounds.
The list is filtered to the difficulty or type you chose, then a word is drawn using your browser's cryptographic random source with rejection sampling, so no word is favoured. Batches without repeats use a Fisher-Yates shuffle, which is what makes a printed set of cards genuinely varied.
Press Generate, keep the word to yourself, and act it out without speaking. Everyone else guesses. Press again for the next round.
Yes. The Easy filter keeps the words simple and physical, which works well for children and for a first round with a new group.
Yes. The same words work whether you act them out or draw them. Objects and animals are usually the easiest to draw.
Yes. Set the quantity, press Generate, then Copy All to take the whole list, one per line, ready to print or cut up.
Actions, animals, objects, jobs and short scenes, each marked easy, medium or hard.
Yes. Words are drawn with your browser's cryptographic random source, so every word in the chosen filter has an equal chance.
Pictionary needs a recognisable shape, so objects and animals work best. Charades needs movement, so actions and scenes work best. The type filter here lets you pick either.
Fingers for the number of words and which word you are on, a tug of the ear for sounds-like, a pinch for a small word, and a beckoning wave for close-keep-going.