Pictionary Word Generator

Pictionary prompts cover a wide range of different subjects and categories. In a traditional Pictionary game, there are five categories for drawing prompts, and they are as follows:

• Person, place, or animal - This category covers any living creatures or locations that people might visit.
• Actions - This category covers all movements, activities, sports, and exercises people can physically do, from baseball to knitting.
• Objects - This category covers any object that can be seen and physically touched—like a pillow, book, or coffee mug.
• Challenge - This category is all about difficulty; it covers the more challenging prompts for players.
• All play - When you land on this category, you can choose from any of the other categories on your Pictionary card.
  
  
  

Tips for Choosing Great Pictionary Words

Play to the players’ interests. In other words, what categories (or subcategories) are players more likely to enjoy drawing? Can you include Pictionary words that relate to subjects your players are passionate about?

If you’re playing with a group of sports fans, look into Pictionary words that tie into the world of sports. If your friends are huge cinema buffs, come up with Pictionary words and prompts relating to some of their favorite movies. And don’t worry about making the game too easy for players—even things you enjoy can be tricky to sketch on a page!

Include words the players will know.
The tip above leads into this one—because even if a Pictionary word isn’t something your players are passionate about, they should know what it is! It’s no fun for players to keep drawing new prompts because they don’t know what something is, so try to ensure that most, if not all of the Pictionary words you use are words the players will be familiar with.

Explore subcategories of those outlined above. The general categories in Pictionary are people, places, animals, actions, and objects, but you can find a lot more prompt ideas if you dive into subcategories. For example, subcategories of “people” could include celebrities, musicians, characters in literature, and cartoon characters. Subcategories of “actions” could include sports, arts and crafts, and expressions of emotion.

To give you some more Pictionary word options, we’ll go over some of the possible subcategories (and example words) here:

• People:
  • Famous people - Zendaya, Barack Obama, George Clooney, Tom Hanks
  • Musicians - Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton, Beyonce, Billie Eilish, Elton John
  • Fictional characters - Harry Potter, Superman, Sherlock Holmes, Princess Leia
  • Cartoon characters - Bugs Bunny, Pink Panther, SpongeBob, Snoopy
• Places:
  • Iconic landmarks - Mount Rushmore, Stonehenge, pyramids, Statue of Liberty
  • Vacation spots - Disney World, beach, hotel, Grand Canyon, cruise ship
  • Cities - Rome, New York City, Nashville, Washington DC, Tokyo, London
  • Everyday locations - Bathroom, attic, farm, movie theater, museum, bank
• Animals:
  • Sea creatures - Whale, shark, dolphin, starfish, anemone, eel
  • Farm animals - Cow, pig, goat, sheep, horse, donkey, chicken
  • Pets - Cat, dog, guinea pig, hamster, mouse, cockatiel, chinchilla
  • Reptiles - Snake, lizard, turtle, crocodile, iguana, chameleon
  • Bugs - Ant, spider, ladybug, worm, scorpion, wasp, bumblebee
• Objects:
  • Food - Banana peel, cookie, ketchup, pizza, waffles, strawberry, broccoli
  • Movies - Shrek, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Winnie the Pooh, Cinderella
  • Other games - Chess, poker, Monopoly, Catan, Xbox, PlayStation
  • School and office supplies - Stapler, notebook, computer, pencil, backpack
  • Furniture - Couch, chair, lamp, table, desk, clock, bookshelf, chaise
• Actions:
  • Physical actions - Surfing, bicycling, running, jumping, mountain climbing
  • Mental actions - Thinking, remembering, dreaming, wishing
  • Verbal actions - Smiling, laughing, making a speech, yawning
  • Sports - Soccer, lacrosse, basketball, ice skating, ultimate frisbee
  • Creative - Painting, knitting, playing guitar, photography, gardening
    
    

Start simple…then gradually increase the difficulty.

• Easy Pictionary words are the ones players of most ages would know and find relatively simple to draw. Using easy words can help kids develop their vocabulary skills as they play (and help adult players get used to the game before delving into more challenging prompts). Examples of easy Pictionary words include:
  • Egg
  • House
  • Sock
  • Book
  • Snowman
  • Skateboard
  • Sun
  • Smile
  • Ice cream
• Medium Pictionary words are middle-of-the-road in terms of difficulty. Players should still know them but might not find them as easy to draw on paper. Examples of medium-level Pictionary words include:
  • Winter
  • Flag
  • Chef
  • Baseball
  • Hospital
  • Paris, France
  • Farm
  • Airplane
• Hard Pictionary words are more elaborate and complicated. Some can even be longer phrases. Hard prompts are the most difficult to translate into a drawing, but trying can be lots of fun! Examples of hard Pictionary words include:
  • Dictionary
  • Applause
  • Internet
  • Sunscreen
  • Calendar
  • Sandcastle
  • Time machine
  • Recycle
  • Olympics
  • Peace