Sports for Hangman ⚽

Clues for every answer

A one-line clue for every answer, easy to hard. They're the same clues the game's 💡 Hint shows, so you can read them out when you run your own game.

Football

The world's most popular sport: two teams of 11 kick to score goals, and only goalkeepers may use their hands.

Tennis

Racket sport for singles or doubles, hitting a felt-covered ball over a net; Wimbledon is played on grass.

Golf

Using clubs to hit a ball into a series of holes in as few strokes as possible; the modern game began in Scotland.

Boxing

Combat sport where two opponents throw punches in a ring, usually wearing protective gloves and mouthguards.

Rugby

Oval-ball team sport with no forward passes; it began at a school in Warwickshire, England.

Cycling

Racing on bikes: road races, track events, BMX and mountain bike racing are all part of this Olympic sport.

Swimming

Racing through water in a pool or open water, using strokes such as butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.

Skiing

Gliding on snow for fun, transport or sport; its name comes from an Old Norse word for a split piece of wood.

Judo

Japanese martial art from 1882 whose name means 'gentle way'; fighters try to throw opponents onto their backs.

Yoga

Exercise made up mainly of postures, often linked in flowing sequences, sometimes with breathing exercises.

Dancing

Body movements as art, usually to music; ballroom styles like the waltz and tango became a competitive sport.

Running

Moving quickly on foot with both feet off the ground at times; described as the world's most accessible sport.

Kayaking

Sitting low and facing forward, using a double-bladed paddle; Arctic peoples such as the Inuit created these boats long ago.

Surfing

Riding the face of a moving wave towards the shore, today most often standing up on a board.

Sailing

Using the wind to drive a boat over water; today it is mostly done for fun or sport, also called yachting.

Cricket

Bat-and-ball game of two teams of eleven; the bowler aims at a wicket of three stumps topped by two bails.

Hockey

Eleven-a-side team game using curved sticks to hit a small, hard ball into a goal; only the flat side may hit it.

Netball

Seven-a-side court game shooting through a high ring with no backboard; one of few sports made for women and girls.

Squash

Racket sport in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball; it was added to the Olympics for Los Angeles 2028.

Darts

Throwing small sharp-pointed projectiles at a round board: a professional sport and a traditional pub game.

Volleyball

Six-a-side team game across a net, invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan, who first called it mintonette.

Basketball

Five-a-side court game of shooting through a hoop on a backboard, invented by James Naismith in 1891.

Climbing

Using hands and feet to go up steep rock, ice or indoor walls, from small boulders to the tallest mountains.

Fencing

Sword-fighting combat sport with three blades, foil, épée and sabre; it has been in every modern Olympics.

Diving

Jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, usually while performing acrobatics.

Handball

Fast, high-scoring team game of seven a side, usually indoors; its modern rules were published in Berlin in 1917.

Baseball

Nine-a-side game: a batter tries to hit the pitcher's throw, then runs anticlockwise round a diamond to score runs.

Athletics

Group of sporting events of running, jumping and throwing, including track and field, road running and race walking.

Triathlon

Endurance race of three parts, one straight after another: a swim, a bike ride and a run.

Badminton

Racket sport of hitting a shuttlecock, usually feathered, over a net; called the fastest racket sport in the world.

Skating

Gliding across ice on bladed boots; research suggests it began in southern Finland over 4,000 years ago.

Bowling

Rolling a ball down a lane to knock over pins; tenpin, with 10 pins in a triangle, is the most popular kind.

Equestrian

Horse riding as a sport, with events such as dressage, show jumping and eventing.

Rowing

Racing boats with oars fixed to the boat, unlike paddles; top races are usually on calm courses 2 kilometres long.

Gymnastics

Sports needing balance, strength and flexibility, with events such as vault, beam, rings and pommel horse.

Hiking

A long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside; in New Zealand it is called tramping.

Canoeing

Paddling a boat with a single-bladed paddle, for fun or racing; it joined the Olympic Games in 1936.

Lacrosse

Team game of carrying, passing and shooting with a stick; it began with Indigenous peoples of North America.

Kickboxing

Combat sport of fists and feet, usually fought in gloves and bare feet; the name began in Japan in the 1960s.

Snowboarding

Winter sport that began in 1965 with a toy made by joining two skis together; in the Winter Olympics since 1998.

Skydiving

Jumping from an aircraft, falling freely, then opening a steerable parachute to fly down to a landing area.

Pentathlon

Olympic contest of five events: fencing, swimming, obstacle course racing, laser pistol shooting and running.

Weightlifting

Olympic strength sport of raising a loaded barbell overhead in two ways: the snatch and the clean and jerk.

Motorcycling

Competing on two-wheeled vehicles with engines: road racing on tarmac, or off-road in motocross, enduro, trials and hill climbs.

Trampolining

Olympic sport of somersaults and twists done while bouncing; scores reward difficulty and seconds spent in the air.

Taekwondo

Korean martial art built mostly on kicks; its name joins words for striking with the foot and hand and "the way".

Decathlon

Ten track and field events over two days, scored with points; contested mainly by men, as women usually do seven.

Biathlon

Winter sport combining cross-country skiing with rifle shooting; it grew out of the sport of military patrol.

Bobsleigh

Racing a gravity-powered sled down a narrow, twisting, banked ice track, alone or in teams of two to four.

Acrobatics

Feats of balance, agility and coordination, seen most often in the circus, gymnastics and freerunning.

Paragliding

Flying a light, foot-launched fabric wing with no engine, the pilot sitting in a harness hung below it.

Water Polo

Seven-a-side game of swimming, passing and shooting at goal in a deep pool where players cannot touch the bottom.

Archery

Using a bow to shoot arrows at a target; the name comes from the Latin word arcus, meaning bow.

Luge

Racing feet first and face up on a small sled; the fastest of the three sliding sports.

Speed Skating

Racing over set distances on ice, on a 400 m long track or a 111 m short track; very popular in the Netherlands.

Orienteering

Racing through unfamiliar ground with a map and compass to find control points; it began as army training in Sweden.

Heptathlon

Seven track and field events; the women's version, held over two days, has been in the Olympics since 1984.

Steeplechase

Athletics obstacle race, most often 3000 metres, over barriers and water jumps; named after a horse race.

Mountaineering

Ascending big peaks, also called alpinism; unlike most sports, it has no widely used formal rules.

Paddleboarding

Water sport born from surfing, with modern roots in Hawaii: you stand up and propel yourself across the water.