Word Bluff

Opening Discussion

Ask your students if they have ever learned a new word they had never heard before. When they first heard it, what did they think it meant? Was the real definition the same as the one they had invented in their heads? Tell the class that they are going to play a game in which they make up definitions to new words and try to fool their classmates with their made-up definitions.

The Challenge

Can you guess the definitions of these new words?

Doing the Activity

1. This activity works best in small teams (3–7). See Suggestions (under “Make it Better”) for a few different ways to play the game.
2. Describe the rules of Word Bluff:

• One person looks up a word in the dictionary and writes it on a piece of paper. It should be a word you don’t think anyone in the room has heard before.
• The other players write what they think the word means on a piece of paper with their name on it. Names should be written on the same side as the definition.
• All the definitions are placed into a hat, box or bag.
• The person who picked the word adds the real definition into the hat.
• All the definitions are read out loud by the person who chose the word (or by the teacher). The other players vote on which definition they think is the correct one.
• Each person who guesses the real definition scores a point.
• Any votes received by a made-up definition each count as a point for the person who invented the definition.
• If a player makes up a definition that is the same as the real definition, that player scores 2 points.
• If the correct definition is not guessed, the person who chose the word scores 5 points.
• The player to the left of the definition picker gets to choose the next word. Play continues until a certain score is reached, until students have had a certain number of turns or until a certain time. Decide on this end point ahead of time so that players are aware of it.

Let’s Talk About It

After 2 words have been played, bring your students together to talk about what they have done. Is it easy or hard to guess what words mean? Was anyone close in guessing the correct definition? Did anyone have any funny definitions? Do some words give us clues about what they might mean? Does anyone have any tips for inventing believable definitions?

Build On What They Talked About

Send students back to keep playing until the session is over. Play this game regularly – kids will get pretty good at creating inventive definitions to words, and they’ll also start to notice some patterns in word parts that will clue them in to what certain words mean.