Charades Generator: Random Words, Christmas Pack, Timer

This charades generator gives you a random word to act out, one at a time, from a Christmas pack, a classic pack, a movies and TV pack or an office party pack. It has a round timer, two teams with scores, a hide button so only the actor sees the word, and a box for your own words. It is free, runs in your browser on a phone or a laptop, and nothing you type or score is saved or sent anywhere.

How to use the charades generator

1. Pick a word pack (Christmas, Classic, Movies & TV or Office party) and, if you like, a difficulty.
2. Choose a round timer of 30, 60 or 90 seconds, or turn it off, and name the two teams.
3. The actor takes the phone and looks at the word where nobody else can see: press Start round, or Show word when the timer is off.
4. Act the word out without speaking while their team guesses. Press Got it for a point, or Skip for the next word.
5. When time is up, press Next team and pass the phone on. Print the cards or copy the list if you want a paper set.

No word comes up twice until the whole pack has been played. Then the pack is reshuffled and the page tells you, and the first word of the new round is never the one you just played.

How do you play charades?

In charades one player acts out a word or a title without speaking while their team guesses it. Split into two teams, give each turn a time limit, and score a point for every word guessed before the clock runs out. The actor may not talk, make sounds, spell the word in the air or point at something in the room that is the answer. Everything else is allowed: gestures, facial expressions, moving around.

Most groups use a few signals so the guessers do not start from nothing. These are common conventions rather than official rules, so agree them before you start:

• The category. For a film, mime turning the handle of an old camera. For a TV show, draw a small rectangle in the air. For a book, hold your open hands like a book, and for a song, pretend to sing.
• How many words. Hold up that many fingers, then show which word you are acting by holding up its number.
• Syllables. Lay that many fingers on your forearm, and tap the one you are acting.
• Sounds like. Tug your ear and then act out a word that rhymes or sounds similar.
• Small words. Pinch two fingers close together for “a”, “the” and the like.

To keep score, write a point for the acting team for each correct guess. A common rule is that skipped words score nothing and cost nothing, which is how this page treats them. Play an equal number of turns for each team, and the highest score wins.

What are some Christmas charades ideas?

The best Christmas charades words are actions everyone knows, so start with those: “wrapping a present”, “building a snowman”, “decorating the tree”, “untangling the fairy lights” and “pulling a cracker”. Characters work well too (Rudolph, the Grinch, Frosty the Snowman), and so do films (“Home Alone”, “Elf”, “The Polar Express”) and carols (“Jingle Bells”, “Silent Night”). The Christmas pack has 164 items in total, and the difficulty buttons split them into easy, medium and hard.

To theme a round, keep one category per round: all films, then all carols, then all actions. Add your own family words in the box under the card (a pet, a relative’s famous dance, last year’s kitchen disaster) and play them as their own pack, which needs at least 10 different ones. Our list of Christmas party games has more ideas for the rest of the evening, and the Christmas bingo generator makes a good second game for the same group, as does the Christmas trivia quiz.

Are there charades ideas for adults and an office party?

Yes. The Office party pack has 95 clean, grown-up prompts about working life: muting yourself on a video call, fighting with the printer, hiding when the boss walks by, a meeting that could have been an email. The Movies & TV pack suits a mixed-age group, and the Classic pack adds jobs, sports and sayings such as “spill the beans” that take a bit more thought. Everything in all four packs is family-safe, so it is fine for a team-building session or a mixed room of colleagues. For a larger group, make three or four teams by taking turns round the room and keeping score on paper.

How do you play charades over a video call or in a group chat?

Do not share your screen, because the word would be on show. The actor opens this page on a phone, or in a separate window that is not shared, presses Start round and acts to the camera. The others guess aloud or in the chat, and the actor presses Got it. One person keeps the score out loud or in the chat, since each device has its own scoreboard. In a text-only chat, the host can send each player a word privately from the Copy as text list and have them act it out in a short video or describe it in emoji. Our guides to Christmas games for a screen and games to play over text have more formats that work remotely.

What is the difference between charades, Pictionary and Heads Up?

Charades is acting without words, Pictionary is drawing without words, and Heads Up-style guessing games have the guesser hold a phone to their forehead while teammates call out clues, speaking freely but never saying the word. Charades needs no equipment and no talking, which makes it the easiest of the three to start at a table, in a noisy room or in front of a camera. The other two need paper and pens, or a phone for the guesser. The word packs on this page also work as prompts for drawing or describing, if your group prefers those.

Frequently asked questions