Imposter game words, sorted by category

The imposter word game is decided by the word. Everyone but the imposter is given it. Then each player gives a one-word clue, which has to prove they know the word without handing it to the one person who does not. A good word offers the room plenty of clues like that. A bad one offers a single clue, and that clue is the word in disguise.

These are the 360 words Decka's imposter game deals, in the same 12 categories, so a list you print from this page and a round you play in the room agree. Each one is a concrete thing you can picture, one word long, and safe to read off a big screen at work or at a family dinner. None of them is a brand. To deal any of these lists on one phone passed round the group, use the free imposter game generator, which needs no app and no signup.

The gap between a good word and a bad one can be measured. The University of South Florida's word-association norms asked more than 6,000 people to write the first word that came to mind for each word they were shown. Shown "umbrella", 101 of 144 wrote "rain". Shown "rain", only 6 of 156 wrote "umbrella". The clue nearly everyone reaches for barely points back at the word, so umbrella is an easy one. The hard words further down are the ones where it does.

What makes a good imposter word

Four tests decide it. The bank behind Decka's imposter game was written to all four, and so was every list on this page.

You can picture it. Pizza, penguin, lighthouse. A thing you can see has dozens of one-word clues: its colour, its shape, where it lives, what it does. An idea such as freedom has almost none, so a clue for it turns into a sentence, and a sentence is a confession. The concreteness ratings the same norms carry put the gap in numbers, on a scale of one to seven. Umbrella rates 7.00 and freedom rates 1.98.

It is one word, and nobody's name. A two-word answer turns the imposter's last guess into a spelling test. A name turns the round into a trivia question, and the one person who has never heard of the band looks guilty.

Its most natural clue does not point back at it. This is the test most lists skip. The clue a player reaches for first should prove they know the word without naming it. Umbrella passes, as the figures above show. Volcano fails, and it heads the hard list below for that reason.

Everyone knows it, and nobody owns it. A word one person in the room has never met makes that person look like the imposter, which is a miserable way to lose. Brand names fail the same test from the other side: they date fast and leave out whoever does not use them. The room's bank carries none, so neither does this page.

Imposter game words by category

Ten everyday categories, each in alphabetical order. Every heading below is the category's name in Decka's room, where it is also the imposter's hint, and a tick box in the generator. The link under each list opens the generator with only that list ticked. Office and holiday words have sections of their own further down.

Food

• Apple
• Banana
• Bread
• Butter
• Carrot
• Cheese
• Cherry
• Chocolate
• Coconut
• Cookie
• Egg
• Garlic
• Honey
• Lemon
• Mango
• Mushroom
• Onion
• Pancake
• Pasta
• Peanut
• Pineapple
• Pizza
• Popcorn
• Potato
• Rice
• Sandwich
• Soup
• Strawberry
• Tomato
• Watermelon

Deal the food list on one phone

Animals

• Bear
• Butterfly
• Camel
• Crocodile
• Dolphin
• Eagle
• Elephant
• Flamingo
• Fox
• Frog
• Giraffe
• Horse
• Kangaroo
• Lion
• Monkey
• Octopus
• Owl
• Panda
• Parrot
• Penguin
• Rabbit
• Shark
• Sheep
• Snail
• Snake
• Squirrel
• Tiger
• Turtle
• Whale
• Zebra

Deal the animals list on one phone

Places

• Airport
• Aquarium
• Bakery
• Bank
• Beach
• Campsite
• Castle
• Cinema
• Circus
• Factory
• Farm
• Garden
• Gym
• Harbour
• Hospital
• Hotel
• Library
• Lighthouse
• Market
• Museum
• Palace
• Park
• Playground
• Pyramid
• Restaurant
• Skyscraper
• Stadium
• Supermarket
• Theatre
• Zoo

Deal the places list on one phone

Jobs

• Accountant
• Architect
• Astronaut
• Carpenter
• Cashier
• Chef
• Dentist
• Electrician
• Farmer
• Firefighter
• Gardener
• Hairdresser
• Journalist
• Judge
• Lawyer
• Lifeguard
• Magician
• Mechanic
• Nurse
• Painter
• Pharmacist
• Photographer
• Pilot
• Plumber
• Sailor
• Scientist
• Tailor
• Vet
• Waiter
• Zookeeper

Deal the jobs list on one phone

Household objects

• Bathtub
• Blanket
• Broom
• Bucket
• Clock
• Curtain
• Fork
• Fridge
• Hammer
• Iron
• Kettle
• Ladder
• Lamp
• Microwave
• Mirror
• Mug
• Pillow
• Plate
• Rug
• Scissors
• Sofa
• Sponge
• Spoon
• Teapot
• Toaster
• Toothbrush
• Towel
• Umbrella
• Vase
• Wardrobe

Deal the household objects list on one phone

Sports

• Archery
• Badminton
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Bowling
• Boxing
• Climbing
• Cricket
• Cycling
• Darts
• Diving
• Fencing
• Football
• Golf
• Gymnastics
• Hockey
• Judo
• Karate
• Marathon
• Medal
• Netball
• Rowing
• Rugby
• Skateboarding
• Surfing
• Tennis
• Trophy
• Volleyball
• Whistle
• Wrestling

Deal the sports list on one phone

Nature

• Acorn
• Cactus
• Canyon
• Cave
• Cloud
• Coral
• Desert
• Forest
• Glacier
• Iceberg
• Island
• Jungle
• Lake
• Leaf
• Lightning
• Meadow
• Mountain
• Ocean
• Pebble
• Rainbow
• River
• Seashell
• Sunflower
• Sunset
• Swamp
• Tornado
• Tree
• Valley
• Volcano
• Waterfall

Deal the nature list on one phone

Transport

• Airship
• Ambulance
• Bicycle
• Boat
• Bus
• Canoe
• Car
• Caravan
• Ferry
• Gondola
• Helicopter
• Kayak
• Limousine
• Motorbike
• Plane
• Raft
• Rocket
• Scooter
• Ship
• Spaceship
• Submarine
• Taxi
• Tractor
• Train
• Tram
• Truck
• Unicycle
• Van
• Wagon
• Yacht

Deal the transport list on one phone

Music

• Accordion
• Bagpipes
• Banjo
• Cello
• Choir
• Clarinet
• Concert
• Disco
• Drum
• Flute
• Guitar
• Harmonica
• Harp
• Headphones
• Karaoke
• Lullaby
• Metronome
• Microphone
• Opera
• Orchestra
• Piano
• Radio
• Saxophone
• Tambourine
• Trombone
• Trumpet
• Tuba
• Ukulele
• Violin
• Xylophone

Deal the music list on one phone

School

• Alphabet
• Atlas
• Backpack
• Blackboard
• Chalk
• Classroom
• Compass
• Crayon
• Dictionary
• Diploma
• Eraser
• Exam
• Globe
• Glue
• Graduation
• Homework
• Locker
• Lunchbox
• Microscope
• Paintbrush
• Pencil
• Quiz
• Ruler
• Sharpener
• Spelling
• Teacher
• Textbook
• Timetable
• Uniform
• Worksheet

Deal the school list on one phone

Easy imposter words for kids and family games

An easy word is one a six-year-old and their grandmother both know, with clues that do not give it away. Use these for a first round, for a table of children, and for any room where somebody is playing in their second language.

• Apple
• Banana
• Pizza
• Popcorn
• Pancake
• Watermelon
• Elephant
• Giraffe
• Penguin
• Monkey
• Frog
• Kangaroo
• Car
• Bus
• Train
• Rocket
• Tractor
• Umbrella
• Toothbrush
• Pillow
• Rainbow
• Pencil
• Football
• Teacher

For young children, keep the hint on so the imposter knows the category, and deal from food, animals and transport only. This link opens the generator with those three lists ticked.

Hard imposter words for a group that has played before

A hard word is hard for the crew, not for the imposter. Either the first clue everyone thinks of gives the word away, or every honest clue fits two or three other words in the same list. In the second case the imposter's vague clue sits comfortably beside everyone else's.

Volcano is the clearest case of the first kind. In the South Florida norms, 98 of 139 people shown "volcano" wrote "erupt" or "lava" first. Shown "erupt", 98 of 153 wrote "volcano". A crew that clues it without thinking hands a caught imposter the answer for the last guess.

• Volcano. Its two most natural clues both point straight back at it.
• Cello. Every clue for it fits violin, and an imposter with the music hint only needs to say "strings".
• Glacier and iceberg. Both are in the nature list, and a clue for one fits the other.
• Canyon and valley. The same problem, with a river running through both.
• Lion and tiger. Any big-cat clue fits both, and the crew argue among themselves.
• Metronome. Most people know the word, and far fewer can picture one fast enough to clue it.
• Lullaby. Nearly every clue for it is a feeling, and a feeling fits half the music list.
• Fencing. It has two meanings, and the crew have to clue the sport without mentioning the garden.
• Iron. A metal and a chore. Each half of the crew clues a different one, and the room suspects the wrong half.
• Midnight. In the holiday list it means New Year's Eve, and any clue about a countdown or a clock gives it away.
• Accountant. Its clues are clichés, and an imposter with the jobs hint can guess them from the category alone.
• Gondola and airship. Not every room knows them, which fails the fourth test for younger players.

Play these after a round or two of easy words, with the hint on. A hard word tilts the round toward the imposter, so it suits a crew that has started catching them every time.

Imposter words for work, an office party or a team meeting

The imposter game works at work because nobody's answer is about anybody. Keep it that way. Every word should be a thing, never a colleague, a client or a project only half the room has worked on. The office list below is the room's own, and it mixes well with food, transport and household objects for a longer game.

Office

• Badge
• Binder
• Briefcase
• Calculator
• Calendar
• Chair
• Clipboard
• Desk
• Email
• Envelope
• Folder
• Headset
• Highlighter
• Inbox
• Keyboard
• Lanyard
• Laptop
• Meeting
• Monitor
• Notebook
• Paperclip
• Photocopier
• Presentation
• Printer
• Projector
• Shredder
• Spreadsheet
• Stapler
• Webcam
• Whiteboard

Deal the office list on one phone

For a team meeting, three rounds make a good first ten minutes. For an office party, tick office and food together, so the people who joined last week are not the only ones guessing at the jargon.

Christmas and holiday imposter words

The holiday pack covers Christmas, winter and New Year. It is the one list Decka never deals unless you tick it. A room in June that draws "reindeer" has been handed a joke it did not ask for, and a room that does not celebrate Christmas has been handed something worse.

Holiday

• Bauble
• Candle
• Carol
• Chestnut
• Chimney
• Confetti
• Countdown
• Cracker
• Earmuffs
• Elf
• Fireplace
• Fireworks
• Gingerbread
• Icicle
• Igloo
• Midnight
• Mistletoe
• Mittens
• Present
• Reindeer
• Scarf
• Skiing
• Sledge
• Sleigh
• Snowball
• Snowflake
• Snowman
• Stocking
• Tinsel
• Wreath

Deal the holiday list on one phone

One word needs a note outside Britain. A cracker here is the paper tube two people pull apart at Christmas dinner, not the biscuit. For a party with mixed ages, tick holiday and food together, so the youngest players always have a list they know.

How to write your own imposter words

Your own list beats any bank when the room shares something the bank cannot know: a sport you all play, a city you all live in, a book the class is reading. Hold each word to the four tests above, and add two rules for a list of your own.

Write three times as many words as you will play. A list of three words for a three-round game lets the last round be won by elimination.

Leave out anything only some of the room knows. An inside joke is a test the newest person fails, and failing it looks exactly like being the imposter.

Decka's imposter game takes your own words in place of the bank. One thing changes when it does: your words carry no category, so the imposter's card shows no hint, whatever the hint setting says.

Playing with these words on everyone's phones

These lists are the bank Decka's imposter game deals from. Players join on their own phones with a code, with no app to install, and each phone gets its own card. A crew card says "The word is" above the word. The imposter's card says "You're the" above "Imposter", with the category underneath when the hint is on.

Players give one-word clues, and each lands on the big screen the moment it is sent. By default, up to ten players go in turns, in a random order, and a bigger room writes all at once. Then the room talks, and everyone votes on their phone. A caught imposter gets one guess at the word before the screen shows it.

Choose the categories when you set the game up. Choose none and the room deals from every everyday list, which is everything on this page except the holiday pack.

For a group around one phone instead, the generator deals from the same words. Each person taps to see their card, hides it, and passes the phone on. Its rules for the table are in how to play the imposter game.