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The six groups
- Concrete nouns: things you can touch, like a ladder, a mitten or a teapot.
- Abstract nouns: ideas and feelings, such as courage, patience or curiosity.
- People and jobs: family members, neighbours and occupations, from baker to astronaut.
- Places: rooms, buildings, landforms and spots around town, like a rink, a harbour or a sugar shack.
- Food: fruit, vegetables, meals, snacks and drinks.
- Nature: plants, trees, weather, landforms and things you find outside.
Leave the category on "All nouns" for a random mix. Tick "No repeats until the list runs out" and you will not see a noun twice until you have been through the whole group.
Games with random nouns
Pictionary rounds
Split into two teams. One player from a team generates a single concrete noun, keeps it hidden and draws it on paper or a whiteboard. Their team has one minute to guess. No letters, numbers or talking. Concrete nouns and food are the easiest groups to draw, and places are a good step up.
Twenty questions
One player secretly generates a noun. Everyone else asks yes or no questions, up to 20 in total, to work out what it is. Abstract nouns make this much harder, so save them for older players.
Odd one out
Generate four nouns from one group and one from another. Read all five aloud in a mixed order. The first person to spot the odd one out and explain why wins the round.
Three word story
Generate three nouns: one person, one place and one thing. Everyone writes or tells a short story using all three. A pilot, a greenhouse and a kettle can go in some unexpected directions.
Classroom ideas
- Common or proper: generate a noun and ask students to give a matching proper noun, such as river and Fraser River.
- Singular and plural: generate ten nouns and have students write the plural of each. Words like shelf, mouse and cactus lead to good discussions.
- Concrete or abstract sort: generate a mixed list, then sort the cards into two columns.
- Adjective practice: pair each noun with three describing words. The random word generator can supply random adjectives too.
Want something more specific?
The random object generator has objects sorted by room and use, with easy, medium and hard levels for drawing games. The random animal generator covers mammals, birds, fish and Canadian wildlife. For word puzzles, the hangman solver helps when a game of hangman gets stuck.