Anagram Word Games

Anagrams are a word or phrase that has the letters mixed up. To solve an anagram, you have to re-arrange the letters to make a word or phrase, using each letter once and using all the letters. Some interesting ones are:

debit card = bad credit
dormitory = dirty room
schoolmaster = the classroom
hurricanes = these churn air

A Game a Day has a few anagram word games mixed in with brain teasers and other word games. There are two levels of play and a different game or puzzle for each day of the month.

At another site, called Puzzle Choice.com, you can choose from several word puzzles, such as anagrams, crypto-quotes, and brainteasers. The anagram puzzle categories are:

Actors and Actresses
Around the World
At the Movies
Creatures
Famous Names
Food and Drink
Sports
Musical Instruments
Out There

When you click on a category, you will be shown a list of one word anagrams. When you are done or you give up, click on “solutions” to see the answers.

More anagram puzzles can be found at Think.com. Categories are:

American Authors
British Towns and Cities
European Towns & Cities
U.S. Cities

Anagram puzzles with a twist are Anagram Crosswords found at Thinks.com. This is a crossword puzzle that has anagrams as clues. There are almost 50 to choose from and they are available in three formats: Java, downloadable for Across Lite software, and printable, so you can print it out and solve it with a pen or pencil.

Make Your Own Anagrams

There are several sites where you can make your own anagram. One of them is Word Plays.com. You simply type in a word or phrase and it will give you up to a hundred possible anagrams.

Angel Fire.com is another site where you can make your own anagram. For example, type in “birthday” and you get 46 possible anagrams, like “thy braid” or “hardy bit”. “Skating” has 25 anagrams, like tasking and nag kits.

Classroom Anagrams

For teachers, anagrams are a great way to build thinking skills and are a fun way to pass a little time. Just put a few on the board and let the fun begin. You can use one of the online anagram generators and make anagrams for certain subjects. For example, the words “ferry” and “canoe” have “refry” and “ocean” as anagrams and are both a type of transportation. After the students solve the words, ask them what the words have in common.

Anagram Site.com is a great site for teachers. It not only has an anagram generator, but has a list of interesting and humorous anagrams, like:

a telescope = to see place
geologist = go get oils
ladybug = bald guy

If you are a teacher, you will love the Worksheet Genius site! Worksheet Genuis creates worksheets for you. All you do is type in the words and it makes a worksheet with the name and date lines at the top, followed by the scrambled words. You can have up to 35 words.

There are two levels: Easy shows the answers at the bottom of the page and hard does not show the answers. On the worksheet, the directions are, “These words have been mixed up. Can you unscramble them?” There are even word lists if you have trouble thinking of words. Categories include words that start with certain letters, words that end a certain way, and words that have certain combinations of letters, like “ou” or “ch”.

Anagram Word Games