Free Word Lists / ESL & Vocabulary

ESL & Vocabulary Pictionary Word List

150+ common English nouns, verbs, and everyday objects — organized for English language learners and vocabulary review games.

Last updated: April 2026

Why drawing games work for ESL learning

Drawing games are especially effective for vocabulary acquisition because they require learners to form a visual-to-word connection — the same mental pathway that makes vocabulary stick. When a student draws a "telephone" or a "kitchen," they're making a meaningful connection, linking the word to a concept. SketchParty TV supports this with text-to-speech, which announces the correct answer aloud after each round, which reinforces both the spelling and the pronunciation.

Use this list as a starting point. Build your own custom list around whatever vocabulary unit your class is working on — body parts, classroom objects, weather, food, jobs, or any other topic.

ESL word list (150+ words)

arm baby backpack bag ball banana bathroom beach bed bicycle bird book bottle bowl bread bridge brother brush bus butter button cake candle car chair cheese child clock cloud coat coffee cup curtain desk door dream dress drink ear egg envelope eye face family farmer fence finger fire floor flower food foot fork friend fruit garden gate glasses glove grass grocery store gym hair hand hat head heart hill home hospital hotel house jacket jar juice key kitchen knife lamp leaf leg letter library light lips lock market milk mirror money moon mouth museum nail neck needle newspaper night nose office park pencil phone pillow plate playground pocket pot rain restaurant river road roof ruler salt school shirt shoe shop shoulder shower sink sky snow sock sofa soup spoon stairs star store street sugar suitcase sun table taxi teacher telephone ticket toe tooth towel train tree umbrella wallet window wood yard

Tips for ESL teachers

  • • Build your own word list around the current vocabulary unit — here's how.
  • • Enable text-to-speech in SketchParty TV settings so the app reads the answer aloud after each turn.
  • • Team play reinforces vocabulary collaboratively — students help teammates by guessing, not just drawing.
  • • Phrase clues are allowed too: "It's a thing you sleep on" → "pillow". This develops description skills.
  • • For more about using SketchParty TV in the classroom, see SketchParty TV for Classrooms.

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