Forbidden Words

This game is a fun way of starting or ending a lesson.

The idea of the game is for one player to try and describe an object, idea or phrase without
using certain forbidden words. The other players have to try and guess the word.

Example

A1

Rectangle
oblong
four

square
right angle

Barry picks out this card. He has to describe rectangle without using the words oblong,
square, four, or right angle. Emma is trying to guess the word. A game could go like
this...

Barry:
Emma:
Barry:
Emma:
Barry:
Emma:
Barry:
Emma:

Its a shape with straight sides...

A triangle?
... and it has more than three sides.
A pentagon?
Its a quadrilateral and...
A square?
... the sides might be different lengths, but everything is parallel.
A parallelogram.... Rectangle!

Notes

Print on card or laminate.

Guessers shouldnt be able to ask questions of the describer.
Its best to play as teams. The person describing the word should have an incentive for
others to guess correctly. Divide the shuffled cards equally between the teams. Players
take it in turns to describe.
Arguments will arise (and are part of the fun) so you need to be prepared to settle
disputes. e.g. Is it has two plus two sides an acceptable clue for rectangle?
The cards are marked with from one to three stars in approximate order of difficulty.
You could use this as a basis for a scoring system or to filter out the harder words.
To make the game easier you could allow students to use one of the forbidden words or
have a scoring system based on the number of forbidden words used.
A good revision activity is to supply a list of key words and ask students to make their
own cards.
Use mini whiteboards for a whole class activity.
You might want to have a mathematics dictionary handy...

www.subtangent.com/maths

Page 1

2004-06-02

A1

A7

Rectangle
oblong
four

Octagon
square
right angle

A2

polygon
eight

45

A8

Circle

Rhombus

round
radius

360
diameter

A3

four
parallel

A9

Triangle

Trapezium

three
equilateral
A4

equal
quadrilateral

isosceles
scalene

four
parallel

trapezoid
quadrilateral

A10

Square
rectangle
four
A5

Kite
right angle
equal

four
quadrilateral
A11

Parallelogram
parallel
four
A6

Decagon

quadrilateral

polygon
ten
A12

Hexagon
polygon
six

triangle
fly

36

Pentagram
60

pentacle
five

pentagon
magic

B1

Cube
box
six
B2

B7

Triangular Prism
right angle
dice

flat
straight

cross section
triangle

B8

Cuboid
box
six
B3

Tetrahedron
cube
brick

triangle
four

B4

B9

Sphere
ball
round

pyramid
vertex

Hexagonal Prism
globe
circle

cross section
six
B10

Cone
round
point
B5

sphere
half
B11

Pyramid

B6

circle
round

Torus
flat

doughnut
hole
B12

Cylinder
circle
round

Hemisphere
ice cream

straight
point

hexagon
flat

round

Ellipsoid
tube

ellipse
ball

circle

C1

C7

Parallel

Bisect

direction
line
C2

straight
equal

half
line
C8

Right Angle
90
line
C3

square
perpendicular

90
degrees

line
slope
C11

slant
corner

Locus
180
obtuse

path
move
C12

Midpoint
half
middle

perimeter
diameter

Diagonal

Reflex

C6

circle
radius
C10

180
acute

360
acute

line

Circumference

Obtuse

C5

cross
parallel
C9

small
obtuse

90
degrees

midpoint
angle

Intersect

Acute

C4

region

Parabola
segment

focus
conic

quadratic
curve

D1

D7

Add

Factor

sum
plus
D2

total
subtract

divide
times

multiply
multiple

D8

Subtract
take away
minus
D3

Multiple
difference
add

multiply
times

D4

D9

Multiply
times
divide

divide
factor

Square Number
product
BODMAS

multiply
nine
D10

Divide
quotient
times
D5

square
nine
D11

Fraction

D6

four

Ratio
denominator
divide

proportion
part
D12

Per Cent
hundred
VAT

Square Root
ratio
BODMAS

numerator
half

four
times

fraction
share

Cube Root
interest
divide

square
three

two
four

E1

E7

Equation
equal
x
E2

Function
solve
y

rule
inverse
E8

Graph
line
scale
E3

E9

E10

E11

rule

Brackets
graph

expand
BODMAS
E12

Curve
line
straight

algebra
expression

Intercept

E6

term
y

Formula
graph

cross
axis

algebra
x

Gradient

E5

graph
point

Expression
y
two

slope
positive

cross
line

Coordinates

E4

graph
relation

Intersection
axes
grid

x
axes

multiply
parenthesis

Quadratic
point

equation
square

factorise
algebra

F1

F7

Mean
average
divide
F2

Questionnaire
total

question
poll

survey
bias

F8

Median
average
list
F3

Tally
middle

frequency
mark

table
five

F9

Mode
average
popular
F4

Sample
common

number
choose

population
bias

F10

Pie Chart
slice
circle
F5

Quartile
angle

upper
median

F6

F11

Bar Graph
chart
scale

Standard Deviation
axes

mean
square root
F12

Range
difference
spread

lower
quarter

variance
sigma

Significant
subtract

sample
confidence

variance
size

G1

Pythagoras
square
Greek

Venn Diagram
triangle
right angle

G2

G7

set
overlap

Binary
wave
hypotenuse

G3

one
bit

G4

integration
derivative

exponential
add

Pi ()
two
space

circle
radian

Greek
formula

G12

Network
node
arc

tables
e

G11

Dimension

G6

Logarithm
divide
over

one
three

differentiation
algebra

G10

Reciprocal

G5

Calculus
slope
adjacent

one
minus one

two
computer

G9

Tangent
triangle
trigonometry

G8

Sine
triangle
trigonometry

circle

Congruent
vertex
edge

similar
transformation

size
move