Someone mouths "hot air balloon" at you in total silence. You confidently answer "hopping wombat." The room falls apart laughing. That's the Read My Lips game, zero equipment, zero preparation, and some of the biggest laughs you'll get out of any party game.
In this guide, you'll learn how to play the Read My Lips game step by step, grab 50 ready-to-use words and phrases, and see how to run it anywhere, around a table, in a classroom, or over Zoom.
What is the Read My Lips game?
The Read My Lips game (you might know it as the Whisper Challenge) is a party game where one player wears noise-cancelling headphones while another silently mouths a word or phrase. The headphone-wearer has to guess what's being said using lip-reading alone. The wilder the guesses, the better the game.
It works for 3+ players, ages 8 to 80, and needs nothing more than a pair of headphones and a word list.
How to play the Read My Lips game: Step-by-step rule
What you need
- 3 or more players
- A word list (use ours below, or spin one up with a spinner wheel so nobody can peek)
- Noise-cancelling headphones or earmuffs
- A timer (1–2 minutes per round works well)
Setup
- Sit in a circle or around a table, or pair players up.
- Pick the first "reader" — the player who'll be lip-reading.
- The reader puts on headphones with music loud enough that they can't hear anything.
Gameplay
- Another player picks a word or phrase and silently mouths it to the reader. Lips only — no sounds, no gestures.
- The reader watches closely and guesses out loud. They can ask for a repeat or take multiple guesses.
- When the reader guesses correctly (or the timer runs out), rotate roles so everyone gets a turn.
Scoring
Award one point per correct guess, or play purely for laughs. Pro tip: if you're keeping score across teams, a live scoreboard on a shared screen turns casual rounds into a proper tournament — AhaSlides' quiz mode tracks team points automatically so nobody has to be the referee.
30 word ideas for the Read My Lips game
Start with shorter, familiar words, then work up to the tongue-twisters at the end of the list:
- Banana
- Sunshine
- Watermelon
- Unicorn
- Butterfly
- Jellybean
- Pizza
- Superhero
- Giggle
- Tornado
- Ice cream
- Fireworks
- Rainbow
- Elephant
- Pirate
- Popcorn
- Astronaut
- Hamburger
- Spider
- Detective
- Scuba diving
- Summertime
- Water slide
- Hot air balloon
- Roller coaster
- Beach ball
- Picnic basket
- Sam Smith
- Paradox
- Quixotic
Make it random: load these words into a free spinner wheel and let it pick for you — no one can accuse the other team of choosing easy words.
20 phrases for the Read My Lips game
Phrases raise the difficulty (and the laugh count). Idioms work especially well because half-guessed versions come out gloriously wrong:
- "Piece of cake"
- "It's raining cats and dogs"
- "Don't count your chickens before they hatch"
- "The early bird catches the worm"
- "Actions speak louder than words"
- "Bite the bullet"
- "A penny for your thoughts"
- "Break a leg"
- "Read between the lines"
- "Let the cat out of the bag"
- "Burning the midnight oil"
- "A picture is worth a thousand words"
- "The ball is in your court"
- "Hit the nail on the head"
- "All in a day's work"
- "Don't cry over spilled milk"
- "A watched pot never boils"
- "You can't judge a book by its cover"
- "Raining buckets"
- "Walking on air"
How to play Read My Lips on Zoom, class, or at work
Read My Lips isn't just a living-room game — it's one of the few party games that translates perfectly to video calls, because everyone can already see everyone's face up close.
On Zoom or Teams
- The reader turns their volume to zero (the honour system replaces headphones).
- Another player unmutes... but mouths the word silently on camera.
- Everyone else types their guesses in the chat — first correct answer wins the point.
Running it for a bigger group? Present your word list from AhaSlides directly inside Zoom or Microsoft Teams, and let participants submit guesses from their phones instead of flooding the chat.
In the classroom
Teachers use Read My Lips as a vocabulary warm-up: load this week's vocabulary words into the spinner wheel and have students take turns lip-reading in pairs. It's sneaky pronunciation practice — students have to think hard about how words are physically formed.
At work
As an icebreaker, swap the word list for company inside jokes, product names, or meeting-bingo phrases ("let's take this offline"). Five minutes at the start of a team meeting, guaranteed laughter, zero budget.
Read My Lips game FAQs
How many players do you need?Three or more is ideal, but it works with just two — take turns being the reader.
What if we don't have noise-cancelling headphones?Any headphones with music turned up work. On video calls, just have the reader mute their own audio output.
Is the Read My Lips game the same as the Whisper Challenge?Essentially yes — the Whisper Challenge is the same game popularized on YouTube. Some versions allow whispering; the classic version is completely silent.
What words are hardest to lip-read?Words with sounds made in the back of the mouth (K, G, hard C) are hardest, because they're nearly invisible on the lips. "Quixotic" is on our list for a reason.
Key takeaways
The Read My Lips game needs three things: players, a word list, and a willingness to look silly. You now have all 50 words and phrases you need — the only question is where you'll play it first.
If you want the whole thing set up in one click — random word spinner, round timer, and live team scoreboard your players join from their phones — grab the free template below.
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