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: a pair of headphones, no 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 90+ ready-to-use words and phrases (including a Christmas list), 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 is a lip reading game for parties, and a headphone game too: 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 best with 3 or more players (you can play with 2), suits ages 8 to 80, and needs nothing more than a pair of headphones and a word list.
Read My Lips vs the Whisper Challenge
The two games are close cousins. The Whisper Challenge was made famous by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where, according to NBC, Jimmy and his celebrity guests take turns guessing random names and phrases while wearing noise-cancelling headphones. In the Whisper Challenge the other player says the phrase; in Read My Lips it is mouthed in total silence, so you have to lip-read.
How to play the Read My Lips game: Step-by-step rules
What you need
- 3 or more players (you can play with 2)
- 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 to 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 noise-cancelling headphones, with music or white noise so they can't hear the room.
Keep the volume comfortable. The World Health Organization advises setting your device to no more than 60% of maximum volume, and noise-cancelling headphones help because you need less volume to block out the room.
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:
Make it random: load these words into a free spinner wheel and let it pick for you, so 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:
Christmas Read My Lips words and phrases
Playing at a festive get-together? These family-friendly Christmas words and phrases suit kids and grown-ups alike. For more ways to run the evening, see our virtual Christmas party ideas.
Want a quieter round once the games are done? Our family Christmas quiz for kids is easy to follow with.
Print-friendly word list
Need it on paper? This plain list of 30 words (easy, medium and Christmas) is laid out to print cleanly: select the list, choose Print and pick 'Selection' in your browser's print dialogue, then tick the words off as you play.
Read the word without touching your lips
A popular twist on TikTok flips the game: instead of mouthing silently, a player reads each word aloud without letting their lips touch. Sounds like B, M and P close the lips (linguists call them bilabial consonants), so words packed with them are the ones that trip people up. Players share long lists of such words on TikTok. Try these:
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 mouther keeps their mic muted and mouths the word on camera.
- Everyone else types a guess, either in the chat or into an AhaSlides Short answer slide that scores it.
- The 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 type guesses into a Short answer slide that scores them and updates the leaderboard instead of flooding the chat. It's free to try: according to the pricing page, the Free plan covers up to 5 quiz questions and 3 poll questions per presentation and up to 50 participants, so a scored game on Free fits 5 rounds.
Make it a party round
Mix in a few more AhaSlides slide types: use the Spinner Wheel to pick the category, Duck Race to choose who reads next, Draw Answer as a "read it, then draw it" tie-breaker, and Photo Share to collect everyone's guessing faces and download the photos afterwards.
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. Looking for more? See our icebreaker games.
Read My Lips game FAQs
How many players do you need?
Three or more is best, but you can play with just two. Take turns being the reader.
What if we don't have noise-cancelling headphones?
Any headphones work: play music or white noise at a comfortable volume. On video calls, just have the reader mute their own audio output.
Is the Read My Lips game the same as the Whisper Challenge?
Close cousins. The Whisper Challenge, popularised on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC), has players guess phrases while wearing noise-cancelling headphones. In Read My Lips the phrase is mouthed in total silence.
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 more than 90 words and phrases to play with. The only question is where you'll play it first.
Load these words into a free spinner wheel and keep score with a quiz leaderboard.
