Charades Hand Signals and Gestures Everyone Should Know
Charades hand signals are a silent shorthand that lets the actor tell their team what kind of clue it is and how it breaks down. The essentials are category signals (movie, book, song, TV show, play, phrase), word and syllable counts, “sounds like”, “little word”, and touching your nose when someone guesses right. Learn these and every turn gets faster.
Why do charades hand signals matter?
Without signals, your team has to guess the category, the length and the meaning all at once. A two-second signal at the start cuts that down massively. Knowing the clue is a film with three words lets your teammates start shouting titles straight away instead of guessing “dancing? waving? bird?”.
Signals also stop arguments. Everyone knows a hand cupped behind the ear means “sounds like”, so nobody can claim the actor was secretly speaking.
What are the category signals?
Always start a turn with one of these.
| Category | Signal | Example clue |
|---|---|---|
| Movie | Wind an old film camera beside your eye | Titanic |
| Book | Hold palms together, then open them like a book | The Gruffalo |
| Song | Hand on heart, mouth open as if singing | Piano Man |
| TV show | Draw a rectangle (the screen) with two index fingers | Stranger Things |
| Play or musical | Pull an imaginary theatre curtain open | West Side Story |
| Quote or phrase | Make finger quotation marks in the air | Break a leg |
| Person | Stand like a statue, or tap the top of your head | Taylor Swift |
The person signal varies the most between families, so agree on yours before you start.
How do you show words and syllables?
These signals break the clue into pieces your team can solve one at a time.
- Number of words: hold up that many fingers. Your team should call out the number to confirm.
- Which word you’re acting: hold up fingers again. Two fingers means “this is the second word”.
- Number of syllables: lay fingers flat across your forearm.
- Which syllable: lay fingers on your forearm again, then act just that part.
- The whole thing: sweep both arms in a big circle to show you’re acting the entire title at once.
Syllables are brilliant for long words. “Encanto” is hard to act as one idea, but “en” plus “can” plus “toe” is much easier if your team is paying attention.
Which helper gestures speed up guessing?
These are the signals that experienced players lean on most.
| Meaning | Gesture |
|---|---|
| Sounds like | Cup your hand behind your ear or tug your earlobe |
| Little word (a, the, of, in) | Hold thumb and index finger close together |
| Longer word | Pull your hands apart, as if stretching elastic |
| Shorter word | Push your hands together, or make a chopping motion |
| Plural | Link your little fingers together |
| Past tense | Wave a hand backwards over your shoulder |
| On the nose (correct) | Touch your nose and point at the person who said it |
| Getting warmer | Beckon with both hands: “keep going” |
| Wrong direction | Wave your hands flat, or push away |
| Start again | Wipe the air with both hands like a blackboard |
The “little word” signal deserves special mention. When your team sees it, they should fire off “a, the, an, of, in, on, and” as fast as possible. One of them will hit.
How do you use “sounds like” well?
“Sounds like” is the most powerful trick in English charades because English is packed with rhymes.
- Pick a rhyme that’s easy to act. For “Shrek”, cup your ear and then rub your neck. For the “road” in “Thunder Road”, try “sounds like” plus “load” by miming carrying a heavy box.
- Signal first, then act. Cup your ear, wait for someone to say “sounds like!”, then mime the rhyme.
- Let the team do the swap. Once someone says “load”, wave them on until they land on “road”.
If your group loves noises and wordplay, the Sound It Out deck turns sounds into the clue itself, a fun change of pace between classic rounds.
Which clues are perfect for practising signals?
Titles with several short, actable words let you use the full signal toolkit.
- Films: The Lion King (little word, then “lion”, then “king”), Mad Max, Django Unchained, Moonrise Kingdom. More in the Films deck.
- Songs: Don’t Start Now, Crazy in Love, Spice Up Your Life, Another Brick in the Wall. Browse the Songs deck.
- TV shows: Friends, Lost, Doctor Who, Bob’s Burgers, The Good Place. See the TV Shows deck.
What are common signal mistakes?
- Skipping the category. Even if you think it’s obvious, always signal it first.
- Going too fast. Wait for your team to confirm the number of words before moving on.
- Inventing new signals mid-game. Your team won’t know them. Stick to what you agreed.
- Forgetting “on the nose”. When someone gets a word right, touch your nose and point at them immediately so they know to lock it in.
New to the game? Start with the basics in how to play charades, then come back to add these signals one at a time.
