100 Imposter Game Words (the Crew Word and the Imposter Word)

How to read this list

The imposter game starts with everyone getting a word that is almost the same. The majority — the crew — sees "coffee"; only the imposter sees "cola". The table below opens that pair up: crew word on the left, imposter word on the right.

When you actually play, your screen shows one word only, and it never says whether you are crew or imposter. So this list is for whoever deals the words: playing with pen and paper, or just curious what comes up. Play on this site and the words are dealt automatically, so nobody has to sit out as the host.

100 example word pairs (by category)

The categories are the same six you can pick under "Settings", and the number taken from each matches how often the game deals from it.

Food & Drink (10 pairs)

Everyday Life (26 pairs)

Fun & Entertainment (23 pairs)

Love & Relationships (13 pairs)

School Life (12 pairs)

For Kids (16 pairs)

The rest come up as you play

The other 200 pairs are not on this page. Open this site and you are playing — words dealt for you, no app, no signup, free for 3 to 50 players.

Every pair also comes with three talking prompts you can read out as they are. They are built to surface the difference without anyone saying their word, so when the table goes quiet you just read the next one. Those only appear in the game.

If you want all 1,400+ pairs in your pocket, there is the app, Word Wolf (fox mode, game-master mode, and it works fully offline).

How to make your own imposter game words

Look down the table and you will notice the good pairs sit in one band: close, but the experience is a little different. That is the whole trick.

• Too far apart and it cracks in one sentence — "dog / wolf" falls apart at the first thing anyone says.
• Too close and nobody notices — "coffee / black coffee" stays true for both sides all the way to the vote.
• Just right is "the same words fit, but you use it differently" — "pancakes / waffles": both are breakfast, both take syrup, but the texture, the shape and where you order them drift apart as people talk.

Move the two words closer for a harder round, a bit further apart for a louder one. And avoid things only a few people at the table know: the rest can only stay silent, and finding the imposter turns into a trivia quiz.

Common questions

How many imposter game words are there?

This site plays 300 word pairs in 6 categories: Food & Drink, Everyday Life, Fun & Entertainment, Love & Relationships, School Life, For Kids. This page shows 100 of them as examples; the rest are dealt while you play. The Word Wolf app holds these and more, 1,400+ pairs in total.

Can I use my own words instead?

Yes. Skip the dealt words and pick a pair yourselves. The rule of thumb is "close, but a slightly different experience": too far apart and it cracks in one sentence, too close and nobody ever notices.

How different should the crew word and the imposter word be?

Different enough that the same sentences fit both, but the real experience is not the same. Pancakes and waffles are both breakfast and both take syrup, yet the texture and where you get them are not the same, so the conversation slowly stops lining up.

How do I make the imposter game harder?

Move the two words closer. "Coffee / tea" is easier to catch than "coffee / hot chocolate". Push them too close, though, and nobody notices anything, the imposter keeps winning, and the round never really ends.

Is this the same as Undercover or Spyfall?

It is the same family of social deduction word games. Undercover uses a near-identical setup; Spyfall gives the spy no word at all and has everyone guess a location. Word Wolf is the version where the imposter also gets a word, just a slightly different one.

Read next

New to the game? Start with the imposter game rules (how to play, player counts, how the vote is settled). Played a few rounds already? Imposter game tips (how the crew wins, how the imposter wins, what to say first) will be more useful.