ESL Question Words Bingo Card Generator
ESL Question Words bingo cards in seconds: 36 ready-made entries (How long?, How old are you? and Which one is yours? among them), 24 on each 5x5 card with a free center, up to 30 unique cards free. With 30 players the first line usually comes after about 11 calls, roughly 2 minutes at 10 seconds a call.
| B | I | N | G | O |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Whose? | Who is your teacher? | What day is it? | Which one is yours? | Why are you sad? |
Who? | What's your name? | Which? | Where? | How much? |
What food do you like? | When does class start? | FREE | Whose pen is this? | Where do you live? |
How many? | What's your job? | How much is it? | How far is the park? | When is your birthday? |
Where are you from? | How old are you? | How old? | What kind? | What? |
Free: up to 30 different cards per set. Pro: up to 1,000.
Free sets stop at 30 different cards. Your 30 cards are ready to print or download now.
Pro ($19 one-time) opens soon: up to 1,000 different cards per set and 2 or 4 cards on a PDF page. No payment is taken now.
Edit words (36)
Cards update as you type. Long entries shrink to fit their square; a very long single word is split over two lines with a hyphen (up to 40 characters each). The PDF uses a built-in font: emoji and non-Latin scripts print best with Print cards.
Caller sheet
Every call in a shuffled order. Tick each one as you read it out; the same share link always gives the same order.
Updated
About ESL Question Words bingo
ESL Question Words Bingo covers the wh-words learners need, from “Who?” and “Whose?” to combinations like “How often?” and “What kind?”, plus everyday questions such as “Where are you from?”, “When is your birthday?” and “How far is the park?”. It suits beginners building first conversations and intermediate learners who still confuse “Which?” with “What?” or “How many?” with “How much?”.
This ESL Question Words list is 36 entries long and a 5x5 card with a free center takes 24, which leaves 12 off each card. That is why one entry (Where?, say) appears on about 20 of 30 cards: card 1, for instance, has no When? or Why?.
The caller reads the 36 entries from a shuffled caller sheet and players mark them; the first complete line (row, column or diagonal) wins.
All 36 ESL Question Words bingo words
Every entry from How far is the park? to Why?, grouped by first letter. Edit them in the generator above: drop How old are you? if it does not suit your group, or add your own.
- H: How far is the park?, How far?, How long?, How many?, How much is it?, How much?, How often do you swim?, How often?, How old are you?, How old?, How?
- W: What color?, What day is it?, What food do you like?, What kind?, What time is it?, What time?, What?, What's your job?, What's your name?, When does class start?, When is your birthday?, When?, Where are you from?, Where do you live?, Where is the bank?, Where?, Which one is yours?, Which?, Who is your teacher?, Who lives with you?, Who?, Whose pen is this?, Whose?, Why are you sad?, Why?
ESL Question Words bingo at a glance
| Entries | 36 words and phrases |
|---|---|
| Card | 5x5 card with a free center: 24 of the 36 |
| How it is played | A caller reads the shuffled caller sheet |
| Different cards possible | about 7.77 × 10³² (order matters) |
| Different selections | 1,251,677,700 sets of 24 entries |
| Shortest entry | How? (4 characters) |
| Longest entry | When is your birthday? (22 characters) |
| Multi-word entries | 28 of 36, such as How many? and How much? |
| Good for | ESL lessons, kids, classrooms, teens and adults |
| Category | Language arts & ESL (61 themes) |
How long ESL Question Words bingo lasts
This list was simulated 150 times in random call orders on its first 60 cards. A room of 30 usually has a line by call 11, which is about 2 minutes at 10 seconds a call, and a full card by call 33 of 36.
| Players | First line | Line, 80% range | Blackout | Blackout, 80% range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 players | 13 calls | 10-16 | 34 calls | 33-35 |
| 30 players | 11 calls | 8-13 | 33 calls | 32-34 |
| 60 players | 9 calls | 7-12 | 33 calls | 31-34 |
| 1 card (exact average) | - | - | 35.5 calls | of 36 |
How to host ESL Question Words bingo
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Print the ESL Question Words cards
Give each player one card; a free set prints up to 30, no two alike. Card 1 above starts with Whose?, Who is your teacher?, What day is it?, Which one is yours? and Why are you sad?.
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Print the caller sheet
All 36 entries appear on it in shuffled order, opening with Whose pen is this?, How many?, Why are you sad?, What? and How far is the park?; tick each one as you read it out.
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Read an answer instead of the question, such as “In Mexico” or “Twice a week”, and let players find the question that fits, like “Where are you from?”
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Contrast “How many?” and “How much?” by calling one countable and one uncountable answer, such as “three apples” and “a little milk”, back to back.
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Ask each winner to choose one full question on their card and put it to a classmate, so the game ends with real speaking practice.
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Call until someone shouts bingo
With 30 cards, expect the first line near call 11 (How old are you? in this set's order) and a blackout near call 33; check the winner's squares against your ticked list.
ESL Question Words bingo variations
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ESL Question Words variation
Interview bingo: players pair up and may mark a question only after asking it to their partner and hearing a real answer, then they report one answer to the class in the third person.
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Blackout round
Card 1 needs all 24 squares, Whose? to What?; on average one card fills after 35.5 of the 36 calls (99% of the deck).
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Quick 4x4 round
A 4x4 card needs 16 of the 36 entries and no free space; one card is full after about 34.8 calls instead of 35.5.
First 15 calls of this ESL Question Words set
Seed "esl-question-words" gives this order, the same one the caller sheet prints. With these calls, card 26 of the first 30 completes row 1 (Whose?, How much?, Whose pen is this?, Why are you sad? and Why?) on call 8, and card 15 is the first full card on call 33.
| Call | Entry | Cards marked (of 30) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whose pen is this? | 21 of 30 |
| 2 | How many? | 19 of 30 |
| 3 | Why are you sad? | 21 of 30 |
| 4 | What? | 16 of 30 |
| 5 | How far is the park? | 20 of 30 |
| 6 | How much? | 23 of 30 |
| 7 | Whose? | 23 of 30 |
| 8 | Why? | 22 of 30 |
| 9 | How far? | 18 of 30 |
| 10 | Who is your teacher? | 19 of 30 |
| 11 | How old are you? | 16 of 30 |
| 12 | Where do you live? | 21 of 30 |
| 13 | How long? | 18 of 30 |
| 14 | Which? | 22 of 30 |
| 15 | Where? | 22 of 30 |
Themes like ESL Question Words bingo
Ranked by category, occasion and audience; none of them repeats an entry from this list, so pasting two into the Edit words box gives a longer game.
Frequently asked questions
How many words are on the ESL Question Words bingo list?
36, from How far is the park? to Why?. A 5x5 card with a free center uses 24 of them, so each card leaves out 12. The shortest entry is How? (4 characters) and the longest is When is your birthday? (22).
Are all ESL Question Words bingo cards the same?
No. Card 1 and card 2 of this set share 18 of their 24 squares, and every card is checked so none of the 30 in a free set repeats. About 7.77 × 10³² different arrangements are possible from the 36 entries (1,251,677,700 different selections of 24).
How many ESL Question Words bingo cards per person?
One card each is standard. In 150 simulated games of this list, 30 players on one card each got a first line after a median 11 calls; with two cards each (60 in play) it came after 9, and 10 single cards took 13. Two cards suit adults who want a faster game; young children do best with one. A free set of 30 covers 15 players on two cards each.
How long does ESL Question Words bingo take?
An ESL Question Words game with 30 players usually reaches its first line after 11 calls (8-13 in 80% of simulated games), about 2 minutes at one call every 10 seconds. A blackout takes about 33; with 10 players the first line needs about 13.
Can I print ESL Question Words bingo cards for free?
Yes. The generator above makes up to 30 cards (5x5 cards with a free center) from the 36 entries; Print cards sends them to your printer and Download PDF saves one card per page, so 30 cards take 30 pages plus the caller sheet. It all runs in your browser with no sign-up.
How do I make my own ESL Question Words bingo cards?
Start from this list: the 36 entries are already in the generator, so delete Which one is yours? or any other entry, type your own one per line and the cards update as you type. Keep at least 24 entries for 5x5 cards (16 for 4x4); the share link reprints exactly the same set.
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