How it works
Arabic letters bingo opens on 6 cards of 5 × 5. Each card holds 24 of the 28 letters around a free center, in the shape a letter has when it stands alone.
Read the full guide
Watch the dots
Eighteen of the 28 letters share a basic shape with one or two others, and only the dots tell them apart: ب has one dot below, ت two above and ث three above. To check a win, have the student name each covered letter and point to its dots.
What the caller reads
In Call the game, each letter comes with its name, its place in the alphabet and its look-alikes: ج is jīm, letter 5 of 28, same shape as ḥāʾ and khāʾ. Print the call sheet lists all 28 the same way.
- With 25 cards, a first line usually comes between calls 7 and 11. A full card takes at least 24.
Questions and answers
How many letters are in the Arabic alphabet?
28, written from right to left. A letter changes shape with its place in a word, some a great deal and some hardly at all. These cards show the isolated form, the shape a letter has when it joins no other.
Why do some Arabic letters look the same?
They share one basic shape and differ in their dots. There are eight such sets: bāʾ, tāʾ and thāʾ; jīm, ḥāʾ and khāʾ; dāl and dhāl; rāʾ and zāy; sīn and shīn; ṣād and ḍād; ṭāʾ and ẓāʾ; ʿayn and ghayn.
What order are the Arabic letters in?
The common order, called hijāʾī, runs from ʾalif to yāʾ and keeps letters of similar shape together. Dictionaries and class lists use it, and so does the call sheet.
Can I print Arabic letters bingo for a whole class?
Yes. Set How many cards to the number of students, up to 60, and print them 2 to a page on Letter or A4. No two cards are alike.