Ways to use this list
- Character creation: spin a fear for your hero and plan the scene where the story forces them to face it, ideally close to the end.
- Tabletop role-playing: give each player's character one spun fear. A fearless knight who is terrified of mice makes the cellar scene unforgettable.
- Word roots: spin a fear and take its name apart, so pupils learn that arachn- means spider, acro- means height and -phobia means fear.
- Halloween storytelling: sit in a circle, spin a fear, and each person adds one sentence to a not-too-scary story about it.
- Talking about feelings with young children: spin an everyday fear and share one brave thing that helps, like a night light for the dark.
Press Spin the wheel, tap the game or press the Space bar. Change the list in the box as you
like: add your own, delete what doesn't suit you, or write *2 after an entry to give it double the
chance. The game buttons switch the same list to a duck race, hat, claw machine and more.
The full list (45 entries)
- Spiders – arachnophobia
- Heights – acrophobia
- Snakes – ophidiophobia
- The dark – nyctophobia
- Small, closed-in spaces – claustrophobia
- Thunder and lightning – astraphobia
- Dogs – cynophobia
- Cats – ailurophobia
- Birds – ornithophobia
- Insects – entomophobia
- Bees – apiphobia
- Mice – musophobia
- Sharks – galeophobia
- Frogs – ranidaphobia
- Horses – equinophobia
- Clowns – coulrophobia
- Dolls – pediophobia
- Deep water – thalassophobia
- Water – aquaphobia
- Flying – aerophobia
- Bridges – gephyrophobia
- Fire – pyrophobia
- Snow – chionophobia
- Wind – ancraophobia
- Germs – mysophobia
- Needles – trypanophobia
- Going to the dentist – dentophobia
- Speaking in public – glossophobia
- Being laughed at – gelotophobia
- Failure – atychiphobia
- Change – metathesiophobia
- Being alone – monophobia
- Mirrors – catoptrophobia
- Ghosts – phasmophobia
- Balloons popping – globophobia
- Buttons – koumpounophobia
- Clusters of small holes – trypophobia
- The number 13 – triskaidekaphobia
- Friday the 13th – paraskevidekatriaphobia
- Long words – hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (a joke name)
- Peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth – arachibutyrophobia
- Trying new foods – food neophobia
- Bats – chiroptophobia
- Missing out – no -phobia name, though people call it FOMO
- Monsters under the bed – no -phobia name, but a classic
Questions people ask
What is the most common phobia?
Surveys often put the fear of spiders, heights and public speaking near the top, though results vary by country and by how the question is asked.
What does the word phobia mean?
It comes from phobos, the Greek word for fear. A phobia is a strong, lasting fear of one particular thing; ordinary nerves about heights or spiders are far more common and completely normal.
Is there really a phobia of long words?
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is a playful, joking name for it, and the shorter sesquipedalophobia also exists. It earns its place on this list because the word itself is so long.
How do I choose a good fear for a story character?
Pick a fear that clashes with what the character must do: a sailor scared of deep water, or a singer scared of crowds. Readers cheer for someone who acts bravely while still afraid.