Fighting Words is a turn-based strategy game. It features up to 4 teams of 4 worms, aiming to destroy the others on a generated terrain. Each worm has 100 hitpoints and dies when his hit points fall to 0. Upon death, a worm explodes, causing damage to everyone around.
The gameplay is turn-based. Each turn, the player can control one specific worm from their team. The worm can crawl left and right or jump. However, there is a time limit to make a move; also, if the worm falls from a great height, it loses health and the turn ends immediately; and if a worm falls into water or offscreen, it dies. Each turn, a worm can also make a single attack: the player can aim up and down, choose a weapon and then fire it. After attacking, the turn ends.
The game offers a variety of weapons to use in battle - standard ones like bazookas and grenades, as well as more unusual options like Fire Punches and dynamite.
With 10 different terrain styles to choose from, including forests, deserts, and even Candy land, the gameplay is diverse and challenging. The terrain can affect the movement of the worms and the trajectory of shots fired.