A word game can have very few rules while still presenting a substantial barrier. Dialect, second-language knowledge, cultural references and the ability to retrieve words under time pressure vary between people. Similar gaming experience therefore does not guarantee a suitable group. What matters is the linguistic task the game asks players to perform and whether everyone can take part.
Identify the actual task
A tile game may require letters to form valid words. An association game asks players to interpret clues. A description game may forbid particular words altogether. These tasks use different abilities. Someone who writes slowly can give excellent spoken clues, while a large vocabulary does not guarantee a quick response to an unexpected category.
Choose a language in which everybody can understand the task adequately. A bilingual group needs an explicit agreement about whether words from both languages are permitted. Without one, an apparently creative answer can become an argument about validity only after it has already been given.
Resolve boundaries before scoring
Proper names, abbreviations, inflected forms and compound words commonly cause disputes in letter games. Use the rules and any reference work they specify. Do not decide which words are excluded only after somebody has produced an impressive long answer that would otherwise score well.
In Codenames, a clue connects words in a shared display, but specific restrictions govern valid clues. A readily understandable hint can still be prohibited. Read those restrictions instead of explaining only that the team must guess its words. Translations can also create different associations, so clues do not always transfer directly between language editions.
Build teams in which people are heard
A team is not automatically balanced when one experienced person supplies every answer. Agree how discussion will work and who gives the final response. That role can rotate in a learning session, provided doing so does not bypass an explicit communication restriction in the rules.
If someone consistently has no meaningful way to participate, changing the score alone will not solve the problem. Choose another task, a suitable edition or a game with less dependence on language. A word game can bring shared ideas into the open without becoming a demonstration of who possesses the largest collection of obscure vocabulary.