Christmas Word Search Puzzles, Free and Printable

Open the Christmas theme in Word Search and you get a new festive puzzle every round, so you never run out. Drag across a word to circle it, or tap its first and last letter. Choose Easy, Medium or Hard: Easy keeps words across and down, Medium adds diagonals, and Hard hides words in all eight directions, backwards included.

Online play has a few perks over paper. The game checks your answers instantly, tracks your time, and saves your best result on your device. It also works well for groups: put it on a classroom screen or a TV and let everyone call out the words they spot.

Use the Print button on each puzzle to print just that puzzle, without the rest of this page. Each one fits on a single sheet. The answer key stays hidden until you open it.

Making your own puzzle for a class or party? Here are 72 festive words, grouped by theme. They are all family friendly and spelled the American way. Mix short and long words, and pick 10 to 15 for a single page.

1. Hunt for rare letters first. Words with Q, X, Z, J, K or Y are easy to spot because those letters are scarce. In a Christmas grid, look for the Y in HOLLY or CHIMNEY and the K in STOCKING.
2. Look for double letters. EE in REINDEER, LL in BELLS and HOLLY, GG in EGGNOG. A pair of the same letter stands out from the random fill.
3. Scan one direction at a time. Sweep every row left to right, then every column top to bottom, then the diagonals. Your eyes miss less when they are not jumping around.
4. Find the longest words early. GINGERBREAD and NUTCRACKER cover a lot of the grid, and crossing them off makes the rest feel smaller.
5. Read backwards on harder puzzles. On Hard, and in Puzzle 2 above, words can also run in reverse. Look for the last letters of a word first: REINDEER spelled backwards starts with R, E, E, D.
6. Cross off as you go. On paper, circle the word in the grid and strike it from the list. Online, the game does it for you.

• Holiday party race. Hand out the same printed puzzle and see who finishes first. Give the harder puzzle to adults and the easy one to younger kids so everyone has a chance.
• Spelling practice. Kids copy each word they find onto a list, which turns the puzzle into spelling practice without feeling like homework.
• Make your own. Let older kids build a puzzle for a sibling using words from the list above on squared paper. Fill the gaps with random letters last.
• Advent challenge. Play one online Christmas word search a day from December 1, and try to beat your best time by Christmas Eve.
• Pair it with trivia. Our Christmas trivia questions make a great second round for a holiday quiz night.