Thanksgiving word search

A Thanksgiving word search that draws 10 to 22 words from a list of 32, including GRAVY, PILGRIM and CORNUCOPIA. It is meant for the kids' table, classroom lessons before the break and people waiting on the oven.

By Paul Gunder. Free to print for home, classroom and office use; see how our printables are made.

Updated November 11, 2026

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Thanksgiving Word Search2 pages, answer key from page 2 · US Letter

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Worksheet, page 1

Answer key, page 1

On this page

By late afternoon on Thanksgiving the kitchen is full and the children are underfoot. A printed word search gives them a task that can be dropped and picked up again, and it asks only for a pencil. This page opens on the Thanksgiving theme at Medium.

What prints

The title reads "Thanksgiving Word Search". The instruction line says how many words to find and which ways they run. Then comes the grid, followed by the word list in columns, each word with a small empty square to tick. Page two is the answer key: found words are outlined, bold, and the other letters are faded.

Where the words come from

The list has 32 entries and covers three groups. Food words include PIE, YAM, CORN, GRAVY, ROLLS, BEANS, PEAS, STUFFING, POTATOES, CRANBERRY, DESSERT and LEFTOVERS. History words include PILGRIM, MAYFLOWER, HARVEST and CORNUCOPIA. The rest are about the day itself: FAMILY, GRATEFUL, PARADE, FOOTBALL, TRADITION, GATHERING and APPRECIATION. The longest, THANKSGIVING, takes 12 of the 14 squares on a Medium grid, so it can only lie along a row, a column or a main diagonal.

The settings

Title (optional): a heading of your own, for instance "Table 3 Puzzle Page".
Theme: pre-set to Thanksgiving; change it to move to other subjects, or type your own words.
Difficulty: Easy is a 10 × 10 grid with 10 words, none over 8 letters, found across or down; Medium is 14 × 14 with 16 words and diagonals; Hard is 17 × 17 with 22 words in every direction.
Large print: 12 × 12 and no more than 12 words, with larger letters.
Lowercase letters: lowercase letters on the sheet.

Three ways to run it

First, a quiet-table game. Print an Easy sheet for each child under eight and a Hard one for any adult who wants a challenge. Second, a classroom review. After a lesson on the first harvest feast, ask students to write one fact for each of PILGRIM, MAYFLOWER and HARVEST once they have found them. Third, a gratitude round. When someone finds GRATEFUL, they say one thing they are glad about.

Worked example: a table of eight after the meal

Dev is hosting eight relatives. He prints four Medium puzzles and four Large print ones and sets them out with the coffee. The Large print version shows only 12 words in a 12 × 12 grid, so his father, who finds small type tiring, finishes first. His niece asks whether GRAVY could be hiding backwards. Dev checks the instruction line: backwards words only appear at Hard, so she can search left to right, top to bottom and along diagonals.

Dev also uses the LEFTOVERS entry as a prompt. Anyone who finds it names a dish they plan to make from tomorrow's remains. For safe handling of those leftovers, the US government's FoodSafety.gov site is a reliable place to check.

More to print

Matching puzzles for the same season include the fall word search. For a version built on your own menu and guest names, open the word search maker, and try the large print word search for older eyes.