About this puzzle
April is when spring really gets going in the Northern Hemisphere, and this April word search is full of it: rain showers, umbrellas, blossoms, seedlings, tulips, and tadpoles in the pond. It also covers the month's big days, starting with a friendly Prank for April Fools' Day and moving on to Earth Day, Arbor Day, and the egg hunts that come with Easter in many years.
We added a few words for readers and fans, too. April is National Poetry Month, Shakespeare's birthday is traditionally marked on April 23, and baseball season usually opens around the start of the month. It suits a spring classroom center, an Earth Day lesson opener, or a rainy afternoon indoors, and the notes below give a quick fact for every word.
The 26 words in this puzzle
Every word, with a short note. Handy for teaching the vocabulary before or after solving.
In every version (12)
- Daisy
- The daisy is a traditional April birth flower, along with the sweet pea. Its name comes from "day's eye," because the flower opens in the morning and closes at night.
- Earth Day
- Earth Day is held every April 22. The first one, in 1970, brought about 20 million Americans together to call for cleaner air, water, and land.
- Egg Hunt
- Easter falls in late March or April, and egg hunts are a favorite tradition. The White House has held an Easter Egg Roll on its lawn since 1878.
- Kite
- Breezy spring days are great for flying kites. Kites were invented in China more than 2,000 years ago, and early ones were made of silk and bamboo.
- Nest
- April is busy nesting time for many songbirds. Robins build cup-shaped nests of grass and mud and usually lay three to five sky-blue eggs.
- Prank
- April Fools' Day on April 1 is a day for harmless jokes. In France, kids try to stick a paper fish on someone's back and shout poisson d'avril, or April fish.
- Puddle
- Puddles form when rain falls faster than the ground can soak it up. Jumping in puddles is a classic April pastime, especially in a good pair of rain boots.
- Rain Boots
- Rubber rain boots are also called wellies, after the Duke of Wellington, who made a style of tall leather boot popular in the early 1800s.
- Rainbow
- A rainbow appears when sunlight shines through raindrops, which bend the light and split it into colors. To see one, the sun has to be behind you.
- Spring
- In the Northern Hemisphere, April is the first full month of spring, which begins around March 20 with the spring equinox. Days grow noticeably longer all month.
- Tulip
- Tulips grow from bulbs planted in the fall. The Netherlands is famous for its tulip fields, which bloom in bright stripes of color each spring.
- Umbrella
- The word umbrella comes from the Latin umbra, meaning shade. Early umbrellas were used to block the sun long before they were used for rain.
Added in Medium and Hard (8)
- Baseball
- Major League Baseball's opening day usually comes in late March or early April, so April means the first full month of the season for fans.
- Blossom
- Fruit trees like cherry, apple, and pear flower in spring. Washington, D.C., is famous for its cherry blossoms, which usually bloom around late March or early April.
- Daffodil
- Daffodils are among the first bright flowers of spring. They grow from bulbs, and the trumpet-shaped center of each flower is called the corona.
- Garden
- April is planting time in many gardens. Cool-weather crops like peas, lettuce, and spinach can go in early, while tomatoes wait until the danger of frost has passed.
- Recycle
- Recycling turns used paper, cans, glass, and some plastics into new products. It saves natural resources and keeps trash out of landfills.
- Seedling
- A seedling is a baby plant that has just sprouted from a seed. April is a popular month to start seedlings indoors or plant cool-weather crops outside.
- Showers
- The rhyme "April showers bring May flowers" is true to life: steady spring rain soaks the soil and helps plants grow and bloom in the weeks ahead.
- Tadpole
- Frogs lay eggs in ponds in spring, and the eggs hatch into tadpoles. Over weeks or months, tadpoles grow legs, lose their tails, and become frogs.
Added in Hard (6)
- Arbor Day
- Arbor Day began in Nebraska in 1872, when people there planted an estimated one million trees. The national observance is usually the last Friday in April.
- Diamond
- Diamond is the April birthstone. It is made of carbon and is the hardest natural material on Earth, which is why it is also used in cutting tools.
- Pink Moon
- Pink Moon is a traditional name for April's full moon. It isn't actually pink; the name comes from pink wildflowers called moss phlox that bloom in early spring.
- Poetry
- April is National Poetry Month in the United States, started by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. Classrooms often read and write poems all month.
- Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare's birthday is traditionally celebrated on April 23. He wrote famous plays like A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest.
- Sweet Pea
- Sweet peas are climbing flowers with a lovely scent, also known as an April birth flower. Unlike garden peas, their seeds should not be eaten.
A few facts to share while you solve
- April may get its name from the Latin word aperire, meaning to open, a fitting name for the month when buds and flowers open. Historians aren't completely sure, though.
- Earth Day started in the United States in 1970 and is now observed in nearly every country in the world.
- The first Arbor Day was held in Nebraska on April 10, 1872, and was the idea of a newspaper editor named J. Sterling Morton.
Four versions of this puzzle
Pick a version with the buttons above the grid. Each one has its own grid and answer key, and your progress on each is saved separately in this browser.
| Version | Words | Grid | Directions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 12 | 11 × 11 | The 12 most familiar words, reading forward across and down. |
| Medium | 20 | 14 × 14 | Twenty words across, down and diagonally. No backwards words. |
| Hard | 26 | 16 × 16 | Every word, in all eight directions including backwards, with look-alike filler letters. |
| Large print | 12 | 11 × 11 | The 12 most familiar words on a small grid with big letters. No backwards words. |
Hard and large print versions
Hard april word search: all 26 words on a 16 × 16 grid, hidden forward, backward, up, down and along both diagonals, with filler letters borrowed from the word list. Print it without the word list for an extra challenge. Play the hard version, or see all hard word searches.
Large print april word search: the 12 most familiar words on a 11 × 11 grid, printed with big letters and a big word list, and no backwards words. Play the large print version, or see all large print word searches.
Printing this word search
Press Print / PDF above the puzzle. You get a clean one-page sheet with the title, the grid, a word list with tick boxes, and optional name and date lines. The answer key prints on a second page. Prefer a file? Download it as a PDF or an image to print later or drop into a worksheet. Whatever version is showing on screen is the one that prints, and the large print version prints with bigger letters.
How to play online
- Find a word from the list in the grid. Scanning for its first letter is the quickest way.
- Drag across the word from its first letter to its last. On a phone, you can also tap the first letter, then the last.
- Found words get highlighted and crossed off. Stuck? Hint circles the first letter of a word you haven’t found.
Read the full guide to solving word searches, with tips that make big grids much faster.
Questions and answers
What age is this April word search for?
Most of the words, like Tulip, Nest, Kite, and Prank, are familiar to kids around ages 6 to 8, so the easy level works for early elementary. Longer words like Shakespeare and Rain Boots, plus the medium and hard grids, keep older kids and adults busy.
Can I use this puzzle for Earth Day?
Yes. Earth Day, Arbor Day, Recycle, and Seedling all connect to taking care of the planet, and the notes give quick facts for discussion. For a full puzzle on the topic, our Earth Day word search focuses entirely on nature, conservation, and recycling.
Is there anything tricky about April Fools' Day in this puzzle?
No tricks here. Prank is simply one of the words to find, and its note shares the French tradition of the paper April fish. It is a fun way to start a conversation about kind, harmless jokes that everyone can laugh at.
Is there an answer key for this april word search?
Yes. Choose Print / PDF above the puzzle and keep “Add an answer key page” ticked. The key prints on its own page, with every word highlighted. While playing online, Show answers outlines any words you haven’t found yet.
Can I print copies for my class or group?
Yes. Every puzzle on BetterWordSearch is free to print for personal, classroom, library and homeschool use. Print as many copies as you need. To change the words or make several different versions of the grid, use the word search maker.
What changes between Easy, Medium, Hard and Large print?
Easy hides the 12 most familiar words, reading left to right and top to bottom. Medium uses 20 words and adds diagonals. Hard hides all 26 words in every direction, including backwards, with look-alike filler letters. Large print uses the same words as Easy on a small grid and prints with big letters.
