About this puzzle
This list starts with the explorers most social studies classes cover, such as Columbus, Magellan, Hudson, Cartier, and Lewis and Clark with Sacagawea, then widens the map. Leif Erikson, Marco Polo, Zheng He, and Ibn Battuta traveled long before or far from the European voyages, Henson, Amundsen, and Shackleton pushed toward the poles, and Hillary, Tenzing, Cousteau, Armstrong, and Sally Ride carry the story up Everest, under the sea, and into space.
Each note says where the person went and why it mattered, including, where it fits, what the arrival of Europeans meant for the Indigenous peoples who already lived there. That makes the puzzle a good companion to an age of exploration unit, a map activity, or a report on one explorer, and it works for curious kids and adults at home too.
The 31 words in this puzzle
Every word, with a short note. Handy for teaching the vocabulary before or after solving.
In every version (12)
- Armstrong
- Neil Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 mission and became the first person to walk on the Moon, on July 20, 1969.
- Clark
- William Clark co-led the Corps of Discovery with Meriwether Lewis. He drew detailed maps of the journey, which crossed lands that many Native nations had called home for generations.
- Columbus
- Christopher Columbus sailed for Spain and reached the Caribbean in 1492. His voyages began lasting contact between Europe and the Americas, which brought disease, forced labor, and great hardship to the Taino and other Indigenous peoples.
- Cook
- James Cook was a British navigator who made three long voyages across the Pacific Ocean between 1768 and 1779. He mapped the coasts of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia.
- Drake
- Francis Drake was the first English captain to sail all the way around the world, on a voyage from 1577 to 1580. In 1581 he was knighted on board his ship, the Golden Hind.
- Earhart
- Amelia Earhart was a pilot who explored by air. In 1932 she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and in 1937 she disappeared over the Pacific while trying to fly around the world.
- Hudson
- Henry Hudson sailed up the river now named for him in 1609 while working for the Dutch. Hudson Bay in Canada is also named after him.
- Lewis
- Meriwether Lewis was chosen by President Thomas Jefferson to lead the Corps of Discovery, which set out in 1804 to explore the lands west of the Mississippi River all the way to the Pacific.
- Magellan
- Ferdinand Magellan led a Spanish fleet that set out in 1519 and became the first to sail around the world. Magellan died in the Philippines in 1521, and Juan Sebastian Elcano brought the last ship home in 1522.
- Polo
- Marco Polo was a merchant from Venice who traveled to China in the 1270s and spent years at the court of the ruler Kublai Khan. His book about the journey made Europeans curious about Asia.
- Sacagawea
- Sacagawea was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who traveled with Lewis and Clark from 1805 to 1806, carrying her baby son. She helped as an interpreter and helped the group trade for horses with the Shoshone.
- Sally Ride
- In 1983 Sally Ride flew aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger and became the first American woman in space. She later worked to get more girls interested in science.
Added in Medium and Hard (8)
- Amundsen
- Roald Amundsen of Norway led the first team to reach the South Pole, arriving on December 14, 1911. His group used skis and sled dogs to cross the ice.
- Balboa
- Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the narrow land of Panama in 1513 and became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas. Panama's money, the balboa, is named for him.
- Cabot
- John Cabot, an Italian navigator sailing for England, reached the coast of North America in 1497, probably near Newfoundland. His voyage became the basis for later English claims in North America.
- Cartier
- Jacques Cartier explored the Saint Lawrence River for France in the 1530s. The name Canada comes from kanata, an Iroquoian word for village that he heard there.
- Champlain
- Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City in 1608 and mapped much of the region. He is often called the Father of New France, and Lake Champlain carries his name.
- De Soto
- Hernando de Soto led a Spanish expedition through what is now the southeastern United States from 1539 to 1542. His army harmed many Native communities, and his men brought diseases that spread widely.
- Ponce de Leon
- Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spanish explorer and the first governor of Puerto Rico. In 1513 he reached Florida and named it. The story that he was hunting for a Fountain of Youth is a legend.
- Vasco da Gama
- A Portuguese navigator who in 1497 and 1498 became the first European to reach India by sailing around the southern tip of Africa.
Added in Hard (11)
- Cousteau
- Jacques Cousteau was a French ocean explorer who helped invent the Aqua-Lung, an early scuba system, in 1943. His films showed millions of people life under the sea.
- Henson
- Matthew Henson was an African American explorer and skilled navigator on Robert Peary's 1909 expedition to the North Pole. He learned the Inuit language and was key to the team's survival.
- Hillary
- Edmund Hillary, a beekeeper from New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay were the first climbers confirmed to reach the top of Mount Everest, on May 29, 1953.
- Ibn Battuta
- Ibn Battuta was a traveler from Morocco who set out in 1325 and spent nearly 30 years journeying across North Africa, the Middle East, India, and China. He later described his travels in a famous book.
- La Salle
- The French explorer La Salle traveled down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico in 1682. He claimed the region, long home to many Native nations, for France and named it Louisiana.
- Leif Erikson
- Leif Erikson was a Norse explorer who reached North America around the year 1000, about five centuries before Columbus. A Norse site at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland shows they really were there.
- Peary
- Robert Peary led several Arctic expeditions with Matthew Henson and claimed to reach the North Pole in 1909, though historians still debate whether they made it all the way.
- Shackleton
- Ernest Shackleton led an Antarctic expedition whose ship, Endurance, was trapped and crushed by sea ice in 1915. Through his leadership, all 28 members of the crew survived.
- Tenzing
- Tenzing Norgay was a Sherpa mountaineer who had joined several earlier Everest expeditions before reaching the summit with Edmund Hillary in 1953.
- Vespucci
- Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian navigator who sailed along South America around 1500 and argued it was a new continent. The name America comes from his first name.
- Zheng He
- Zheng He was a Chinese admiral who led seven great voyages between 1405 and 1433. His fleets of huge treasure ships sailed across the Indian Ocean as far as the east coast of Africa.
A few facts to share while you solve
- America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian navigator whose writings described the lands across the Atlantic as a New World. A mapmaker put the name America on a world map in 1507.
- Ferdinand Magellan named the Pacific Ocean. He called it Mar Pacifico, meaning peaceful sea, because the waters were calm when his ships first entered it.
- Sacagawea appears on the US golden dollar coin, which was first issued in 2000, with her baby son, Jean Baptiste, on her back.
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 | 12 × 12 | The 12 most familiar words, reading forward across and down. |
| Medium | 20 | 15 × 15 | Twenty words across, down and diagonally. No backwards words. |
| Hard | 31 | 17 × 17 | 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 explorers word search: all 31 words on a 17 × 17 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 explorers 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
Which explorers are in this word search?
Easy uses 12 well-known names, like Columbus, Magellan, Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, Earhart, and Armstrong. Medium adds Champlain, Cartier, Balboa, and Vasco da Gama, and hard uses the full list, with polar explorers like Peary and Shackleton, Everest climbers Hillary and Tenzing, and travelers such as Zheng He and Ibn Battuta.
How do the notes handle the effects of exploration on Native peoples?
The notes stick to plain facts. Where an expedition caused real harm, such as the arrival of Columbus in the Caribbean or de Soto's march through the Southeast, the note says so in age-appropriate words. Teachers can use these notes to start a discussion about the people who already lived in the lands explorers reached.
How can I use this puzzle in a social studies class?
After solving, give students a blank world map and have them mark where each explorer traveled, using the notes as a guide. Students can also arrange the names on a timeline from Leif Erikson around 1000 to Sally Ride in space in 1983.
Is there an answer key for this explorers 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 31 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.
