About this puzzle
Every word in this puzzle is a real English word that sounds a little ridiculous. Some are about noisy fuss, like Kerfuffle, Hullabaloo, and Brouhaha. Some describe people, like Nincompoop and Persnickety, and some describe nonsense, like Gobbledygook, Gibberish, and Malarkey. A few, like Snollygoster and Collywobbles, are old words worth bringing back.
The notes explain what each word means and, where it is known, where it came from, so kids pick up some impressive vocabulary while they giggle. It is a good pick for a rainy day, a word nerd's birthday, a vocabulary lesson on word origins, or any classroom that needs a break and a laugh.
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)
- Bamboozle
- To trick or fool someone. Writer Jonathan Swift complained about it as a newfangled slang word in 1710, but it stuck around.
- Bonkers
- Wildly silly or a little crazy, as in this rainy day is driving me bonkers. The word started out as British slang in the middle of the 1900s.
- Brouhaha
- A noisy fuss or uproar, often over something that turns out to be small. English borrowed the word from French in the 1800s.
- Doohickey
- A name for a small gadget or gizmo when you can't think of what it is really called. It is an American word first recorded in the early 1900s.
- Gibberish
- Talk or writing that makes no sense. Babies babble gibberish before they learn real words.
- Hodgepodge
- A jumbled mix of different things. It comes from hotchpotch, an old word for a stew made with many ingredients.
- Hullabaloo
- A noisy uproar or excited commotion. Picture a classroom when someone spots a spider on the ceiling.
- Kerfuffle
- A fuss or commotion, often over something small. It comes from a Scottish word, curfuffle, meaning to mess up or put in disorder.
- Lollygag
- To dawdle or waste time instead of getting something done. Grown-ups often say it when kids are slow getting ready for school.
- Malarkey
- Silly talk or nonsense that should not be believed. It is an American word from the early 1900s whose origin is unknown.
- Nincompoop
- A silly or foolish person. It has been used since the 1600s, though nobody is sure where it came from.
- Skedaddle
- To run off in a hurry. The word became popular in the United States during the 1860s.
Added in Medium and Hard (8)
- Flabbergast
- To amaze someone so much they hardly know what to say. Its origin is unknown, but it was already being called a new, fashionable word in the 1770s.
- Gallivant
- To travel around or wander from place to place looking for fun. It may be a playful twist on gallant, an old word for a dashing person.
- Gobbledygook
- Language that is wordy and hard to understand. Texas congressman Maury Maverick coined it in 1944, saying it reminded him of a turkey gobbling.
- Hubbub
- A loud jumble of many voices, like a busy cafeteria at lunchtime. It has been used in English since the 1500s and may come from an old Irish shout.
- Rigmarole
- A long, complicated process or a rambling story. It probably comes from ragman roll, an old word for a long list or document.
- Shenanigans
- Playful mischief or silly tricks. The word first showed up in America in the 1850s, and its origin is still a mystery.
- Thingamajig
- A word to use when you cannot remember or do not know the name of something. Doohickey and whatchamacallit do the same job.
- Wishy Washy
- Weak, unsure, or unable to make up your mind. Long before it described people, it was used for weak, watery drinks and thin soup.
Added in Hard (11)
- Balderdash
- Nonsense, or talk that makes no sense at all. In the 1500s it meant a frothy, jumbled mixture of liquids, and later a jumble of silly words.
- Bumfuzzle
- To confuse or fluster someone, as in that riddle bumfuzzled me. It is an old word still heard in parts of the southern and midwestern United States.
- Cattywampus
- Crooked, out of line, or not sitting straight. The word is especially common in the southern United States, as in that picture frame is hanging cattywampus.
- Codswallop
- A British word for nonsense, as in that excuse is a load of codswallop. It was first recorded in the 1950s, and nobody knows for sure where it came from.
- Collywobbles
- A stomachache or a nervous, fluttery feeling in your belly. You might get the collywobbles right before a big test or a school play.
- Fuddy Duddy
- A fussy, old-fashioned person who frowns at anything new or fun. People have been calling each other fuddy duddies since the early 1900s.
- Hootenanny
- A lively, informal get-together with folk music and singing. This American word from the early 1900s was also once used to mean a thingamajig.
- Lickety Split
- Very fast, as in she cleaned her room lickety split. The phrase is American and dates back to the middle of the 1800s.
- Persnickety
- Very fussy about small details. It is an American version of the Scottish word pernickety.
- Snollygoster
- A clever person who cares more about getting ahead than about doing what is right. President Harry Truman used the word in a 1952 speech.
- Widdershins
- In the direction opposite to the sun's path across the sky, which means counterclockwise. It came into English through Scottish from old German words meaning against the way.
A few facts to share while you solve
- Lewis Carroll made up the words chortle and galumph for his 1871 nonsense poem Jabberwocky, and both ended up in the dictionary.
- Dr. Seuss used the word nerd in his 1950 book If I Ran the Zoo, the earliest known use of the word in print.
- Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a 45-letter word for a lung disease caused by fine dust, is one of the longest words in major English dictionaries.
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 | 13 × 13 | 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 | 20 × 20 | Every word, in all eight directions including backwards, with look-alike filler letters. |
| Large print | 12 | 12 × 12 | The 12 most familiar words on a small grid with big letters. No backwards words. |
Hard and large print versions
Hard funny word search: all 31 words on a 20 × 20 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 funny word search: the 12 most familiar words on a 12 × 12 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
Are all the words in this funny word search real words?
Yes. Every word is a real English word you can find in a dictionary, even Snollygoster and Collywobbles. The notes give each word's meaning and, when it is known, a little about where it came from, so kids can start using them in their own writing.
Is this funny word search appropriate for the classroom?
Yes. The words were chosen because they are silly to say, not because they are rude. Teachers use the puzzle for a lesson on word origins or as a reward activity, and students can try using one funny word correctly in a sentence after solving.
Is there an answer key for this funny 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.
