About this puzzle
This list mixes the shapes students name in early grades with the vocabulary they need once geometry gets serious. Easy sticks to flat shapes like Circle, Square, and Hexagon and solids like Cube, Cone, and Cylinder. Medium adds Rhombus, Trapezoid, Radius, Diameter, and the measuring words Perimeter, Area, and Volume. Hard brings in Vertex, Congruent, Isosceles, Hypotenuse, and Tessellation.
Every term has a plain definition below the grid, so the page doubles as a review sheet before a geometry quiz. Teachers can hand out this geometry word search as a bell ringer for upper elementary or middle school math, and families can use it to brush up on terms that come back in homework year after year.
The 34 words in this puzzle
Every word, with a short note. Handy for teaching the vocabulary before or after solving.
In every version (12)
- Circle
- A circle is the set of all points the same distance from a center point. Its distance around is called the circumference.
- Cone
- A cone has a flat circular base that narrows to a single point at the top. Ice cream cones and orange traffic cones are familiar examples.
- Cube
- A cube is a solid shape with six square faces, 12 edges, and 8 vertices. Dice and sugar cubes are everyday examples you can hold in your hand.
- Cylinder
- A cylinder has two matching circular ends joined by one curved side. Soup cans, drinking straws, and paper towel tubes are all cylinders.
- Hexagon
- A hexagon has six sides. Bees build honeycomb cells as hexagons because the shape fits together with no gaps and uses wax efficiently.
- Octagon
- An octagon has eight sides. A stop sign is the most familiar example, and its unique shape lets drivers recognize it even from behind.
- Pentagon
- A pentagon has five sides. The famous Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, gets its name from its five-sided shape.
- Pyramid
- A pyramid has a flat base and triangular sides that meet at a single point. The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is a square pyramid.
- Rectangle
- A rectangle is a four-sided shape with four right angles. A square is a special rectangle whose four sides are all the same length.
- Sphere
- A sphere is a perfectly round solid, like a ball, where every point on the surface is the same distance from the center. Earth is very nearly a sphere.
- Square
- A square has four equal sides and four right angles. That makes it a special kind of rectangle and also a special kind of rhombus.
- Triangle
- A triangle has three sides and three angles. No matter its shape, the three angles inside a triangle always add up to 180 degrees.
Added in Medium and Hard (8)
- Area
- Area is the amount of flat space inside a shape, measured in square units. A rectangle's area is its length times its width.
- Diameter
- The diameter is a straight line across a circle through its center. It is always exactly twice as long as the radius.
- Perimeter
- Perimeter is the total distance around the outside of a shape. To find it, add up the lengths of all the sides.
- Radius
- The radius is the distance from the center of a circle to its edge. Every radius of the same circle has the same length.
- Rhombus
- A rhombus has four sides that are all the same length. Its opposite sides are parallel, and a square is a rhombus with right angles.
- Right Angle
- A right angle measures exactly 90 degrees, like the corner of a sheet of paper. Diagrams mark it with a small square.
- Trapezoid
- In the United States, a trapezoid is a four-sided shape with at least one pair of parallel sides, though some books say exactly one. In Britain it is called a trapezium.
- Volume
- Volume is the amount of space a solid shape takes up, measured in cubic units. A box's volume is length times width times height.
Added in Hard (14)
- Compass
- A drawing compass has two hinged arms, one with a sharp point and one holding a pencil. Spinning it around the point draws a perfect circle.
- Congruent
- Congruent shapes have exactly the same size and shape. You could slide, flip, or turn one to fit perfectly on top of the other.
- Degree
- Angles are measured in degrees, written with a tiny circle symbol. A full turn is 360 degrees, a straight line is 180, and a right angle is 90.
- Ellipse
- An ellipse is a stretched-out circle with an oval shape. Johannes Kepler discovered that planets travel around the Sun in paths shaped like ellipses.
- Hypotenuse
- The hypotenuse is the longest side of a right triangle, sitting across from the right angle. The Pythagorean theorem links its length to the other two sides.
- Isosceles
- An isosceles triangle has at least two sides of the same length. The two angles opposite those equal sides are always equal to each other too.
- Obtuse
- An obtuse angle is wider than a right angle but narrower than a straight line, so it measures between 90 and 180 degrees. Angles under 90 degrees are acute.
- Parallel
- Parallel lines run side by side and never meet, no matter how far they extend. Railroad tracks are a classic real-world example.
- Polygon
- A polygon is a flat, closed shape made of straight sides. Triangles, squares, and hexagons are polygons, but circles are not, because they have no straight sides.
- Prism
- A prism is a solid with two matching, parallel ends joined by flat sides. It is named for the shape of its ends, so a box is a rectangular prism.
- Protractor
- A protractor is a tool, usually shaped like a half circle, for measuring angles in degrees. Most school protractors measure from 0 to 180 degrees.
- Symmetry
- A shape has line symmetry when you can fold it so both halves match exactly. A butterfly's wings and the letter A are symmetrical.
- Tessellation
- A tessellation is a pattern of shapes that covers a surface with no gaps or overlaps, like floor tiles or honeycomb. Artist M. C. Escher drew famous ones using animals.
- Vertex
- A vertex is a corner point where two or more lines or edges meet. A cube has 8 vertices, and a triangle has 3.
A few facts to share while you solve
- The word geometry comes from Greek words meaning earth measurement, because early geometry was used to measure land.
- Around 300 BC, the Greek mathematician Euclid wrote a book called Elements that taught geometry for more than 2,000 years.
- For any circle, the circumference divided by the diameter always equals the same number, pi, which is about 3.14.
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 | 34 | 18 × 18 | 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 geometry word search: all 34 words on a 18 × 18 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 geometry 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
Why is Angle not a word in this geometry word search?
Angle is hidden inside Triangle, Rectangle, and Right Angle, so it would be found several times in the grid. To keep the answers clean, the list uses Right Angle instead, which also teaches a more specific term.
What grade level is this geometry word search for?
It suits about grades 3 through 8. Shape names like Triangle, Hexagon, and Octagon fit younger students, while Congruent, Perimeter, Volume, and Symmetry line up with upper elementary and middle school math standards.
How can I use this puzzle in a math class?
After solving, have students sketch each shape or draw an example of each term, like a pair of parallel lines or a right angle. Sorting the words into shapes, circle parts, and measurements is another quick review.
Is there an answer key for this geometry 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 34 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.
