About this puzzle
Walk through any kitchen and you'll pass most of this list: the refrigerator and stove, the dishwasher and faucet, the skillet on the burner, and the drawer of small tools like tongs, a ladle, and a vegetable peeler. A few words, such as pantry, apron, and cupboard, have surprisingly old histories, and the notes share where those names came from along with a practical tip or two.
This one is popular for family and consumer science classes, life-skills lessons, and ESL vocabulary practice, since every word names an object students can point to. It also makes a calm activity for anyone waiting on dinner. The longer compound words, like cutting board and oven mitt, are the ones most solvers save for last.
The 32 words in this puzzle
Every word, with a short note. Handy for teaching the vocabulary before or after solving.
In every version (12)
- Apron
- Apron was originally napron. People misheard a napron as an apron so often that the shorter spelling became the standard word.
- Blender
- Bandleader Fred Waring helped popularize the countertop blender in the 1930s with his Waring Blendor, which hospitals used to make soft foods before it caught on in home kitchens.
- Bowl
- Bowls hold soup, cereal, and salad, and big mixing bowls are where batter and dough come together. Their curved sides make it easy to stir without spilling.
- Fork
- Forks were once rare at the dinner table. In much of Europe they did not catch on until the 1600s and 1700s; before that, people ate with knives, spoons, and fingers.
- Kettle
- A whistling kettle sings when steam is forced through a small opening in the spout, making the air vibrate the way breath does in a whistle.
- Microwave
- Engineer Percy Spencer noticed a candy bar melting in his pocket while working near radar equipment in the 1940s. That accident led to the first microwave oven.
- Napkin
- Napkins keep hands and faces clean during a meal. Folding cloth napkins into fancy shapes, like fans or swans, is an old tradition at special dinners.
- Plate
- Plates hold a meal at the table. In the Middle Ages, many Europeans ate off trenchers, thick slices of stale bread that soaked up the juices.
- Sink
- The kitchen sink became shorthand for completeness in the phrase everything but the kitchen sink, which gained popularity in the early twentieth century.
- Spoon
- Spoons are among the oldest eating tools, carved from wood, shell, and bone long before metal ones. In the kitchen they stir, scoop, taste, and measure.
- Stove
- Stovetops run on gas, electric coils, or induction. Induction uses a magnetic field to heat the pan itself, so it only works with magnetic cookware.
- Toaster
- Toast turns brown because of the Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction between sugars and proteins that also flavors seared steak and roasted coffee.
Added in Medium and Hard (8)
- Dishwasher
- Josephine Cochrane patented a practical dishwasher in 1886. She reportedly built it because her servants kept chipping her fine china.
- Freezer
- A freezer keeps food at about 0 degrees Fahrenheit, cold enough to stop germs from growing. That is why ice cream and frozen peas can last for months.
- Ladle
- A ladle is a deep spoon with a long handle for serving soup, stew, or punch. Many ladles hold a standard amount, which helps portion servings evenly.
- Oven Mitt
- Oven mitts must be dry to work. A damp mitt conducts heat quickly, and water in the fabric can turn to steam and burn your hand.
- Spatula
- A spatula is a flat, flexible tool for flipping pancakes or scraping every bit of batter from a bowl. The name comes from a Latin word for a small, flat blade.
- Sponge
- Kitchen sponges scrub dishes and wipe counters, but they stay damp and can collect germs, so it is smart to rinse them well, let them dry, and replace them often.
- Tongs
- Tongs let a cook grab, flip, and turn food without piercing it. Spring-loaded tongs with scalloped tips are a staple at grills and in restaurant kitchens.
- Whisk
- A whisk is a set of looped wires used to beat air into eggs and cream or smooth out lumpy sauces. Whipping cream by hand with one is a real arm workout.
Added in Hard (12)
- Can Opener
- Surprisingly, food cans were invented decades before the can opener. Early cans were so thick that people opened them with a hammer and chisel.
- Colander
- A colander is a bowl full of holes for draining pasta or rinsing produce. The word traces back to the Latin colare, meaning to strain.
- Cupboard
- A cupboard was originally a literal board, a sideboard or shelf for displaying cups and dishes. Doors and enclosed shelves came later, but the name stuck.
- Cutting Board
- Food safety experts recommend a separate cutting board for raw meat. That habit keeps bacteria from spreading to vegetables and bread that won't be cooked.
- Faucet
- Americans say faucet, while people in Britain usually say tap. Many kitchen faucets have an aerator on the tip that mixes air into the stream to reduce splashing.
- Grater
- A box grater has a different texture on each side for shredding, slicing, and zesting. The popular Microplane grater began as a woodworking rasp.
- Pantry
- Pantry comes from the Old French paneterie, a room for storing bread. The root is pain, the French word for bread.
- Peeler
- Swivel peelers have a blade in line with the handle, while Y peelers hold the blade crosswise. Both remove skin thinly, wasting less than a paring knife.
- Refrigerator
- A refrigerator doesn't create cold; it moves heat. Refrigerant absorbs warmth inside and releases it through coils outside. Food safety guidelines say to keep it at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below.
- Rolling Pin
- A rolling pin flattens dough for pie crusts, cookies, and pasta. Many are smooth wood, but marble ones stay cool, which helps keep the butter in pastry dough from melting.
- Saucepan
- A saucepan has tall straight sides, a long handle, and usually a lid. It is the everyday pot for sauces, oatmeal, rice, and boiling eggs.
- Skillet
- Cast iron skillets need seasoning, a thin layer of oil baked on until it bonds to the metal. Good seasoning builds up over years and keeps food from sticking.
A few facts to share while you solve
- Tin cans were in use for decades before the first dedicated can opener was patented in the 1850s. Early cans were opened with chisels, knives, or even hammers.
- Nonstick Teflon was discovered by accident in 1938, when chemist Roy Plunkett found a strange slippery white powder inside a gas cylinder.
- Early home refrigerators used toxic gases such as ammonia and sulfur dioxide as refrigerants, which made leaks dangerous until safer refrigerants arrived.
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 | 32 | 17 × 17 | Every word, in all eight directions including backwards, with look-alike filler letters. |
| Large print | 12 | 10 × 10 | The 12 most familiar words on a small grid with big letters. No backwards words. |
Hard and large print versions
Hard kitchen word search: all 32 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 kitchen word search: the 12 most familiar words on a 10 × 10 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
Is this kitchen word search good for ESL or life-skills lessons?
Yes. Every word is a physical object or room feature, so learners can connect vocabulary to real things. A useful follow-up is a scavenger hunt in a classroom or home kitchen: students find the colander, ladle, grater, and peeler, then use each word in a sentence about cooking.
What kitchen words are hidden in the puzzle?
Hard mode has 32 words: tableware (spoon, fork, plate, bowl), big appliances (refrigerator, stove, microwave, dishwasher), cookware (skillet, saucepan, kettle), hand tools (whisk, tongs, ladle, grater, peeler, colander), and parts of the room itself, like the pantry, cupboard, sink, and faucet. Easy uses the 12 most familiar.
Can younger kids do the kitchen word search?
Kids around seven and up usually do fine on easy mode, where spoon, sink, stove, and apron are quick finds. Older kids can move up to medium or hard, where longer words like refrigerator are good spelling practice. Reading the notes aloud afterward adds fun stories, like how the microwave was invented by accident.
Is there an answer key for this kitchen 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 32 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.
