About this puzzle
May is the month when gardens fill in and school years wind down, at least across most of the Northern Hemisphere. This May word search mixes spring nature, like Lilac, Pollen, Bumblebee, and Hummingbird, with the month's big days: May Day and its maypole, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, Teacher Appreciation Week, and Memorial Day with its red poppies.
End-of-year words are here too, with Field Day, Picnic, and Graduation, plus the emerald birthstone and the hawthorn birth flower. Teachers can hand it out during the last busy weeks of school, and families can tuck it into a Mother's Day card or bring it along on a long weekend trip. Every word has a short note below explaining why it belongs in May.
The 30 words in this puzzle
Every word, with a short note. Handy for teaching the vocabulary before or after solving.
In every version (12)
- Baseball
- By May, baseball is in full swing, from Little League fields to the major leagues. The Major League season begins in late March or early April and runs into the fall.
- Bicycle
- May is National Bike Month in the United States. Many communities hold bike to school and bike to work days to encourage safe, healthy riding.
- Blossom
- Apple and cherry trees burst into blossom in spring. When bees pollinate an apple blossom, it can grow into an apple by late summer or fall.
- Bouquet
- A bouquet is a bunch of flowers arranged together. Carnations became a classic Mother's Day flower because they were the favorite of Anna Jarvis's mother.
- Garden
- In much of the country, May is the main month for planting vegetable gardens, once the danger of a late frost has passed.
- Ladybug
- Ladybugs are a gardener's friend in spring because they eat aphids, tiny insects that damage plants. One ladybug can eat thousands of aphids in its lifetime.
- Lilac
- Lilacs bloom in late spring with sweet-smelling purple, pink, or white flower clusters. The purple lilac is the state flower of New Hampshire.
- Mothers Day
- Mother's Day in the United States is the second Sunday in May. Anna Jarvis led the push for the holiday, and President Woodrow Wilson made it official in 1914.
- Picnic
- Memorial Day weekend is often called the unofficial start of summer in the United States, and many families celebrate with picnics and cookouts.
- Poppy
- Red poppies became a symbol of remembrance after the poem In Flanders Fields. A teacher named Moina Michael started the tradition of wearing them in the United States.
- Teacher
- Teacher Appreciation Week usually falls in the first full week of May. Students often thank their teachers with cards, drawings, and handwritten notes.
- Tulip
- Tulips bloom in many gardens in late April and May. They became famous in the Netherlands in the 1600s, when rare tulip bulbs sold for huge sums of money.
Added in Medium and Hard (8)
- Bumblebee
- Bumblebees are fuzzy bees that can fly in cooler weather than many other insects. In spring, queen bumblebees search for a place to start a new colony.
- Field Day
- Field day is an end-of-year school tradition with outdoor games like sack races, tug of war, and water balloon tosses. It celebrates teamwork more than winning.
- Graduation
- Many high schools and colleges hold graduation ceremonies in May and June. Graduates often wear caps and gowns and move their tassel from right to left.
- Lawn Mower
- Grass grows quickly in May, so lawn mowers come out of the garage. Englishman Edwin Budding invented the first lawn mower in 1830.
- Maypole
- On May Day, May 1, dancers in parts of Europe and North America weave colorful ribbons around a tall pole called a maypole to welcome spring.
- Memorial Day
- Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, honors the members of the U.S. military who died while serving. Many towns hold parades and decorate graves with flags.
- Pollen
- Pollen is a fine powder made by flowers. When bees and other insects carry it from flower to flower, plants can make seeds and fruit.
- Tadpole
- In spring, frog eggs in ponds hatch into tadpoles. Tadpoles breathe with gills and swim with tails, then slowly grow legs and lungs as they turn into frogs.
Added in Hard (10)
- Asparagus
- Asparagus is one of the first vegetables of spring, and May is its peak season in many places. The spears grow so fast they can shoot up several inches in a day.
- Cinco de Mayo
- Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May in Spanish. It remembers a Mexican victory at the Battle of Puebla in 1862 and is not Mexico's Independence Day.
- Emerald
- Emerald is the May birthstone. This deep green gem is a type of the mineral beryl, and Colombia is famous for producing some of the finest emeralds.
- Flower Moon
- Flower Moon is a traditional name for May's full moon, because so many wildflowers are blooming across North America at this time of year.
- Hawthorn
- Hawthorn is a traditional May birth flower, along with lily of the valley. In England, hawthorn blooms so reliably in May that it is nicknamed the may tree.
- Heritage
- May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States, celebrating the history and cultures of these communities.
- Hummingbird
- Ruby-throated hummingbirds return to the eastern United States in spring. Many fly nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico on their way north.
- Nurses Week
- National Nurses Week runs from May 6 to May 12 in the United States. It ends on the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.
- Rhubarb
- Rhubarb's tart red stalks are ready to pick in spring and are often baked into pies with strawberries. Only the stalks are eaten, because the leaves are poisonous.
- Taurus
- People born from about April 20 to May 20 have the zodiac sign Taurus, the bull. The Taurus constellation holds the Pleiades, a star cluster also called the Seven Sisters.
A few facts to share while you solve
- No other month of the year starts on the same day of the week as May, in both regular years and leap years.
- May is named after Maia, a goddess the ancient Romans connected with growth and the spring season.
- Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is in May partly because the first Japanese immigrants arrived in the U.S. on May 7, 1843, and the transcontinental railroad, built with the help of many Chinese workers, was completed on May 10, 1869.
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 | 30 | 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 may word search: all 30 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 may 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 holidays are in the May word search?
The puzzle includes May Day through Maypole, plus Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, Teacher Appreciation Week, Memorial Day, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The rest of the words cover spring nature, end-of-school fun, and the May birthstone and birth flower.
Can I give this puzzle with a Mother's Day card?
Yes. Mother's Day and Bouquet are both in the list, and the rest of the words are bright spring words that suit a card or a quiet breakfast-in-bed activity. If you want a puzzle all about moms, try our Mother's Day word search.
How do you explain Memorial Day to young kids?
A simple way is to say Memorial Day is when Americans remember the people in the military who died while serving the country. Families may visit cemeteries, place flags, or wear a red poppy. The notes for Memorial Day and Poppy give a short, gentle starting point.
Is there an answer key for this may 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 30 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.
