About this puzzle
More than half of this list is instruments, chosen so each orchestra family is represented: strings like Violin, Cello, and Harp, woodwinds like Flute and Clarinet, brass like Trumpet and Tuba, and percussion like Drum and Xylophone. The other half covers the vocabulary of reading and describing music, including Tempo, Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Octave, Crescendo, and Treble Clef.
Music teachers like having it on hand for sub days, end-of-term classes, or the first week of band. The notes explain each term in plain language, with a bit of history, such as why the piano was named for playing both soft and loud. Choir kids, piano students, and grown-up music lovers will each spot plenty of familiar words.
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)
- Drum
- A percussion instrument with a skin or plastic head stretched over a frame. Hitting the head makes it vibrate, and drums are among the oldest instruments people play.
- Flute
- Although most flutes are made of metal, the flute belongs to the woodwind family. Players blow across an opening instead of through a reed.
- Guitar
- Most guitars have six strings, usually tuned E, A, D, G, B, E from lowest to highest. Players strum or pluck the strings while pressing them against frets.
- Harp
- A concert pedal harp has 47 strings and seven pedals for changing pitch. The C strings are usually colored red to help harpists find their place.
- Melody
- A series of single notes that forms a tune you can hum or sing. In most songs, the melody is the part people remember.
- Piano
- Invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Italy around 1700, it was first called the pianoforte, meaning soft-loud. Pressing a key makes a felt hammer strike a string.
- Saxophone
- Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone and patented it in 1846. It is made of brass but counts as a woodwind because it uses a reed.
- Song
- A song is a piece of music meant to be sung, usually with words called lyrics. Most popular songs repeat a catchy section called the chorus.
- Trumpet
- The highest-pitched instrument in the brass family. Players buzz their lips into a cup-shaped mouthpiece and use three valves to change notes.
- Tuba
- The largest and lowest-pitched instrument in the brass family. In a band or orchestra, the tuba often plays the bass line that holds the music together.
- Violin
- The smallest and highest-pitched member of the string family. Its four strings are tuned G, D, A, and E, and it is usually played with a bow.
- Xylophone
- A percussion instrument with wooden bars struck by mallets. Its name comes from Greek words meaning wood and sound.
Added in Medium and Hard (8)
- Banjo
- The banjo has a round body with a tight, drumlike head, which gives it a bright, twangy sound. It grew from instruments brought to America by enslaved West Africans.
- Cello
- A large string instrument played sitting down, with the body held between the knees. Its warm range is often compared to the human voice.
- Choir
- A choir is a group of singers performing together. Choir voices are often grouped from high to low as soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.
- Clarinet
- A woodwind with a single reed clamped to its mouthpiece. Its wide range runs from a dark, low tone to bright, high notes.
- Conductor
- The conductor leads an orchestra or choir, using hand motions or a thin stick called a baton to show the tempo and cue each section.
- Rhythm
- The pattern of long and short sounds and silences in music. Clapping along to a song is a simple way to feel its rhythm.
- Tempo
- The speed of a piece of music, often measured in beats per minute. Italian words like adagio for slow and allegro for fast describe tempo.
- Trombone
- A brass instrument that changes pitch with a long sliding tube called a slide, instead of the valves found on trumpets and tubas. Its sound is warm and bold.
Added in Hard (10)
- Bassoon
- The bassoon is the deep-voiced member of the woodwind family. Its tube is about eight feet long, so it folds back on itself to be playable.
- Chord
- Three or more notes played together. A basic chord with three notes stacked in thirds is called a triad.
- Crescendo
- An Italian word meaning growing, used to tell musicians to gradually get louder. It is often marked with a long, opening wedge symbol.
- Harmony
- Different notes sounding at the same time in a way that supports the melody, like a choir singing in parts.
- Metronome
- A metronome clicks a steady beat to help musicians keep tempo while practicing. Tempo is measured in beats per minute, so a setting of 60 clicks once each second.
- Oboe
- The oboe is a woodwind played with a double reed, two thin pieces of cane that vibrate together. Orchestras traditionally tune to the oboe's A before a concert.
- Octave
- The distance between one note and the next note with the same letter name, eight white keys apart on a piano. The higher note vibrates twice as fast.
- Orchestra
- A large group of musicians organized into strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion, led by a conductor. A full symphony orchestra can include around 100 players.
- Tambourine
- A tambourine is a small hand drum or frame with pairs of metal jingles set into its rim. Players shake it or tap it to add a bright, rattling sound.
- Treble Clef
- Also called the G clef, this symbol curls around the staff line for the note G above middle C. It is used for higher instruments and voices.
A few facts to share while you solve
- Flutes carved from bird bone and mammoth ivory found in caves in southern Germany are more than 40,000 years old, making them some of the oldest known instruments.
- Ludwig van Beethoven kept composing after he lost most of his hearing, including his famous Ninth Symphony.
- Most orchestras tune to the note A, and the oboe usually plays that tuning note for everyone else.
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 | 30 | 16 × 16 | 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 music word search: all 30 words on a 16 × 16 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 music 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
Does this music word search include instruments or music terms?
Both. Most of the words are instruments, covering strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion, and the rest are music terms like Tempo, Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Chord, and Crescendo. That balance makes it useful in general music class as well as band or orchestra.
Is this puzzle good for a music class sub plan?
Yes. Students can solve it without any instruments or special knowledge, and the notes give a substitute something accurate to read aloud. A quick follow-up is asking students to sort the instruments into their orchestra families.
Why is the flute in the woodwind family if it is made of metal?
Instrument families are based on how sound is produced, not what the instrument is made of. Early flutes were wooden, and like other woodwinds, the flute makes sound from air vibrating inside a tube rather than from buzzing lips, as brass instruments do.
Is there an answer key for this music 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.
