November Word Search

About this puzzle

November gets overshadowed by Thanksgiving, but the month has plenty of its own stories. This puzzle starts with Dia de los Muertos on November 1 and 2, with its ofrendas and sugar skulls, then moves through Election Day, Veterans Day and its red poppies, World Kindness Day, and Native American Heritage Month. Clocks fall back early in the month, so kids notice the early sunset almost right away.

Nature has its own November vocabulary in the Northern Hemisphere: woolly bear caterpillars crossing the road, the first snow flurries, busy bird feeders, pecans and pomegranates in season, and the Leonid meteor shower overhead. Topaz, citrine, and mums are the month's birthstones and flower. This November word search pairs well with our Thanksgiving puzzle, since the two lists don't overlap.

The 28 words in this puzzle

Every word, with a short note. Handy for teaching the vocabulary before or after solving.

In every version (12)

Ballot

A ballot is the paper or screen voters use to make their choices in private. The word comes from the Italian ballotta, a small ball once dropped into a box to vote.

Fall Back

In most of the United States, clocks fall back one hour on the first Sunday in November, when daylight saving time ends. Hawaii and most of Arizona don't change their clocks.

Flag

On Veterans Day, American flags line parade routes and fly outside homes and schools to honor the men and women who served in the armed forces.

Flurries

Flurries are light snow showers that don't add up to much on the ground. In many northern states, the first flurries of the season show up in November.

Hot Cocoa

Hot cocoa is a favorite warm drink once November turns chilly. It is made from cocoa powder, which comes from the roasted seeds of the cacao tree.

Kindness

World Kindness Day is celebrated on November 13. Some classrooms mark it with kindness challenges, like writing thank-you notes or helping a neighbor.

Mittens

Mittens keep the fingers together in one pocket, which holds in more body heat than gloves. That is why mittens usually feel warmer on a frosty November morning.

Mums

Mums, short for chrysanthemums, are November's birth flower. They bloom as the nights grow longer, which is why garden centers fill with them in fall.

Pecan

Pecan trees are native to North America, and their nuts are harvested in fall, from about October to December. The pecan is the state tree of Texas.

Poppy

Red poppies grew on the battlefields of World War I and inspired the 1915 poem In Flanders Fields. Many people wear paper poppies to remember veterans.

Scarf

By November, cold mornings arrive in much of the northern United States, and scarves come out of the closet. A scarf is a classic first project for new knitters.

Vote

Americans vote on Election Day in November. Many schools hold mock elections so students can practice voting on things like a class pet's name or a favorite book.

Added in Medium and Hard (8)

Bird Feeder

Bird feeders get busy in November, when wild seeds and insects become harder to find. Project FeederWatch, a bird-counting project for families, starts each November.

Early Sunset

After the clocks change, the sun sets before 5 p.m. in many northern US cities. The earliest sunsets of the year come in early December, a couple of weeks before the winter solstice.

Election Day

Election Day in the United States is the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Congress set that rule in 1845, so the date always lands between November 2 and 8.

Hibernate

Groundhogs and many bats get ready to hibernate in late fall. During hibernation their heartbeat, breathing, and body temperature drop way down to save energy until spring.

Salute

A salute is a gesture of respect. At Veterans Day ceremonies, veterans and service members often give a hand salute during the national anthem and as the flag passes by.

Sugar Skull

Sugar skulls, or calaveras de azucar, are colorful Dia de los Muertos decorations. They are often decorated with bright icing and sometimes have a name written across the forehead.

Topaz

Topaz is one of November's birthstones. Pure topaz is colorless, and tiny impurities or flaws in the crystal can give it shades of golden orange, pink, and blue.

Veterans Day

Veterans Day on November 11 honors everyone who has served in the US armed forces. It began as Armistice Day and was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

Added in Hard (8)

Armistice

An armistice is an agreement to stop fighting. The armistice that ended the fighting of World War I took effect at 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918.

Chickadee

Black-capped chickadees are tiny birds that stay all winter in northern states. They visit feeders often and hide extra seeds in bark and branches to eat later.

Citrine

Citrine is November's other birthstone. It is a yellow to orange kind of quartz, and its name comes from the French word for lemon, citron.

Leonids

The Leonid meteor shower peaks around November 17 or 18. Its meteors come from dust shed by Comet Tempel-Tuttle, and in 1833 it put on a famous storm of shooting stars.

Ofrenda

An ofrenda is a home altar built for Dia de los Muertos, November 1 and 2. Families decorate it with photos, marigolds, candles, and favorite foods to remember loved ones.

Pomegranate

Pomegranates are in season in fall and early winter. Each one is packed with hundreds of juicy seeds called arils, and most US pomegranates are grown in California.

Powwow

November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. Many schools and communities mark it with events like powwows, where people gather for drumming, singing, and dancing.

Woolly Bear

Woolly bears are fuzzy black and rusty-brown caterpillars often seen crossing roads in fall. Folklore says their stripes predict winter, but scientists say they don't.

A few facts to share while you solve

• November comes from novem, the Latin word for nine. It was the ninth month in the early Roman calendar, which began in March.
• The date of Veterans Day is fixed on November 11, no matter what day of the week it falls on, because of the moment the World War I armistice took effect.
• A woolly bear caterpillar can freeze nearly solid over the winter, then thaw out in spring and continue growing until it becomes an Isabella tiger moth.

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.

Hard and large print versions

Hard november word search: all 28 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 november 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

1. Find a word from the list in the grid. Scanning for its first letter is the quickest way.
2. Drag across the word from its first letter to its last. On a phone, you can also tap the first letter, then the last.
3. 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.