About this puzzle
Snow days call for something to do once the mittens are drying by the radiator. This puzzle covers the full sweep of the season: the fun parts like sledding, ice skating, and building a snowman, the weather itself, from sleet to a full blizzard, and the ways people and animals cope with the cold, including parkas, igloos, and hibernation. None of it is tied to a particular holiday, so it works from December right through February.
Teachers like it for indoor recess and for the week back from winter break, and the short notes under each word open the door to quick science chats about frostbite or why snowflakes have six sides. Families can print a stack for a cabin weekend or a long car ride to Grandma's. Pick easy for early readers or hard for anyone who wants backward and diagonal words.
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)
- Boots
- Winter boots with thick soles and deep tread keep feet warm and help prevent slips on ice. Waterproof boots matter most, because wet feet lose heat quickly.
- Hot Cocoa
- A warm drink made from cocoa powder, sugar, and milk or water. Cocoa comes from the roasted seeds of the cacao tree, native to the Americas.
- Icicle
- Icicles form when melting snow or ice drips and refreezes, layer by layer. They grow fastest on sunny days when the air stays below freezing.
- Igloo
- A dome-shaped shelter built from blocks of packed snow, traditionally by Inuit hunters. Snow is a good insulator, so an igloo can be much warmer inside than out.
- Mittens
- Mittens keep fingers warmer than gloves because the fingers share one space and warm each other, with less surface area losing heat.
- Penguin
- Most penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere. Emperor penguins raise their chicks during the dark Antarctic winter, huddling together by the thousands to share warmth.
- Polar Bear
- Polar bears live around the Arctic and hunt seals from the sea ice. Under their thick, white-looking fur, their skin is black, which helps soak up heat from the sun.
- Scarf
- A long strip of fabric wrapped around the neck. Covering the neck and lower face helps hold in body heat and warms the air you breathe.
- Sledding
- Riding a sled down a snowy hill. Sleds have been used for hauling loads over snow for thousands of years, long before they became a winter pastime.
- Snowball
- Snow that is just below freezing makes the best snowballs, because a thin film of water on the crystals helps them stick together when you squeeze.
- Snowflake
- A snowflake is a cluster of ice crystals. Because of the way water molecules lock together when they freeze, snow crystals almost always grow with six sides or six arms.
- Snowman
- A figure built by stacking rolled snowballs. Wet, packing snow near the freezing point works best because it sticks together.
Added in Medium and Hard (8)
- Blizzard
- The U.S. National Weather Service defines a blizzard as strong winds of 35 mph or more with blowing snow cutting visibility under a quarter mile for at least three hours.
- Earmuffs
- Chester Greenwood of Farmington, Maine, patented an improved version of earmuffs in 1877. His hometown still celebrates Chester Greenwood Day each December.
- Fireplace
- A fireplace is an open hearth with a chimney that carries smoke out of the house. For centuries it was the main source of winter heat in many homes.
- Hockey
- Ice hockey grew out of stick-and-ball games played on frozen ponds. The first organized indoor game was played in Montreal, Canada, in 1875.
- Ice Skating
- Gliding on ice using bladed boots. Early skates were made from animal bones; metal blades became common in the Netherlands, where people skated on frozen canals.
- Shovel
- Shoveling snow is real exercise, because wet snow can be very heavy. Pushing the snow instead of lifting it, and taking breaks, makes the job easier on your back.
- Snow Angel
- Made by lying on your back in fresh snow and sweeping your arms and legs back and forth. The arm sweeps leave wing shapes, and the legs leave a robe.
- Sweater
- Knitted sweaters trap air between their fibers, and that still air is what keeps you warm. Wearing a sweater under a coat traps even more warm air.
Added in Hard (12)
- Arctic
- The Arctic is the cold region around the North Pole. North of the Arctic Circle, the sun stays below the horizon for at least one full day around the winter solstice.
- Cardinal
- Northern cardinals do not migrate, so the bright red males stand out against winter snow at backyard feeders. The cardinal is the state bird of seven US states.
- Evergreen
- Evergreen trees, like pines, spruces, and firs, keep their needles all winter. Their waxy coating and narrow shape help them lose less water in the cold.
- Frostbite
- Frostbite is an injury where skin and the tissue beneath it freeze. Fingers, toes, ears, nose, and cheeks are most at risk in very cold, windy weather.
- Hibernate
- Hibernating animals slow their heart rate, breathing, and body temperature to save energy through winter. Groundhogs, many bats, and Arctic ground squirrels are true hibernators.
- Parka
- A heavy, hooded winter coat. The word comes from the Nenets language of Arctic Russia, and the design was perfected by Arctic peoples using animal skins.
- Skiing
- People have used skis to travel over snow for thousands of years. The word ski comes from Old Norse, and Norway is often called the birthplace of modern skiing.
- Sleet
- In the United States, sleet means small ice pellets that form when snow melts in a warm layer of air and refreezes before hitting the ground.
- Snowplow
- A vehicle or blade attachment that pushes snow off roads. Many cities pre-treat roads with salt or brine before a storm to keep ice from bonding to pavement.
- Solstice
- The winter solstice, around December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere, has the shortest daylight and longest night of the year.
- Toboggan
- A long, flat sled with a curled-up front and no runners. The word comes from Mi'kmaq, an Algonquian language of eastern Canada.
- Wind Chill
- Wind chill describes how cold it feels on bare skin when wind carries body heat away faster. At 20 degrees with a strong wind, it can feel close to zero.
A few facts to share while you solve
- Earth is actually closest to the sun in early January. Northern winters are cold because of Earth's tilt, which makes sunlight strike at a lower angle and gives fewer hours of daylight.
- Fresh snow is mostly trapped air, which is why it insulates so well. A layer of snow can keep the ground beneath it far warmer than the air above.
- Nearly every snow crystal has six-fold symmetry, a pattern that comes from the hexagonal arrangement of water molecules in ice.
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 | 32 | 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 winter 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 winter 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
Does this winter word search include Christmas words?
No. This list sticks to the season, like snow, cold-weather clothing, and animals in winter, so it works for classrooms that avoid holiday themes and stays useful into February. If you want Santa and reindeer, the Christmas word search has those.
How many words are in the winter word search?
Easy and Large print use 12 familiar words like Snowman, Scarf, and Igloo. Medium uses 20, and Hard uses all 32, adding longer finds such as Hibernate, Toboggan, and Wind Chill. Two-word entries are hidden without the space, so look for ICESKATING and HOTCOCOA as single runs of letters.
What age is this winter puzzle for?
Kids around 6 to 8 usually enjoy the easy level, where every word reads forward across or down. Older elementary students fit medium, which adds diagonals. Hard adds backward words and look-alike filler letters, and it keeps teens and adults busy.
Is there an answer key for this winter 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.
