classmateFind to reveal
Four quadruplet brothers from Ohio became Yale classmates together, turning one family's same-age siblings into four members of a university's graduating class.
Back to school Word Search
Find familiar words. Discover something unexpected.
Puzzle10 words · 11×11 grid · Medium · Answer key included
X
U
P
K
C
R
A
Y
O
N
C
M
N
W
C
B
A
O
F
P
F
L
Q
I
C
A
F
E
T
E
R
I
A
X
F
G
P
X
L
V
U
I
I
S
O
O
Z
K
H
U
V
Z
N
I
S
B
R
L
C
O
D
N
N
C
M
M
H
M
L
A
E
E
W
P
I
M
A
C
R
C
B
I
H
Z
V
P
R
T
N
U
S
X
W
C
B
W
A
W
E
U
R
E
C
E
S
S
V
L
S
Z
L
I
U
H
A
L
L
W
A
Y
R
🎉 Solved — all 10 words found!
Did you know?
Find a puzzle word to reveal its fact.
0 of 10 facts revealed
cafeteriaFind to reveal
Some old cafeterias sold hot meals through coin-operated glass doors, letting diners unlock their lunch from a wall of little food compartments.
principalFind to reveal
At England's Summerhill School, children and adults have equal votes in meetings, so the head's vote weighs no more than a pupil's.
backpackFind to reveal
Some Nepalese porters carry loads heavier than themselves using baskets and forehead straps, an unusual alternative to familiar two-strap backpacks.
lunchboxFind to reveal
Early metal lunchboxes were repurposed tobacco tins, and children carried them long before factories made boxes shaped just for school.
scheduleFind to reveal
The word schedule once meant a small slip of paper, from the Latin scedula, before it came to mean a timetable.
hallwayFind to reveal
Japanese pupils often clean school hallways and classrooms themselves, making care of the building part of the school day.
uniformFind to reveal
England's Christ's Hospital school has worn nearly the same blue coat and yellow socks since 1552, the oldest uniform still in use.
crayonFind to reveal
The first Crayola box of 1903 sold for a nickel and held eight colors, including violet, brown, and black.
recessFind to reveal
A nineteenth-century game called graces had players toss hoops between pairs of sticks, giving old-fashioned recess a surprisingly acrobatic version of catch.
True stories · Atuler, Sichuan, China
The climb to class
High in the mountains of Sichuan, China, the children of Atuler village once made one of the world's hardest school trips. To reach class, they descended a cliff face nearly 800 meters tall, gripping ladders made of vines and bare wooden rungs. Photos of small pupils inching down the rock went viral in 2016 and stirred the country. Officials responded the same year, replacing the vines with a sturdy steel staircase of more than 2,500 rungs bolted to the cliff. Later many families were moved to new homes nearer the valley town. The story reminded readers how far some children will go, quite literally, simply to attend school.
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Nelson Mandela
Trivia
On the U.S. pencil hardness scale, which common number do students use for filling in bubble test answer sheets?
The No. 2 pencil.
The yellow pencil core is often called lead, but what soft gray mineral is actually inside?
Graphite.
In ancient Mesopotamia, students learned to write in a school whose name means tablet house. What was it called?
The edubba (eduba).
What rubber attachment did Hymen Lipman patent on the end of a pencil in 1858?
The eraser.
What word names the school break when children can play outdoors?
Recess.
Trivia · 1 / 5
On the U.S. pencil hardness scale, which common number do students use for filling in bubble test answer sheets?
The No. 2 pencil.
More puzzles
Seasonal
Fall Word Search
The word bonfire comes from bone fire, when people burned bones in open community blazes.
Play →or print
Seasonal
Halloween Word Search
The first jack-o'-lanterns were carved from turnips, not pumpkins, in Ireland.
Play →or print
Seasonal
Thanksgiving Word Search
The turkey got its name by mistake, confused with African fowl traded through Turkey.
Play →or print
Seasonal
Winter Word Search
Snow traps air, so a well-built igloo can be much warmer inside than the air outdoors.
Play →or printTrue stories · United States
Filling the empty desks
A box of pencils can be a gift to a teacher as well as to a class. A US federal survey of the 2014-15 school year found that 94 percent of public school teachers spent some of their own money on classroom supplies, without reimbursement. Online wish-list campaigns offer a practical response: donors choose crayons, glue or notebooks from lists posted by teachers and send them to classrooms. The appeal is wonderfully concrete. A stranger does not need to solve every problem in education to help with a shelf that needs stocking. Sometimes the contribution arrives as a parcel full of things children will use tomorrow.
One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.
Malala Yousafzai
Find backpack, crayon and lunchbox among the words hidden in this puzzle. Play free online or print the puzzle with its answer key.
Is this back to school word search free to print?
This back to school word search is a free printable puzzle with 10 hidden words in an 11×11 grid. Find words like CLASSMATE, CAFETERIA, PRINCIPAL hidden across, down, and diagonally. You can play it right here in your browser — tap the first and last letter of a word — or download it as a printable PDF with the full answer key on page two. It's free for personal and classroom use, so teachers can print copies for a whole class with no sign-up and no account. Word searches like this one are a proven way to build vocabulary, spelling, and word-shape recognition, which is why they're a favourite with ESL learners, elementary classrooms, and anyone who likes a quiet puzzle with their coffee.
Print this Back to school word search
Sources: Cliff-village school commute (DW) · Teachers buying supplies (NEA) · Public school teacher classroom spending, 2014-15 (NCES) · Original eight Crayola colors (Crayola) · Atulieer steel ladder and family relocation, historical follow-up (China Daily)
Word list, facts & trivia researched and compiled by Sam Letterman — spotted a mistake? Tell us and we’ll fix it.