gingerbreadFind to reveal
A medieval English gingerbread recipe lists honey, breadcrumbs, saffron, and pepper, but no ginger, making its familiar name surprisingly misleading.
Christmas Word Search
Find familiar words. Discover something unexpected.
Puzzle10 words · 11×11 grid · Medium · Answer key included
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🎉 Solved — all 10 words found!
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Find a puzzle word to reveal its fact.
0 of 10 facts revealed
mistletoeFind to reveal
Mistletoe is a parasite that roots into tree branches to steal water and minerals, and its white berries are toxic to people.
reindeerFind to reveal
Reindeer are the only deer in which both sexes grow antlers, and their eyes shift from gold to blue in winter.
stockingFind to reveal
In one Saint Nicholas legend, secretly delivered gold lands in drying stockings, turning laundry beside a fire into a gift tradition.
ornamentFind to reveal
Glassblowers in Lauscha, Germany, began making hollow glass ball ornaments around 1847, and the town still handcrafts them today.
snowmanFind to reveal
One of the oldest known snowman drawings appears in a prayer book from 1380, sketched in the margin by a medieval artist.
presentFind to reveal
Furoshiki wrapping cloths take their name from Japanese for bath and spread, recalling cloth bundles used for clothing at bathhouses.
chimneyFind to reveal
Chimney swifts cling to upright walls instead of perching on branches, turning a chimney's inside surface into a place where birds rest.
sleighFind to reveal
Sleigh bells once warned road users that horses were approaching, giving a sound now associated with holiday music a practical traffic-signal job.
santaFind to reveal
Coca-Cola did not invent the red Santa suit. Haddon Sundblom's ads from 1931 just made an older look famous.
True stories · Gavle, Sweden
The goat that keeps burning
Each Advent in Gavle, Sweden, townsfolk raise a giant goat of straw, a nod to old Nordic Yule customs. The Gavlebocken has towered over the town square since 1966, and almost as quickly a stranger tradition was born: people kept trying to burn it down. Over the decades the great straw goat has gone up in flames again and again, sometimes within hours of being built. The town has tried guards, cameras, and even fireproof coatings to save it. Locals now follow its fate with affection and humor, and a webcam lets the world watch. Whether it survives or burns, the goat draws the community together every winter.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
Dr. Seuss
Trivia
In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, what is the surname of the miser visited by three spirits?
Scrooge (Ebenezer Scrooge).
Which country is widely credited with starting the tradition of the decorated indoor Christmas tree?
Germany.
In the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, what gift is given on the first day?
A partridge in a pear tree.
What red and green flowering plant, named after a U.S. diplomat, is a popular Christmas houseplant?
The poinsettia.
Saint Nicholas, the inspiration for Santa Claus, was a bishop in which ancient region, now part of Turkey?
Myra, in Lycia (Asia Minor).
Trivia · 1 / 5
In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, what is the surname of the miser visited by three spirits?
Scrooge (Ebenezer Scrooge).
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Cupid began as Eros, the powerful Greek god of desire, and only later shrank into the chubby winged baby on cards.
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A butterfly tastes with its feet, drumming on a leaf to check the plant before it lays eggs.
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The German Easter hare, the Osterhase, appears in a written account from 1682.
Play →or printTrue stories · Oberndorf, Austria
A carol written for guitar
On Christmas Eve in 1818, in Oberndorf, Austria, priest Joseph Mohr handed a poem to Franz Gruber and asked for a setting for voices, choir and guitar. Gruber composed the music, and the song was performed that night. It was Silent Night. A familiar explanation says a broken church organ forced the choice of guitar, but the organ failure cannot be established from the surviving account. The known story is already a lovely one: words written by a priest, music supplied by a teacher and organist, and a simple accompaniment that helped carry a new carol. From that village performance, the song traveled far beyond Austria.
I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
Charles Dickens
Find santa, reindeer and sleigh among the words hidden in this puzzle. Play free online or print the puzzle with its answer key.
Is this christmas word search free to print?
This christmas word search is a free printable puzzle with 10 hidden words in an 11×11 grid. Find words like GINGERBREAD, MISTLETOE, REINDEER 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 Christmas word search
Sources: Gavle goat history · Silent Night: documented history and organ legend (Silent Night Museum) · Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Smithsonian) · Haddon Sundblom and the Coca-Cola Santas
Word list, facts & trivia researched and compiled by Sam Letterman — spotted a mistake? Tell us and we’ll fix it.