Christmas Word Search
This christmas word search hides words like santa, reindeer, sleigh to find. Play it free online or print the PDF with the answer key, a handy christmas vocabulary activity.
10 words · 11×11 grid · Medium · Answer key included · Free printable PDF
Tap the first and last letter of a word — or use arrow keys and Enter. Dragging works too.
- GINGERBREAD
- MISTLETOE
- REINDEER
- STOCKING
- ORNAMENT
- SNOWMAN
- PRESENT
- CHIMNEY
- SLEIGH
- SANTA
Print this Christmas word search
Did you know?
- santa
- Coca-Cola did not invent the red Santa suit. Haddon Sundblom's ads from 1931 just made an older look famous.
- reindeer
- Reindeer are the only deer in which both sexes grow antlers, and their eyes shift from gold to blue in winter.
- sleigh
- Rudolph began as a 1939 giveaway booklet that Robert May wrote for the Montgomery Ward store and shoppers got free.
- snowman
- One of the oldest known snowman drawings appears in a prayer book from 1380, sketched in the margin by a medieval artist.
- present
- Gift giving at midwinter predates Christmas, going back to the Roman festival of Saturnalia, when people swapped small tokens.
- stocking
- The hung stocking comes from a legend of Saint Nicholas tossing gold coins that landed in socks drying by the fire.
- ornament
- Glassblowers in Lauscha, Germany, began making hollow glass ball ornaments around 1847, and the town still handcrafts them today.
- chimney
- Santa's chimney entrance grew from old tales of Saint Nicholas dropping gifts through the roof onto the hearth below.
- mistletoe
- Mistletoe is a parasite that roots into tree branches to steal water and minerals, and its white berries are toxic to people.
- gingerbread
- Gingerbread houses became popular in Germany after the Brothers Grimm published Hansel and Gretel, with its edible witch's cottage.
- nutcracker
- Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet flopped at its 1892 premiere, yet it is now among the most performed holiday shows worldwide.
- poinsettia
- The poinsettia is named after Joel Poinsett, the American diplomat who brought the plant home from Mexico in the 1820s.
- snowflake
- No two snowflakes are exactly alike because each one forms along a slightly different path through changing temperature and humidity.
- shepherd
- Shepherds watching their flocks by night were, in the Gospel story, the first told of the newborn child's birth.
- nativity
- Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first live nativity scene in 1223 to teach the Christmas story.
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).
In their words
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
Dr. Seuss
I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
Charles Dickens
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
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The egg-laying Easter bunny began as the German Osterhase, a hare written about in 1678.
Play →or printSources: Gavle goat history · Silent Night history (Stille Nacht Gesellschaft) · 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.