Family Word Search
This family word search hides words like mother, father, brother to find. Play it free online or print the PDF with the answer key, a handy family 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.
- RELATIVE
- DAUGHTER
- ANCESTOR
- GUARDIAN
- GRANDSON
- BROTHER
- SIBLING
- HUSBAND
- MOTHER
- FATHER
Did you know?
- mother
- A mother can carry her child's cells in her own body for decades after birth, a swap scientists call microchimerism.
- father
- A new father's testosterone tends to dip after his baby arrives, a hormone shift linked to more nurturing, hands-on care.
- brother
- Brother shares an ancient root with words across Europe and India, hinting at one ancestor language spoken thousands of years ago.
- sibling
- The word sibling nearly vanished from English for centuries and was revived by scientists in the early twentieth century.
- relative
- In English the word relative once simply meant related, and only later came to name the people you are connected to.
- husband
- Husband first meant a household master or farmer, from Old Norse roots for house and dweller, before it meant a married man.
- daughter
- The word daughter appears in nearly every Indo-European language, and one old theory linked it to a word for milking.
- ancestor
- Mathematical models suggest every person alive today shares a common ancestor who lived just a few thousand years ago.
- guardian
- A legal guardian can make decisions for a child without being the parent, a role courts have recognized for centuries.
- grandson
- In royal families a grandson often inherited the throne when his own father died before the reigning king did.
- toddler
- The word toddler comes from toddle, describing the unsteady walk of a child just learning to stay on its feet.
- cousin
- Marry your first cousin and your children share great-grandparents, which is why many countries set rules about it.
- household
- For most of history a household included not just family but servants, apprentices, and lodgers all under one roof.
- grandma
- The grandmother hypothesis suggests women live long past menopause because helping raise grandchildren boosts a family's survival.
- twin
- Identical twins share the same DNA but never the same fingerprints, since ridges form partly from random touch in the womb.
Trivia
Roughly how often do identical twins occur worldwide: about one birth in 250, in 1,000, or in 5,000?
About one birth in 250.
What name is given to the diagram that maps a person's relatives across many generations?
A family tree (or genealogy).
Besides humans, which ocean mammal is known for grandmothers that live long past their breeding years?
The orca, or killer whale.
What word describes a child's relatives by marriage, such as a spouse's mother?
In-laws (mother-in-law, and so on).
What term means children born from a single pregnancy, such as twins, triplets, or quadruplets?
Multiples (a multiple birth).
In their words
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Leo Tolstoy
Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me.
Fred Rogers
Is this family word search free to print?
This family word search is a free printable puzzle with 10 hidden words in an 11×11 grid. Find words like RELATIVE, DAUGHTER, ANCESTOR 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 Family word search
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Play →or printSources: Jim twins reared apart, reunited at 39 (The Guardian) · Killer whale grandmothers boost survival of calves (University of York) · Grandmother hypothesis · Microchimerism (mother carries child's cells)
Word list, facts & trivia researched and compiled by Sam Letterman — spotted a mistake? Tell us and we’ll fix it.