Christmas word search to print or play

Rules

• Every Christmas word in the list under the grid is hidden in the grid in a straight line.
• On the easy level words read left to right or top to bottom only.
• On the hard level words may also run diagonally and may be written backwards.
• Words may cross and share a letter, and each listed word is in the grid exactly once.
• On screen, tap the first letter of a word and then its last letter. On paper, circle it.

What is in the Christmas list, and how to use the puzzle

The Christmas list is the longest on the site and draws on three parts of the holiday. There is the living room: tree, star, bauble, tinsel, garland, wreath, stocking and the chimney above the fireplace. There is the kitchen: cookies, pudding, fruitcake, eggnog and peppermint. And there are the old words of the season: carol, angel, shepherd, manger, nativity, advent and yuletide. Santa, his sleigh, the reindeer and the elves in the workshop are there as well, without any names from films or songs.

For a class in the last week of term, print the easy grid. Its words are short and run in the two directions children read in, so a seven-year-old can finish it alone. If you want every child to have the same sheet, print one numbered puzzle for all; if you want to stop copying, print the next number for the next row of desks. Print with solution gives you the answer sheet to mark with.

At a family gathering the hard grid makes a good slow game for the table after the meal. Put one copy between two people and let them take turns, or give each guest a copy and see who finds mistletoe first. Long words such as nutcracker and peppermint are the best place to begin: in a grid of this size they fit in very few places, and once they are circled the short words such as gift and tree stand out against them.

Tips

• Look for the rare letters first. Yuletide begins with a Y and jolly with a J, and there are few of either in the grid.
• Double letters catch the eye: the LL of holly, bells and jolly, the GG of eggnog, the PP of wrapping and peppermint.
• Each day's grid picks different words from the list, so the puzzle on Christmas Eve is not the one you solved at the start of Advent.
• Tick Large print under the puzzle before printing for young children or for older eyes.
• Copy link gives the address of the exact numbered puzzle, which is handy for a class page or a family group chat.

How these puzzles are made and checked

A separate scan reads the finished grid from every cell in all eight directions. Every listed word must be found exactly once, at the stored position, and the grid must not spell a word from our deny list outside the listed words.

The puzzle of the day is chosen by the date on your device: puzzle 1 was the puzzle for 1 January 2026, and the number goes up by one each day. Easy: 366 puzzles, so the same puzzle comes round again after 366 days. Hard: 366 puzzles, so the same puzzle comes round again after 366 days. Every number stays open in the archive control above the grid. More detail is on the page how the puzzles are made and checked.