12 puzzles · all free to play and print
Horror Word Search
Free Horror word search puzzles to print or play online.
Play online or print
Spooky Night
8 words to find
- GHOST
- MOON
- BAT
- OWL
- WEB
- DARK
- CAT
- FOG
Drag from the first to the last letter of a word, or tap the first letter and then the last. The PDF has the puzzle on page 1 and the answer key on page 2.
All 12 Horror puzzles stay free here. Want them as one printable booklet?
12 printable Horror word search puzzles
twelve puzzles in three levels. Easy puzzles are 10 by 10 grids with eight words across and down, medium puzzles are 13 by 13 grids with twelve words and diagonals, and hard puzzles are 16 by 16 grids with eighteen words in every direction, backwards too. Themes include Classic Monsters, Gothic Settings, Folklore Creatures and Edgar Allan Poe. Every puzzle has an answer key and prints on US Letter or A4. Every one of these 12 puzzles is free: play it online above or print its PDF, with the answer key on page 2. No account, no email.
Easy: across and down 4 puzzles
Medium: across, down and diagonal 4 puzzles
Hard: every direction, backwards too 4 puzzles
Optional · all in one file
Want all 12 in one booklet?
You do not need it: every Horror puzzle above is free to play and to download one by one. The booklet is only for printing them all at once, a 26-page PDF with a cover, a contents page and the answer keys at the back. Buying it also keeps this site free for everyone.
One-time payment, secure checkout with Stripe. US Letter and A4 PDFs, the download link arrives by email.
How to use these Horror word searches
Print a few for a Halloween night, a sleepover, a scary story evening or a book club that reads gothic classics. Teachers can pair the Poe and gothic puzzles with a literature unit, and library programs can run them as a haunted display activity. The easy puzzles stay mild for younger kids. Each PDF has the puzzle on page 1 and the answer key on page 2.
Make your own Horror word search
Add your own words, a name or a class list to these horror words and pick a level. The preview is free; the printable PDF with its answer key is $1.99.
Good to know about Horror word search
Every Horror puzzle on this page is free to play online and free to print as a PDF with its answer key, one by one. Only the optional booklet, all 12 puzzles bundled into one print-ready file, costs money.
The easy puzzles use mild words like ghost, bat, owl, web and haunted house. Nothing is gory, and no movie or game titles are used. The harder puzzles draw on classic gothic books, folklore and film craft.
Master Storytellers lists authors such as Poe, Stoker, Lovecraft and Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe is a hard puzzle with places and words from his stories and poems. Classic Monsters has Dracula and Frankenstein.
Folklore Creatures hides eighteen names from legend, including wendigo, kraken, basilisk, kelpie, selkie, will o the wisp and mothman. It is a hard puzzle with a mix of one-word and multi-word entries.
Easy puzzles (10 by 10, words across and down) work from about age 6. Medium puzzles (13 by 13, diagonals added) suit ages 8 to 11. Hard puzzles (16 by 16, every direction, backwards too) are for older kids and adults.
Page 2 of every PDF is the answer key, with each word marked where it hides. When you play online, the Show answers button marks them on the grid.
Every puzzle comes as a US Letter PDF (8.5 by 11 inches) and an A4 PDF (210 by 297 mm). Print at 100% or Actual size.
Every puzzle on this page plays in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer: drag or tap from the first to the last letter of a word. Nothing to install and no account.
Print as many copies as you need for your home, classroom, church group or care home. Please link to this page instead of uploading the files elsewhere.