December is full of built-in waiting: the last day of school before break, the hour before guests arrive, the long Christmas Eve stretch when bedtime refuses to come. A Christmas word search buys you a pocket of peace in any of those, and printing one takes less time than the argument about pajamas.
Everything on this page is a free printable Christmas word search: no email address, no signup, no watermark over the grid. Each Christmas word search printable is a two-page PDF, puzzle first and answer key second with every word highlighted, in clean black and white on US Letter. Print at 100%. A small footer line says where it came from. That's it.
The regular one: 15x15, 16 words
The class-party puzzle. Sixteen words in a 15x15 grid, diagonals included, nothing backwards, so it plays fair with young readers. It also photocopies cleanly, which matters at 7:50 a.m. when you need thirty copies.
Download the PDF (free, includes answer key)
The full list, so you know what you're handing out:
MISTLETOE, SNOWFLAKE, REINDEER, STOCKING, GINGERBREAD, CAROLERS, PRESENTS, SLEIGHBELLS, EGGNOG, TINSEL, WREATH, CHIMNEY, COOKIES, GARLAND, NUTCRACKER, ORNAMENT
The hard one: 18x18, 20 words
A stocking stuffer that costs a sheet of paper. Fold it up, tuck it in, and watch a grown adult disappear behind it on Christmas morning. Twenty longer words in an 18x18 grid, hidden in every direction, backwards included. JINGLEBELLS is much harder to find when it's allowed to run uphill and in reverse.
Download the PDF (free, includes answer key)
The full list:
POINSETTIA, SUGARPLUM, YULETIDE, NORTHPOLE, SNOWSTORM, FRUITCAKE, CHESTNUTS, FIREPLACE, CAROLING, TWINKLING, WRAPPING, RIBBONS, HOLLYBERRY, WORKSHOP, BLIZZARD, PEPPERMINT, GINGERSNAP, SLEIGHRIDE, MIDWINTER, JINGLEBELLS
If you just need a Christmas word search to print in the next five minutes, either PDF will do it. If your solvers want more of the hard kind after the holidays, the hard word search printables post has two extra grids built the same way.
Make your own Christmas word search
Generic puzzles are for the party table. The one that ends up on the fridge has your people in it: every name at the table, the dog who opens her own presents, the inside joke from the drive to Grandma's, whatever the elf knocked over this year.
Our word search maker builds that one. Type your list, choose the difficulty, and preview the entire finished puzzle in the browser. Free to build, free to preview, no account. The download costs $9.99 once and includes a print-ready PDF bundle in four sizes plus the answer key, with one free round of edits for the cousin whose name you got wrong.
Make a Christmas word search with your own words
And if next year's calendar includes a wedding, the free printable wedding word search set works the same way.
FAQ
Are these Christmas word searches really free?
Yes. No email address and no signup. The answer key ships in the same PDF, and the small footer line naming the source is the entire cost. Print as many as the class needs.
Which puzzle works for a class party?
The 15x15. Nothing runs backwards, so younger kids can solve it without help. The 18x18 is for older kids and adults, ideally ones you'd like to keep quiet until dinner.
Can I put our own family's words in one?
That's the maker above. Build and preview free, pay $9.99 only if you want the download, and use the free edit round when someone's name needs fixing.
Earlier in the season the same format exists for Halloween and Thanksgiving.
