Word finds are puzzles that consist of a large number of letters that are positioned vertically and horizontally with the main focus being to hide specific words within them. A word find puzzle can help students improve their memory and focus. The key element of these puzzles is that they can grossly help you increase your ability to recognize patterns in words. Once the brain has time to soak in a word, you should be able to break it apart and find key elements. The educational component of a word find is substantial, but the activity itself is fun and engaging for students. Word finds have a poor reputation in the educational community and is often passed off as having little to no value. Some administrators refer to them as a form of busywork, but the benefits are many. The evident value is in word recognition, especially when a word bank is not provided.
Printable Word Finding Worksheets
Click the buttons to print each worksheet and answer key.
1st Grade Vocabulary
Find the terms from the box in the puzzle. All the vocabulary that is used here are leveled for 1st grade students.
2nd Grade Word Find
Where are those little guys hiding? These are commonly used 2nd grade terms that they will see early in the school year.
5th Grade
Even though all the words that you are finding are things people can do, they are all leveled for the 5th grade student. All of these guys can be considered verbs when used in the right context.
6th Grade
Vocab. that goes to the extreme. They will heighten your use of them in your every day language at the 6th grade level. This can be an elementary or middle level based on your school district.
8th Grade Word Find
This worksheet will require some thought. So take your time. The placement of the terms in the matrix is definitely not obvious.
9th Grade
Words that stress some emotion. The may make your face move a bit. They also get more difficult to uncover in the puzzles.
10th Grade
Do you know what all these mean? I'm not sure on a few. A great time to get in on those SAT skills.
11th Grade
Things that people do or think about. Most students will not know the term 'listless' or at least how to use in their own language.
12th Grade Word Find
Vocabulary that tells you if you are ready for college. You will find many of these terms on standardized tests.
High School Vocabulary Word Find
I would think of the puzzle as upside down. It will help you locate the terms quicker and more effectively.
1st Grade Puzzle Version 2
All of these guys house things. We added this additional section because many different teachers requested it.
3rd Grade Version 2
These all point to places or things. This is the second in the series. Version 1 can be found above.
11th Grade Set 2
Why would you not focus on the vowels when working on this puzzle? They all build off of that foundation.
12th Grade Word Find #2
I have two Bachelors and a Masters, but I had to look up three of these words myself.
Elementary School Vocabulary
Words that establish a position a person can take or force on an object.
How Word Finding Worksheets Improve Vocabulary and Spelling
Word finding worksheets are among the most effective methods to improve a child's vocabulary and spelling. Teachers and parents use these types of puzzles to help their kids learn new vocabulary creatively. If you struggle with teaching your students or kids to spell different words, we have all the reasons to back up these types of worksheets.
Many teachers speak against the use of these types of activities. They rely on more advanced methods of enhancing the students' vocabulary and spelling. While this may be correct, these are tried and true helpful activities for students and they can effectively improve vocabulary learning.
The Benefits
They Improve Word Recognition
They contain many different letters of the alphabet. At first, they may be overwhelming to look at. However, if you teach your students to focus on horizontal, vertical, and diagonal directions, they can start to develop word recognition. To save the frustration, you can start with easier terms that students will be confident with. You may ask your students to focus on smaller terms that contain less letters.
For example, you can ask your students to locate the words" Top," "Hat," "Car," etc., to help them understand the concept of a word find. Once they get the idea, you can proceed to complex words.
They Enhance Contextual Vocabulary
One of the top benefits of using the word find activities is contextual vocabulary learning. You can take different contexts or scenarios to improve your students' knowledge of grade leveled vocabulary. If you want them to learn words related to traveling, you can ask them to think about how they would travel from home to school. This technique can help them develop a picture in their heads and find the names of all the associated items.
They help you build your context clue library and increase student recognition within semantics. An undeniable truth is that they can improve your ability to spell. In this selection of word find worksheets you will see that we begin by focusing on vocabulary that are leveled by grade. These vocabulary lists are then grouped into school segments (primary, elementary, middle school, high school) to provide as a more general resource for teachers and students. In all cases the work is setup up in a similar way. You will be tasked to find the words that are listed in the bank that is given at the bottom of the worksheet.
For example, travel-related things include a car, a bicycle, a road, etc. By finding these words, your students can improve their vocabulary, spelling, and contextual use of new terms in their own language.
They Improve Pattern Recognition
Word find activities focus on individual alphabet learning. By focusing on each letter of a word, students can understand the typical patterns of spelling different vocabulary terms. You can ask your students to identify the words with similar sounds and spelling to help them recognize the pattern.
For example, the words "There," "Them," and "Thank" start with the same two alphabet letters. Similarly, the words "Chart," "Chop," and "Champion" use the same two letters in the beginning.
They Increase Vocabulary Knowledge
Word finds enable kids to learn new words. You can use advanced worksheets to enhance your students' vocabulary knowledge. The most effective way to teach new words is by adding fewer complicated terms on the sheet. If your students have to search for too many complicated words at once, they may not be able to remember them.
For example, you can ask them to locate the word "Organize" among all the other simpler terms, including "Cat," "Stay," "Dash," "Grow," etc.
They Induce Creativity
Besides the vocabulary and spelling improvement, word finding activities help induce creativity in the students. Many schools rely on using traditional teaching methods. While they may work great for many students, others can lose interest in learning new ideas. You can engage your students in effective learning by using creative techniques like these puzzles.
If you want to make it more interesting, you can also create visual worksheets to enhance the visual learning of your students.
Summing Up
Teaching students to learn vocabulary and spelling in the early stages of their school life can be difficult. Learning activities like word find games can help you boost your students' confidence by learning new terms daily.