2nd Grade Word Search Printable, from Bossy R to Compound Words

Q: What makes a word search 2nd grade level?

A 10 by 10 grid, 10 words and the Easy level, where words run only across and down and none reads backwards. No word is longer than 8 letters; Sunshine is one of the longest.

Q: Is this word search for 2nd graders printable for free?

Yes. These are free printable word searches for 2nd graders: every New puzzle is a new sheet with its own answer key, and Print or save as PDF sends both to the printer. Show answers marks the words on screen.

Q: Is a word search for second graders good practice?

It is spelling practice: to find thunder a child has to check t, h, u, n, d, e, r in order. It does not teach meaning, so each word here has a clue you can print in place of the word list.

A second grade word search from phonics, grammar, math and science lists, ready to print with its answer key.

Name Date

2nd Grade Word Search

Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.

0 of 10 words found

ISLANDIEJN

IMDPTFCVMO

FISOLIDTRU

NLPPLTAAUN

NEACUTMTWW

PCSOOTEFDG

LLTRFUTAKS

AEENHQAIVM

NALOTELRCC

TNRDETYORD

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

CleanCLEAN
SmileSMILE
PopcornPOPCORN
NounNOUN
SolidSOLID
MetalMETAL
PlantPLANT
IslandISLAND
FairFAIR
PastPAST

10 of 24 words from the 2nd Grade list.

Start from a list

Easy: words go across and down.

More options

Show clues, not words

Word list

Large print Lower-case letters Name and date line on paper

The puzzle changes as you go. See the puzzle

Answer key: 2nd Grade Word Search

ISLANDIEJN

IMDPTFCVMO

FISOLIDTRU

NLPPLTAAUN

NEACUTMTWW

PCSOOTEFDG

LLTRFUTAKS

AEENHQAIVM

NALOTELRCC

TNRDETYORD

CLEAN, SMILE, POPCORN, NOUN, SOLID, METAL, PLANT, ISLAND, FAIR, PAST

Next step Find more landforms in a geography puzzle Turn this week's spelling list into a puzzle

All 292 words

Bossy R Words 28

Barn The big farm building where hay and animals are kept. The ar says its name.
Burn To be on fire, or to hurt your skin on something hot.
Carpet A thick soft cover for a floor.
Church A building where people go to pray.
Circus A show in a big tent with clowns and acrobats.
Curl A piece of hair shaped like a spring.
Curve A line that bends with no corners.
Dirt Loose earth, or what makes your hands need washing.
Fork You eat with it. It has a handle and three or four points.
Garden A piece of ground where flowers or vegetables are grown.
Germ A living thing too small to see that can make you sick.
North The direction at the top of most maps.
Porch A covered place to sit at the front door of a house.
Purse A small bag for money.
Scarf A long strip of cloth you wrap around your neck when it is cold.
Serve To bring food to the table, or to work for other people.
Sharp Able to cut, like the edge of a knife or the point of a pin.

Show all 292 words (275 more)

Bossy R Words, continued

Shirt You wear it on the top half of your body. The ir sounds like er.
Skirt Clothing that hangs from the waist.
Smart Quick to learn and good at thinking.
Sport A game with rules that you play with your body, like soccer.
Start To begin.
Thirsty Needing a drink.
Thunder The loud rumble that follows lightning.
Turkey A big farm bird with a fan of tail feathers.
Turn To move around to face a new way. It is also your go in a game.
Whisper To speak so softly that only one person can hear.
Yard The ground around a house. It is also a length of three feet.

Consonant Blends 28

Blend To mix things until they are one. Two letters can do it too.
Blink To shut and open your eyes very fast.
Brush You use it on your hair, your teeth or a painting. It starts with br.
Cloud Tiny drops of water or bits of ice floating together high in the sky.
Crisp Dry and easy to snap, like a cracker or a fall leaf.
Crust The hard outside of a loaf of bread or a pie.
Scratch To rub an itch with your nails, or a thin mark on a table.
Screen The flat front of a phone or a TV where the picture shows.
Scrub To rub hard to get something clean.
Shrimp A small sea animal with a curved body and a thin shell.
Shrink To get smaller.
Snack A small bite to eat between meals. It starts with the blend sn.
Splash The sound and spray when something hits water. It starts with spl.
Spray To shoot out tiny drops of water.
Sprint To run as fast as you can for a short way.
Squeak The tiny high sound a mouse or a door can make.
Squid A sea animal with a long soft body, eight arms and two longer tentacles.
Stamp You stick it on a letter to pay for mailing it.
Stream A small, narrow river.
Strike To hit. In baseball a swing and a miss is one.
String Thin cord for tying a box or flying a kite.
Strong Able to lift heavy things, or hard to break.
Thread Very thin string for sewing. It starts with thr.
Throat The inside of your neck, where food and air go down.
Throne The grand chair of a king or a queen.
Track The rails a train runs on, or the path runners race around.
Trust To feel sure that someone will be honest and keep a promise.
Twist To turn the two ends of something in opposite ways.

Long Vowel Patterns 30

Below Lower than; under.
Brain The part inside your head that thinks and remembers.
Chew To crush food with your teeth.
Child A young boy or girl.
Clean Not dirty. The ea makes a long e.
Clue A hint that helps you solve a puzzle or a mystery.
Coast The land along the edge of the sea.
Field A wide open piece of land for crops, animals or games.
Follow To go along behind someone.
Freeze To turn from a liquid into a solid when it gets very cold.
Ghost A spooky spirit in a story. The h is silent.
Goal Something you work hard to reach, or a point in soccer.
High Far up from the ground.
Light What comes from the Sun or a lamp. The igh makes a long i.
Piece One part of something, like one slice of a pie.
Please The polite word you add when you ask for something.
Reach To stretch out your arm to touch or get something.
Right Correct, or the opposite of left.
Shield A knight held it in front to block a sword.
Sight The sense you use your eyes for.
Slow Not fast.
Smile What your mouth does when you are happy. The i is long and the e is silent.
Sneeze Air bursts from your nose and mouth. Then someone says bless you.
Speak To say words out loud.
Teach To help someone learn.
Today This day, not yesterday and not tomorrow.
Trail A path through the woods or the hills.
Train Railroad cars pulled by an engine. The ai makes a long a.
Wild Living free in nature, not tame.
Window An opening in a wall that lets in light and air.

Compound Words 30

Airplane Air + plane. It has wings and engines and carries people through the sky.
Backpack Back + pack. A bag with two straps for carrying books.
Bathtub Bath + tub. You fill it with warm water to wash.
Bedroom Bed + room. The room where you sleep.
Beehive Bee + hive. The home of a colony that makes honey.
Birthday Birth + day. The day each year when you turn one year older.
Campfire Camp + fire. People sit around it outdoors to keep warm and cook.
Cupcake Cup + cake. A small cake for one person.
Daylight Day + light. The light from the Sun between dawn and dusk.
Doorbell Door + bell. Press it to tell people inside that you are here.
Firefly Fire + fly. A beetle whose body can glow after dark.
Football Foot + ball. A game where teams try to cross a goal line.
Homework Home + work. School work you do after school.
Inside In + side. Within something; not out in the open.
Ladybug Lady + bug. A small round beetle, often red with black spots.
Mailbox Mail + box. Letters are dropped into it.
Notebook Note + book. Pages of lined paper to write on.
Outside Out + side. In the open air, not in a building.
Pancake Pan + cake. A flat round breakfast food cooked on a hot griddle.
Popcorn Pop + corn. A snack that bursts open when it gets hot.
Railroad Rail + road. The tracks that trains run on.
Rainbow Rain + bow. An arch of colors in the sky after a shower.
Raincoat Rain + coat. It keeps you dry in wet weather.
Sailboat Sail + boat. The wind pushes it across the water.
Sandbox Sand + box. A place to dig and build at the playground.
Sidewalk Side + walk. The path for walkers beside a street.
Snowman Snow + man. A figure built from three big snowballs.
Starfish Star + fish. A sea animal that usually has five arms.
Sunshine Sun + shine. The light and warmth of a clear day.
Weekend Week + end. Saturday and Sunday.

Grammar and Writing 29

Alphabet All 26 letters in order from A to Z.
Antonym A word that means the opposite, as hot is to cold.
Author The person who wrote the book.
Chapter One numbered part of a long book.
Comma The mark , that puts a short pause in a list or a date.
Cursive Handwriting in which the letters of a word are joined.
Describe To tell what something looks, sounds or feels like.
Detail A small bit of information that tells more about the main idea.
Draft A first try at a piece of writing, before you fix it.
Edit To fix mistakes in your writing.
Fable A short story that teaches a lesson, often with animals that talk.
Fact Something true that you can check.
Heading The short line above a part of a page that tells what it is about.
Noun A word that names a person, a place or a thing.
Period The dot that ends a telling statement.
Plural The form of a word that means more than one, like cats or boxes.
Poem Writing in short lines that often has a beat.
Prefix A word part added to the front, like un in unhappy.
Question An asking statement. It ends with the mark ?
Retell To tell a story again in your own words.
Rhyme Words do this when they end with the same sound, like cat and hat.
Sentence A group of words that tells a whole idea and ends with a mark.
Suffix A word part added to the end, like ful in helpful.
Syllable One beat of a word. Garden has two.
Synonym A word that means almost the same, as big is to large.
Topic What a piece of writing is mostly about.
Verb A word for an action, like run, think or is.
Verse One part of a poem or a song, a few lines long.
Vowel One of the letters a, e, i, o and u.

2nd Grade Math 30

Addend One of the numbers you add. In 4 + 5 = 9, both 4 and 5 are one.
Array Objects set out in equal rows and columns.
Column A line of things that goes up and down.
Compare To decide which of two numbers is bigger, using the marks > and <.
Cylinder A solid shape like a soup can, with two flat circles and one curved side.
Edge The line where two flat sides of a solid shape meet.
Equation A number sentence with an equal sign, like 7 + 8 = 15.
Even A number you can split into two equal groups, like 2, 4, 6 and 8.
Face A flat side of a solid shape. A cube has six.
Fourths Four equal parts of one whole.
Greater Bigger. 52 is this than 25.
Halves Two equal parts of one whole.
Hexagon A flat shape with six sides, like one cell of a honeycomb.
Hundred Ten tens. The number 100.
Length How long something is from end to end.
Measure To find how long, tall or heavy something is.
Meter A length of 100 centimeters, a little longer than a yard.
Odd A number with one left over when you make pairs, like 1, 3, 5 and 7.
Pattern Something that repeats by a rule, like 2, 4, 6, 8.
Pentagon A flat shape with five sides.
Place Where a digit sits in a number: ones, tens or hundreds.
Quarter A coin worth 25 cents. It is also 15 minutes on a clock.
Regroup To trade ten ones for one ten when you add or subtract.
Row A line of things that goes from side to side.
Subtract To take one number away from another.
Survey To ask many people the same thing and record what they say.
Thirds Three equal parts of one whole.
Triangle A flat shape with three sides and three corners.
Value What a digit is worth. The 3 in 35 is worth thirty.
Vertex A corner point of a shape.

Matter and Materials 30

Absorb To soak up a liquid, as a sponge does.
Bend To make something straight into a curve without breaking it.
Boil To heat a liquid until it bubbles and turns to steam.
Cotton A soft white fiber that grows around the seeds of a plant.
Crumble To break into small dry pieces, as a cookie does.
Fabric Cloth made by weaving threads together.
Frozen Turned hard by cold, like water that has become ice.
Gas Matter that spreads out to fill any space, like the air in a balloon.
Harden To become firm, as wet clay does when it dries.
Heat It warms things up. Enough of it can turn ice to water.
Heavy Hard to lift.
Iron A heavy gray metal that a magnet pulls.
Liquid Matter that flows and takes the shape of its cup, like milk.
Matter Anything that takes up space. Everything you can touch is made of it.
Metal A hard, shiny material such as iron or gold.
Observe To look at something closely to learn about it.
Plastic A light material made in factories. Many bottles and toys are made of it.
Pour To tip a liquid out of a cup or a jug.
Rough Bumpy to the touch, like sandpaper.
Rubber A stretchy material used for tires, balls and erasers.
Shiny Bright because light bounces off it, like a new coin.
Sink To drop to the bottom of the water.
Smooth Even to the touch, with no bumps, like a marble.
Solid Matter that keeps its own shape, like a rock or a desk.
Sponge A soft material full of holes that soaks up water.
Steel A very strong metal made mostly from iron and used in bridges.
Sticky Holding on to what it touches, like tape or honey.
Stretch To pull something so that it gets longer.
Texture How something feels when you touch it.
Wood The hard material that comes from the trunk of a tree.

Plants and Habitats 30

Arctic The icy land and sea around the North Pole.
Beaver A large rodent that cuts down trees to build dams and lodges.
Bison A huge, shaggy animal of the plains of North America, often called a buffalo.
Burrow A hole or tunnel an animal digs to live in.
Cactus A desert plant that stores water in its thick stem and has spines.
Coral Tiny sea animals whose hard skeletons build up into a reef.
Desert A very dry place where little rain falls.
Forest A large area of land covered with trees.
Habitat The place where a plant or an animal lives and finds what it needs.
Jaguar The biggest cat in the Americas, with a spotted coat.
Jungle A thick, warm forest where a lot of rain falls.
Kelp A large brown seaweed that grows in thick underwater forests.
Migrate To travel a long way when the season changes, as many birds do.
Moose The largest kind of deer. The male has wide, flat antlers.
Nectar The sweet liquid in a flower that bees and hummingbirds drink.
Ocean A huge body of salt water.
Octopus A sea animal with a soft body and eight arms that can squirt ink.
Otter A playful animal with thick fur that swims and eats fish.
Penguin A black and white seabird that cannot fly and swims with its flippers.
Plant A living thing with roots and leaves that makes its food from sunlight.
Pollen Yellow dust in a flower. Bees carry it from bloom to bloom.
Pond A small body of still water.
Prairie A wide, flat land of tall grasses with few trees.
Protect To keep something safe from harm.
Salmon A fish that hatches in a river, lives in the sea and swims back to lay eggs.
Seedling A very young plant that has just come up.
Shelter A safe place that keeps an animal out of the weather.
Sloth A very slow animal that hangs upside down in rainforest trees.
Swamp Soft, wet land where trees grow in shallow water.
Walrus A big Arctic sea animal with whiskers and two long tusks.

Land and Water 28

Bay A part of the sea that curves into the land.
Boulder A very large rock.
Canyon A deep, narrow valley with steep rock walls.
Cliff A tall, steep face of rock.
Country A land with its own government and borders, like Canada or Mexico.
Creek A small stream.
Dam A wall built across a river to hold back water.
Dune A hill of sand piled up by the wind.
Flood Water that spills over land that is usually dry.
Gulf A very large bay.
Hill Raised land that is lower and rounder than a mountain.
Island Land with water all around it.
Landform A natural shape of the land, such as a hill or a valley.
Lava Melted rock that flows out of a volcano.
Meadow A field of grass and wild flowers.
Mountain Very high land with steep sides, much taller than a hill.
Peak The pointed top of a mountain.
Pebble A small, smooth, round stone.
Plain A large area of flat land.
Plateau High land that is flat on top.
Reef A ridge of coral or rock just under the surface of the sea.
River A large stream of fresh water that flows across the land.
Rock The hard, solid stuff that mountains are made of.
Shore The land along the edge of a lake or the sea.
Slope Ground that slants up or down.
South The direction at the bottom of most maps.
Valley The low land between hills or mountains.
Volcano A mountain with an opening where melted rock can burst out.

Citizens and Communities 29

Borrow To use something that belongs to someone else and then give it back.
Budget A plan for how to spend and save money.
Choice What you pick when you cannot have everything.
Citizen A member of a community, a state or a country.
Cost What you give up to get something.
Culture The food, music, language and beliefs a group of people share.
Fair Treating everyone by the same rules.
Freedom Being able to make your own choices and say what you think.
Future The time that has not happened yet.
Governor The elected leader of a state.
History The story of what happened long ago.
Holiday A special day when people celebrate or remember something together.
Honest Telling the truth.
Invent To make something that no one has made before.
Landmark A well-known place or building that people visit or use to find their way.
Lend To let someone use something of yours for a while.
Monument A statue or a building put up to help people remember a person or an event.
Past The time before now.
Pioneer One of the first people to settle or try something new.
Present The time happening now. It is also a gift.
Price How much money you must pay for something.
Respect To treat people and their things with care.
Rural In or about the countryside, with farms and open land.
Scarce Hard to get because there is not enough for everyone.
Suburb A neighborhood of homes at the edge of a city.
Symbol A picture or an object that stands for an idea, as a flag stands for a country.
Timeline A line that shows events in the order they happened.
Urban In or about a city.
Village A very small town in the countryside.

How it works

Train, snack and cloud are three of the 10 words hidden across and down in this 2nd grade word search printable, a 10 by 10 grid. The 13 lists hold 292 words, and every one has a clue.

Read the full guide

Match the list to the week's lesson

Start from a list offers ten themes: Bossy R Words, Consonant Blends, Long Vowel Patterns, Compound Words, Grammar and Writing, 2nd Grade Math, Matter and Materials, Plants and Habitats, Land and Water, and Citizens and Communities. A pick draws 10 of its words and renames the puzzle. Add another gives one more word and the cross beside a word takes it away; at 12 the grid grows if the words need room.

Warm-Up and Challenge settings

For an easier hunt, pick 2nd Grade Warm-Up, 47 words of 3 to 4 letters, and take words off the list with their crosses. To stretch, pick 2nd Grade Challenge (67 words of 6 to 8 letters) and press Medium, which adds two diagonals.

With Compound Words, tick Show clues, not words: each clue opens with the two parts, as in "Pop + corn".
Letters print as capitals. For lowercase, tick Lower-case letters in More options.

Questions and answers

What makes a word search 2nd grade level?

A 10 by 10 grid, 10 words and the Easy level, where words run only across and down and none reads backwards. No word is longer than 8 letters; Sunshine is one of the longest.

Is this word search for 2nd graders printable for free?

Yes. These are free printable word searches for 2nd graders: every New puzzle is a new sheet with its own answer key, and Print or save as PDF sends both to the printer. Show answers marks the words on screen.

Is a word search for second graders good practice?

It is spelling practice: to find thunder a child has to check t, h, u, n, d, e, r in order. It does not teach meaning, so each word here has a clue you can print in place of the word list.

All 292 words

Bossy R Words 28

Bossy R Words, continued

Consonant Blends 28

Long Vowel Patterns 30

Compound Words 30

Grammar and Writing 29

2nd Grade Math 30

Matter and Materials 30

Plants and Habitats 30

Land and Water 28

Citizens and Communities 29

How it works

Match the list to the week's lesson

Warm-Up and Challenge settings

Questions and answers

More tools