3rd Grade Crossword Puzzles Printable With a Word Bank

Pick a set, then press Print for a third grade criss-cross crossword with a word bank and an answer key.

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Name Date

3rd Grade Crossword

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares that start at its number, one letter in each square.

This grid is wider than a phone screen, so it scrolls sideways. It prints whole.

Tap a square, and its clue shows here.

Across

Down

Word bank

  • Deep
  • Earn
  • East
  • Frog
  • Hero
  • Hour
  • Root
  • Stem
  • Tiny
  • Vote

Type in a square and the next one takes over. Tap the same square again, or press Space, to switch between Across and Down. Arrow keys move around the grid, Enter goes to the next clue, and a clue takes you to its squares.

Print gives 2 pages on Letter or A4: the puzzle with its clues, then the answer key. The squares print 10 mm wide. For a PDF, choose Save as PDF in the print window.

A share link holds the puzzle number and these settings, nothing you typed.

Answer key: 3rd Grade Crossword

1D2HE3VOTEUP4H5ERO6FAR7ST8EM9ROOTAGR10TINY

Across 3 VOTE · 4 HERO · 7 STEM · 9 ROOT · 10 TINY

Down 1 DEEP · 2 HOUR · 5 EAST · 6 FROG · 8 EARN

Next step Find third grade words in a word searchScramble this week's vocabulary words

All 160 clues

Show all clues and answers

Everyday Words and Opposites 36

  • Anchor Heavy hook that holds a ship in place
  • Book You read it
  • Brave Not afraid
  • Bridge It carries a road across water
  • Candle Wax stick with a wick that burns
  • Castle Big stone home of a king or queen, often with a moat
  • Cold Opposite of hot
  • Cousin Your aunt's or uncle's child
  • Deep Opposite of shallow
  • Doctor Person who helps sick people get well
  • Dragon Fire-breathing beast in a fairy tale
  • Drum Instrument you hit with sticks
  • Early Opposite of late
  • Empty Opposite of full
  • Enemy Opposite of friend
  • Farmer Person who grows crops
  • Garden Place where flowers or vegetables grow
  • Gentle Soft and careful, the way you pet a kitten
  • Giant Very, very big; or a huge person in a fairy tale
  • Honest Always telling the truth
  • Hungry How you feel when you need to eat
  • Ice Frozen water
  • Ladder You climb its rungs
  • Laugh What you do when a joke is funny
  • Narrow Opposite of wide
  • Piano Instrument with black and white keys
  • Pillow Soft thing under your head in bed
  • Pilot Person who flies a plane
  • Pirate Sea robber in an adventure tale
  • Polite Having good manners
  • Proud How you feel when you have done your best
  • Quiet Opposite of loud
  • Rocket It carries astronauts into space
  • Soccer Sport played by kicking a ball into a net
  • Tiny Very, very small
  • Weak Opposite of strong

Reading and Writing Words 28

  • Adverb Word that tells how, when or where, like slowly
  • Author Person who writes stories
  • Comma Mark that separates the items in a list
  • Detail Small piece of information that supports a main idea
  • Diary Private notebook for writing about your day
  • Draft First try at a piece of writing
  • Edit Fix the mistakes in your writing
  • Fable Short tale that teaches a lesson, often with talking animals
  • Fact Statement that can be proved true
  • Hero Main character who saves the day
  • Index A to Z list of page numbers at the back
  • Moral Lesson that a tale teaches
  • Myth Very old story that explains how something in nature came to be
  • Noun Word for a person, place or thing
  • Period Dot at the end of a telling sentence
  • Plot What happens in a story, from start to finish
  • Plural More than one: cats, not cat
  • Poem Writing set out in short lines, often with a beat
  • Prefix Word part added at the front, like un in unhappy
  • Rhyme Cat and hat do this
  • Riddle Puzzling question with a clever trick in it
  • Simile Comparison that uses like or as
  • Skim Read quickly to get the main idea
  • Suffix Word part added at the end, like ful in helpful
  • Title Name of a story, printed at the top
  • Topic What a paragraph is mostly about
  • Verb Action word, like run or sing
  • Vowel A, E, I, O or U

Math Words 34

  • Area Count of the unit squares that cover a flat shape
  • Array Objects set out in rows and columns
  • Circle Shape of a coin or a clock face
  • Cone Shape of a party hat
  • Cube Box shape with 6 square faces
  • Digit Any one of the symbols 0 to 9
  • Dime Coin worth 10 cents
  • Divide Split a number into same-size groups
  • Dollar 100 cents
  • Dozen A group of 12
  • Equal The = sign says both sides are this
  • Even 2, 4, 6 and 8 are this kind of number
  • Gram Small metric unit of mass; 1,000 make a kilogram
  • Graph Chart that shows data with bars or pictures
  • Half One of two same-size parts
  • Hour 60 minutes
  • Inch Twelve of these make a foot
  • Liter 1,000 milliliters
  • Meter 100 centimeters
  • Minus Word for the take-away sign
  • Minute 60 seconds
  • Month February is the shortest one
  • Nickel Coin worth 5 cents
  • Noon 12 o'clock in the middle of the day
  • Odd 1, 3, 5 and 7 are this kind of number
  • Plus Word for the + sign
  • Pound 16 ounces
  • Round Change 48 to 50, the nearest ten
  • Sum Answer to an addition problem
  • Tally Mark you make to keep count, one line at a time
  • Times Word for the x sign in 3 x 4
  • Week Seven days
  • Yard Length of 3 feet, or 36 inches
  • Zero The number that means none

Science Words 36

  • Bird Animal with feathers
  • Brain Organ inside your skull that does your thinking
  • Cloud Mass of very small water drops floating in the sky
  • Desert Dry land that gets very little rain
  • Fish Animal with fins and gills
  • Force A push or a pull
  • Fossil Trace of a living thing from long ago, kept in rock
  • Freeze What water does at 32 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Frog A tadpole grows into one
  • Heart It pumps blood through your body
  • Heat What a fire gives off that warms you
  • Insect Animal with six legs, like an ant or a bee
  • Larva Caterpillar stage of a butterfly's life
  • Liquid Matter that flows and takes the shape of its cup
  • Lungs You breathe with these
  • Magnet Object that pulls iron toward it
  • Mammal Animal that feeds milk to its young
  • Melt What butter does in a hot pan
  • Moon It circles Earth about once every 27 days
  • Orbit Path of Earth around the sun
  • Planet Earth is one; so is Mars
  • Prey Animal that is hunted by another animal
  • Pupa Resting stage of a butterfly, also called a chrysalis
  • Root Plant part that takes in water from the ground
  • Season Winter is one; so is summer
  • Seed A new plant sprouts from it
  • Senses Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch
  • Shadow Dark shape made when something blocks light
  • Soil Dirt that plants grow in
  • Solid Matter that keeps its own shape, like a rock
  • Sound What your ears pick up
  • Spider Eight-legged animal that spins a web
  • Star Twinkling point in the night sky
  • Stem Plant part that holds up the leaves
  • Turtle Reptile that carries a shell on its back
  • Whale Huge sea animal that breathes air through a blowhole

Maps and Community Words 26

  • Bank Safe place to keep your savings
  • Coast Land along the edge of the sea
  • Earn Get paid for work
  • East Direction on the right side of most maps
  • Flag The one for the United States has 50 stars and 13 stripes
  • Globe Model of Earth shaped like a ball
  • Goods Things people make or grow to sell
  • Hill Raised land, smaller than a mountain
  • Island Land with water all around it
  • Lake Body of water with land all around it
  • Laws Rules that everyone in a country must follow
  • Mayor Leader of a city or town
  • Needs Food, water and shelter are these
  • North Direction at the top of most maps
  • Ocean The Pacific is the largest one
  • River Large stream of fresh water, like the Mississippi
  • Rural Having to do with the countryside
  • South Direction at the bottom of most maps
  • State Texas or Ohio
  • Symbol Small picture on a map that stands for something real
  • Taxes What people pay to the government for roads and schools
  • Trade Swap one thing for another
  • Urban Having to do with a city
  • Valley Low land between mountains
  • Vote Make your choice in an election
  • West Direction on the left side of most maps

How this list was compiled: 160 clues written for this site for third graders: plain meanings and answers of 3 to 6 letters. The word choice is ours and follows no published word list or curriculum. Factual clues, such as the Moon's orbit of 27.3 days, were checked against English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org) in September 2026. American spellings. No clue was copied from a published puzzle. Licence: own work

How it works

These 3rd grade crossword puzzles, printable on Letter or A4, are vocabulary crosswords of words a third grader meets in class. The page opens on 10 warm-up words of 3 or 4 letters with the word bank on.

Read the full guide

Match the set to this week's lesson

Warm-up Words holds the 51 shortest answers, such as Noun, Cube and Frog. The other five sets follow the timetable: everyday words and opposites, reading and writing, math, science, and maps and community. Take a clue away with the cross beside it, or press Add another clue for one more, then press New puzzle for a fresh grid from the same set.

Clues a third grader can read alone

Every answer has 3 to 6 letters, and every clue is a plain meaning in a few words: "A push or a pull" for Force, "60 seconds" for Minute, "Texas or Ohio" for State. No clue uses another answer from the list, so one clue never gives away the next word.

  • Print a set, then a week later untick Word bank under the clues in More options and print it again as a vocabulary check.
  • Early finishers can write a new clue for 3 of the answers on the back, then trade with a partner.
  • For a sub plan, print a Math Words and a Science Words puzzle and leave both answer keys in the folder.

Questions and answers

Are these 3rd grade crossword puzzles printable free, with an answer key?

Yes, with no sign-up and no copy limit. The answer key prints last. A puzzle of 6, 8 or 10 words takes 2 pages in normal print. With 15 words and the word bank it can take 3. The "Print gives" line says how many.

What if a word is too hard for my class?

Stay on Warm-up Words, where every answer has 3 or 4 letters. Harder words such as Simile, Fossil and Rural sit only in their subject sets. Open "Show all clues and answers" under the puzzle to read the whole list first.

Can students solve the puzzle on a screen?

Yes. Tap a square and type, and the clue for that word stays in view. Check word marks one entry, and Reveal letter helps a stuck solver.

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