Ancient Rome Word Search Puzzle With Legions, Emperors and Latin

Build a Roman word search puzzle from the Republic, the legions, the emperors or daily life, with its answer key.

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Ancient Rome Word Search

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0 of 16 words found

IAWESASOEIAHVAP

SQEGLADIATORSDG

SUMXEISJMCRFBAF

NEPAGIIIAHPDSEP

UDERIWFDRAACEAO

MURNONSUSRNANSM

ECOGNRMZAITEADP

RTROMULUSOHSTXE

AUGUSTUSNTEAEOI

LOFSRATQNEORDRI

SMYUCHSICENRWSS

HHINICURLRLOTLS

EUNVILLAOEALMEE

COLOSSEUMRTOGAI

OCNAAMTRCTRWEZB

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.

ColosseumCOLOSSEUM
PantheonPANTHEON
AqueductAQUEDUCT
PompeiiPOMPEII
SenateSENATE
LegionLEGION
EmperorEMPEROR
CaesarCAESAR
AugustusAUGUSTUS
TogaTOGA
VillaVILLA
GladiatorGLADIATOR
CharioteerCHARIOTEER
MarsMARS
RomulusROMULUS
NumeralsNUMERALS

16 of 24 words from the Ancient Rome Favorites list.

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Answer key: Ancient Rome Word Search

IAWESASOEIAHVAP

SQEGLADIATORSDG

SUMXEISJMCRFBAF

NEPAGIIIAHPDSEP

UDERIWFDRAACEAO

MURNONSUSRNANSM

ECOGNRMZAITEADP

RTROMULUSOHSTXE

AUGUSTUSNTEAEOI

LOFSRATQNEORDRI

SMYUCHSICENRWSS

HHINICURLRLOTLS

EUNVILLAOEALMEE

COLOSSEUMRTOGAI

OCNAAMTRCTRWEZB

COLOSSEUM, PANTHEON, AQUEDUCT, POMPEII, SENATE, LEGION, EMPEROR, CAESAR, AUGUSTUS, TOGA, VILLA, GLADIATOR, CHARIOTEER, MARS, ROMULUS, NUMERALS

Next step Carry on to the Middle Ages word search Make a puzzle from your own Rome unit vocabulary

All 178 words

City of Rome 25

Amphitheater A round or oval open-air building with rising rows of seats around a central arena.
Appian Way One of the earliest great Roman roads, begun in 312 BC, which linked Rome to Brindisi in southeast Italy.
Aqueduct A channel, often carried on a row of stone arches, that brought fresh water into a Roman city.
Arch A curved structure that spans an opening. Romans used it in bridges, gateways and water channels.
Basilica A large public hall in a Roman town, used for law courts and business.
Capitoline The hill in Rome that held the great temple of Jupiter.
Catacombs Underground passages with burial places cut into the rock outside the walls of Rome.
Circus Maximus Rome's great chariot-racing track, with seats for perhaps 150,000 people.
Colosseum Rome's giant oval amphitheater, begun under Vespasian and completed in AD 80 under his heir Titus.
Concrete A building material the Romans made with lime and volcanic ash. It could even set under water.
Dome A rounded roof shaped like half a ball, such as the one on the Pantheon.
Forum The open square at the heart of a Roman town, used for markets, speeches, trials and processions.

Show all 178 words (166 more)

City of Rome, continued

Hadrian's Wall A stone barrier built across northern Britain from AD 122 to guard the edge of the empire.
Herculaneum A seaside town buried, like Pompeii, by the eruption of AD 79.
Hypocaust Roman underfloor heating: hot air from a furnace flowed through a space beneath the floor.
Milestone A stone post beside a Roman road that told travelers how far they were from the next town.
Ostia Rome's harbor town where the Tiber meets the sea.
Palatine The hill where, in legend, Romulus founded the city and where emperors later built their palaces.
Pantheon A temple in Rome roofed by a huge concrete dome with a round opening, the oculus, at the top.
Pompeii The town near Naples buried under ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79.
Road A paved route for feet, hooves and wheels. The Romans built theirs straight, layered and long-lasting.
Seven Hills The group of heights east of the Tiber on which the ancient city was built.
Sewer An underground drain. Rome's great one, the Cloaca Maxima, emptied into the Tiber.
Tiber The river that flows through the city of Rome to the sea at Ostia.
Vesuvius The volcano on the Bay of Naples whose eruption in AD 79 buried Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Roman Republic 29

Aedile An official who looked after the city's buildings, streets and markets and put on public games.
Censor The official who kept the count of citizens and watched over public morals.
Cicero A famous speaker, lawyer and writer who served as consul in 63 BC.
Cincinnatus The farmer who, in legend, left his plow to lead Rome in 458 BC and gave up power as soon as the job was done.
Citizen A person with legal rights in a state. In AD 212 Caracalla gave that status to all free men in the empire.
Consul One of the two leaders elected each year to head the Roman Republic.
Dictator An official given full power in an emergency, for six months at most.
Election A vote to choose leaders.
Fasces A bundle of rods tied around an axe, carried before a magistrate as the sign of his power.
Governor The official sent from Rome to run a province.
Gracchi The brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, tribunes who tried to share out public land to the poor.
Lictor An attendant who walked ahead of a magistrate carrying the fasces.
Magistrate An elected official of the Republic, such as a consul, praetor or aedile.
Patrician A member of one of Rome's old ruling families.
Plebeian A member of the common people of Rome, as opposed to the old noble families.
Pompey The general called "the Great" who shared power with Caesar and Crassus, then lost a civil war to Caesar.
Praetor An elected official who served as a judge or led an army.
Province A territory outside Italy ruled by a Roman governor. Sicily became the first in 241 BC.
Quaestor An official in charge of public money.
Republic A state without a king, led by elected officials. Rome became one in 509 BC.
Rostra The speakers' platform in the Forum, named for the captured ships' prows that decorated it.
Senate The council of leading Romans that advised the magistrates and guided the state for centuries.
Senator A member of Rome's governing council. The name comes from senex, the Latin for old man.
SPQR Initials of the Latin for "the Senate and People of Rome", stamped on coins and carved on monuments.
Tarquin The seventh and last king of Rome, called "the Proud", who was driven out in 509 BC.
Tribune An official elected to protect the common people. He could block the acts of other officials.
Triumvirate A ruling group of three men, such as Caesar, Pompey and Crassus.
Twelve Tables The set of laws on which Roman law was founded, formally made public in 449 BC.
Veto Latin for "I forbid": the power to stop a decision.

Legions and Wars 30

Actium The sea battle of 31 BC where Octavian's fleet beat Antony and Cleopatra.
Alps The high mountain range across the north of Italy.
Aquila The eagle standard carried by each legion. Losing it was a great disgrace.
Auxiliary A soldier who was not a citizen. After 25 years of service he earned citizenship.
Ballista A machine like a giant crossbow that shot bolts or stones.
Britannia The Roman name for Britain, invaded under the emperor Claudius in AD 43.
Caligae The heavy hobnailed sandal-boots worn by Roman soldiers.
Cannae The battle of 216 BC in southern Italy where Hannibal surrounded a larger Roman army.
Carthage The rich trading city in North Africa, in what is now Tunisia, that was Rome's great rival.
Centurion The officer in command of a century, a unit of about 80 men.
Cohort A unit of a legion. Ten of them made up one legion.
Corvus A boarding bridge that Romans dropped onto enemy ships in the First Punic War.
Fort A walled army base.
Galea A Roman soldier's helmet.
Gaul The land, mostly modern France, that Julius Caesar conquered between 58 and 50 BC.
Gladius The short sword of a Roman foot soldier.
Hannibal The Carthaginian general who marched an army with war elephants across the Alps in 218 BC.
Legion The main unit of the Roman army, about 5,200 soldiers strong by the late Republic.
Pilum The heavy javelin thrown by legionaries.
Praetorian A member of the guard that protected the emperor.
Punic Wars Three wars between Rome and Carthage, fought between 264 and 146 BC.
Rubicon The small river Caesar crossed with his army in 49 BC, starting a civil war.
Scipio The Roman general, later named Africanus, who defeated Hannibal in 202 BC.
Scutum The large curved shield of a legionary.
Sicily The large island off the toe of Italy, the prize of the First Punic War.
Spartacus A gladiator from Thrace who led a great slave uprising against Rome from 73 to 71 BC.
Testudo The "tortoise": soldiers locked their shields in front and overhead to make a moving shell.
Teutoburg The German forest where three legions under Varus were destroyed in AD 9.
Triumph A grand parade through Rome held to honor a victorious general.
Zama The battle in North Africa in 202 BC that ended the Second Punic War.

Emperors and Empire 32

Attila He ruled the Huns from 434 to 453.
Augustus The title the Senate gave Octavian in 27 BC. He ruled until AD 14.
Boudica The queen of the Iceni who led a British uprising against Roman rule in AD 60 or 61.
Brutus A senator and one of the leaders of the plot against Caesar in 44 BC.
Byzantine The name historians give the eastern half of the empire, which lasted until 1453.
Caesar Julius, the general who conquered Gaul, became dictator and was assassinated in 44 BC.
Caligula The nickname, "little boot", of the emperor Gaius, who ruled from AD 37 to 41.
Christianity The faith that began in the Roman province of Judea and became the empire's official religion in 380.
Claudius The emperor from AD 41 to 54, whose armies invaded Britain.
Cleopatra The last active ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, ally of Julius Caesar and of Mark Antony.
Constantine The emperor who made Christianity legal and founded a new capital in the east, dedicated in 330.
Constantinople The "new Rome" on the Bosporus, now Istanbul, made the capital in 330.
Diocletian The emperor from 284 to 305 who split the rule of the empire among four men.
Emperor The ruler of an empire. Augustus became Rome's first in 27 BC.
Hadrian The emperor from AD 117 to 138, who toured the provinces and ordered a wall built across Britain.
Huns Nomads from the east who fought as mounted archers and built a short-lived empire on the Danube frontier.
Ides of March March 15 on the Roman calendar, the day in 44 BC when Caesar was killed.
Justinian The eastern emperor from 527 to 565 who had Roman law gathered into one code.
Livia The wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius.
Marcus Aurelius The emperor from AD 161 to 180, a Stoic thinker who wrote the Meditations.
Mark Antony Caesar's ally who later ruled the east with Cleopatra and lost to Octavian at Actium.
Nero The emperor from AD 54 to 68, ruling when a great fire burned Rome in July of AD 64.
Octavian The name historians use for the young Augustus, Julius Caesar's adopted heir.
Odoacer The general who removed the last western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, in 476.
Palace A grand home for a ruler. The word comes from the Palatine, the hill of the emperors.
Pax Romana The "Roman peace": about 200 years of calm and trade that began with Augustus in 27 BC.
Tiberius The second emperor, who ruled from AD 14 to 37.
Titus The emperor from AD 79 to 81, in charge when Vesuvius erupted and the Colosseum opened.
Trajan The emperor from AD 98 to 117, under whom the empire reached its largest size.
Vandals The people who sailed from Carthage in North Africa and plundered Rome for two weeks in 455.
Vespasian The emperor from AD 69 to 79 who began building the Colosseum.
Visigoths The people who, led by Alaric, sacked the city of Rome in 410.

Roman Daily Life 30

Abacus A counting tool with beads or pebbles that slide in grooves, used for sums.
Arena The sand-covered floor of an amphitheater. The word comes from the Latin for sand.
Atrium The central hall of a Roman house. An opening in its roof let in light, and a pool below caught the rain.
Baths Public buildings with hot, warm and cold rooms where Romans washed, exercised and met friends.
Bread The daily food of most Romans. The city gave free grain for it to many of its people.
Bulla A charm worn around the neck by a Roman boy until he came of age.
Charioteer The driver of a racing chariot, who raced for the Red, White, Blue or Green team.
Denarius The standard silver coin of Rome, introduced shortly before 211 BC.
Domus The town house of a wealthy Roman family.
Freedman A person who had been enslaved and was then set free.
Fresco A picture painted onto wet plaster on a wall.
Garum A strong sauce made from fermented fish, a favorite Roman seasoning.
Gladiator A trained fighter who battled in the arena to entertain crowds.
Insula A block of apartments, often several floors high, where most city people lived.
Lararium The household shrine where a family honored its guardian spirits.
Ludus The Latin word for both a primary school and a game.
Mosaic A picture made from many tiny colored stones or tiles, often set in a floor.
Palla An elegant cloak or mantle that a Roman woman wrapped around her when she left the house.
Paterfamilias The father who was head of a Roman household, with legal power over the whole family.
Saturnalia The merry December festival with gifts, feasts and a holiday for everyone.
Stola The long dress worn by married Roman women.
Stylus A pointed tool for scratching letters into a wax tablet.
Sundial A device that tells the time by the shadow the sun casts.
Thermopolium A street counter that sold hot food and drinks, a Roman fast-food shop.
Toga The long woolen wrap that only Roman citizens were allowed to wear.
Triclinium The dining room, named for its three couches where guests lay down to eat.
Tunic A simple garment, about knee length, worn by most Romans every day.
Villa A large country house, often at the center of a farm estate.
Vineyard A farm where grapes are grown.
Wax Tablet A wooden board with a soft coating that pupils wrote on, then smoothed over to use again.

Roman Gods and Latin 32

Aeneas The Trojan hero who, in legend, sailed to Italy and became the ancestor of the Romans.
Aeneid The Latin epic poem, in twelve books, about a Trojan hero's journey to Italy.
Augur A priest who read the will of the gods in the flight of birds.
Calendar A system of months and days. Julius Caesar's reform of 46 BC gave us the leap year.
Carpe Diem Latin for "seize the day", from a poem by Horace.
Ceres Goddess of grain and farming. The word cereal comes from her name.
Cupid The winged god of love, son of Venus.
Diana Goddess of the hunt and the Moon.
Etruscans The people of Etruria, north of Rome, from whom the Romans borrowed their alphabet.
Fortuna Goddess of luck.
Horace A poet of the age of Augustus, famous for his Odes.
Janus The two-faced god of doorways and beginnings, who gave his name to January.
Juno Queen of the gods and wife of Jupiter, protector of the Roman state.
Jupiter King of the Roman gods, the sky and thunder god.
Lares Guardian spirits of a Roman home, honored at a small household shrine.
Latin The language of the Romans, which grew into Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian.
Livy The historian who wrote the story of Rome from its founding in 142 books.
Mars God of war and, in legend, father of Romulus and Remus. The month of March is named for him.
Mercury Messenger god, and god of trade and travelers.
Minerva Goddess of wisdom and crafts.
Neptune God of the sea and of fresh water.
Numerals Number signs. The Roman kind use letters: I, V, X, L, C, D and M.
Ovid The poet of the Metamorphoses, sent into exile by Augustus in AD 8.
Pliny The Elder of this name wrote a Natural History and died in the eruption of AD 79.
Remus The twin brother of Rome's legendary founder, raised with him by a she-wolf.
Romulus In legend, Rome's founder and first king. Tradition dates his reign from 753 BC.
Saturn God of farming, wealth and plenty, honored at a merry festival each December.
Venus Goddess of love and beauty, claimed by Julius Caesar as his ancestor.
Vesta Goddess of the hearth. Priestesses kept her sacred fire burning in the Forum.
Virgil The poet who wrote the Aeneid, left unfinished when he died in 19 BC.
Vulcan God of fire and the forge, who gave his name to volcanoes.
Wolf In legend a female one fed the twins Romulus and Remus beside the Tiber.

How this list was compiled: 178 ancient Rome words in 6 themed lists, chosen and defined for this site. Dates, names, places and Latin meanings in the clues were checked on 2026-09-19 against the English Wikipedia article for each entry, for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_legion and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum. Licence: own work

How it works

This ancient Rome word search puzzle starts with 16 of 24 favorites, Colosseum, Gladiator and Aqueduct among them. Six themed lists wait behind it, from City of Rome to Roman Gods and Latin: 178 words, each with a short clue.

Read the full guide

Six lists that match a Rome unit

Start from a list offers City of Rome (25), Roman Republic (29), Legions and Wars (30), Emperors and Empire (32), Roman Daily Life (30) and Roman Gods and Latin (32). A Punic Wars lesson draws on Hannibal, Carthage, Scipio, Zama and Cannae. A lesson on government draws on Consul, Tribune, Veto and Twelve Tables.

Swap the word list for clues

Tick Show clues, not words, in More options. A pupil reads "The eagle standard carried by each legion. Losing it was a great disgrace." and has to remember Aquila before hunting for it. One page holds about 16 clues, so leave the list at 16 words or fewer.

Twelve entries hide without their spaces. Pax Romana becomes PAXROMANA, and Hadrian's Wall becomes HADRIANSWALL with no apostrophe.
Toga, Villa, Nero and Wolf are among the 47 short words of Easy Ancient Rome, for grades 3 and 4.
Constantinople and Marcus Aurelius, 14 letters each, are the longest answers. Both sit in Hard Ancient Rome with 70 more.

Questions and answers

How do I get an ancient Rome word search PDF?

Press Print or save as PDF, then choose Save as PDF in the print window. A phone shows a print preview to save or share in its place. The file has the puzzle, then the answer key on its own page.

Why do Tiber and Tiberius never share a puzzle?

TIBER can be read inside TIBERIUS, and a solver who circled the short word inside the long one would be marked wrong. The same care keeps Praetor apart from Praetorian, Saturn from Saturnalia and Latin from Palatine: each pair sits in different lists.

Does the puzzle cover the Republic, the Empire or both?

Both. Roman Republic holds the offices and heroes, Cincinnatus among them, and Emperors and Empire runs from Augustus, titled in 27 BC, to Odoacer, who removed the last western emperor in 476. The Byzantine clue carries the story to 1453.

Where do the dates in the clues come from?

Each date, name and number was checked in September 2026 against the English Wikipedia article on its subject. Legend is marked as legend: the Romulus clue says tradition dates his reign from 753 BC, and the Circus Maximus seats "perhaps" 150,000.

All 178 words

City of Rome 25

City of Rome, continued

Roman Republic 29

Legions and Wars 30

Emperors and Empire 32

Roman Daily Life 30

Roman Gods and Latin 32

How it works

Six lists that match a Rome unit

Swap the word list for clues

Questions and answers

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