Aztec Word Search Printable

Print an Aztec word search with its answer key, then switch the list to the Maya or the Inca.

Name Date

Aztec Word Search

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

0 of 16 words found

ARQRDOLRKZGWHFI

TENOCHTITLANCMA

EIPEJPCALENDARX

MZCCAUSEWAYRISG

PLLOSIESMARKETC

LKNSUNSTONERMQH

EMITCHOCOLATEXI

TCIOBSIDIANTXMN

MSUUICRCDELPILA

NZDBAAXALTLYCMM

GMORICYCOFDRATP

LAQUETZALCOATLA

DIOVUUPOCESMLEE

IZALMSWBDGAINJY

OEGCPMEDCCODEXD

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.

TenochtitlanTENOCHTITLAN
MexicaMEXICA
CodexCODEX
CactusCACTUS
CausewayCAUSEWAY
ChinampaCHINAMPA
MaizeMAIZE
CacaoCACAO
ChocolateCHOCOLATE
ObsidianOBSIDIAN
MarketMARKET
QuetzalcoatlQUETZALCOATL
PyramidPYRAMID
TempleTEMPLE
Sun StoneSUN STONE
CalendarCALENDAR

16 of 22 words from the Aztec Favorites 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: Aztec Word Search

ARQRDOLRKZGWHFI

TENOCHTITLANCMA

EIPEJPCALENDARX

MZCCAUSEWAYRISG

PLLOSIESMARKETC

LKNSUNSTONERMQH

EMITCHOCOLATEXI

TCIOBSIDIANTXMN

MSUUICRCDELPILA

NZDBAAXALTLYCMM

GMORICYCOFDRATP

LAQUETZALCOATLA

DIOVUUPOCESMLEE

IZALMSWBDGAINJY

OEGCPMEDCCODEXD

TENOCHTITLAN, MEXICA, CODEX, CACTUS, CAUSEWAY, CHINAMPA, MAIZE, CACAO, CHOCOLATE, OBSIDIAN, MARKET, QUETZALCOATL, PYRAMID, TEMPLE, SUN STONE, CALENDAR

Next step Make a puzzle from your own early Americas words Scramble these Aztec, Maya and Inca words

All 139 words

Aztec Empire 25

Ahuitzotl The ruler before 1502, under whom the empire reached the Pacific coast.
Altepetl A city-state; the word joins water and hill.
Aztlan The legendary northern homeland from which the people said they had come.
Cactus The prickly pear plant in the founding legend.
Calpulli A neighborhood group that shared land, a temple and a school.
Causeway A raised road across the lake, linking the island to the shore.
Chapultepec The hill of the grasshopper, whose springs sent fresh water to the capital.
Codex A folding book of pictures painted on bark paper or deerskin.
Conquest Taking a land by force, as Spain did in 1521.
Cortes The Spanish captain who landed in 1519 and took the capital two years later.
Cuauhtemoc The last ruler, who defended the capital in 1521; his name means descending eagle.
Eagle The bird on a cactus that showed the wanderers where to build; it is on the flag of Mexico.
Itzcoatl The ruler who made the alliance of three cities; his name means obsidian serpent.
Mexica The name the people of the island capital called themselves; the country is named for them.

Show all 139 words (125 more)

Aztec Empire, continued

Montezuma The ruler who met the Spanish in 1519; he was the second of his name.
Nahuatl The Aztec language, still spoken in Mexico; it gave English tomato and coyote.
Pochteca Long-distance merchants who traveled in armed caravans.
Tenochtitlan The island capital, founded in 1325, on the spot where Mexico City stands now.
Texcoco The lake around the capital, and an allied city on its eastern shore.
Tlacopan The smallest of the three allied cities.
Tlatelolco The sister city on the same island, with the largest market in the land.
Tlatoani The title of a city's ruler; it means speaker.
Tlaxcala An unconquered rival state that sided with the Spanish.
Tribute Goods such as cloth, feathers and cacao that conquered towns had to send.
Triple Alliance The league of three cities, formed in 1428, that built the empire.

Aztec Daily Life 29

Amaranth A plant grown for its tiny seeds, eaten as grain.
Aqueduct A channel that brought spring water into the city.
Atole A warm, thick drink made from corn.
Avocado A green fruit whose English name comes from Nahuatl.
Beans Seeds from pods, eaten with corn every day.
Cacao The bean that was whipped into a bitter drink and also used as money.
Calmecac The school for the sons of nobles, who trained to be priests and leaders.
Canoe A narrow boat; thousands of them carried goods across the lake.
Chili A hot pepper used in almost every meal.
Chinampa A garden plot built up in the shallow lake, often called a floating garden.
Chocolate A word that came into English from Nahuatl by way of Spanish.
Comal A flat griddle for cooking tortillas.
Copal Tree resin burned as incense.
Featherwork The art of making shields and headdresses from bright plumes.
Glyph A picture sign used in writing.
Maguey The agave plant, used for fiber, needles and paper.
Maize Corn, the main food, ground and patted into flat cakes.
Market A place for buying and selling; Spanish soldiers were amazed by its size and order.
Metate A flat stone for grinding corn.
Obsidian Black volcanic glass that chips into blades with very sharp edges.
Patolli A board game played with marked beans as dice.
Rubber The bouncy material from tree sap, used for the ball in a sacred game.
Squash A vine crop grown with corn and beans.
Tamale Corn dough steamed in a husk; the word is Nahuatl.
Tilma A cloak tied at the shoulder.
Tomato A fruit the Aztecs grew and cooked with; its name comes from Nahuatl.
Tortilla A thin round flat cake of ground corn.
Turkey A large bird raised for meat; one of the few farm animals.
Turquoise A blue-green stone set into masks and shields.

Aztec Gods and Calendar 23

Calendar A way of counting days; the Aztecs kept one of 365 days and one of 260.
Coatlicue The earth mother goddess; her name means serpent skirt.
Coyolxauhqui The moon goddess shown on a great round stone found in 1978.
Ehecatl The god of wind.
Fifth Sun The present age of the world in Aztec belief.
Incense Something burned for its sweet smoke.
Mictlan The land of the dead.
New Fire The ceremony held every 52 years, when all fires were put out and one was lit again.
Offering A gift to the gods.
Priest A person who led ceremonies and kept the calendar.
Pyramid A stepped stone mound with a temple on top.
Quetzalcoatl The feathered serpent, god of wind and learning.
Serpent A snake; a feathered one was a god.
Sun Stone A carved disc of basalt about twelve feet across, dug up in Mexico City in 1790.
Temple A building for worship.
Templo Mayor The Great Temple, a twin pyramid at the heart of the capital.
Tezcatlipoca A powerful god whose name means smoking mirror.
Tlaloc The god of rain, who shared the top of the Great Temple.
Tonalpohualli The sacred count of 260 days.
Tonatiuh The sun god.
Xipe Totec The god of spring and new growth.
Xochipilli The god of flowers, song and games.
Xolotl The dog-headed god, twin of the feathered serpent.

Maya 28

Astronomy The study of the sky; Maya watchers tracked Venus closely.
Ball Court A long playing field with sloping walls.
Belize A small modern country with many Maya ruins, such as Caracol.
Bonampak A site known for rooms of bright wall paintings.
Calakmul The Snake Kingdom capital, a great rival of Tikal.
Cenote A natural well where the limestone roof has fallen in.
Chaac The rain god.
Chichen Itza A city in Yucatan known for its stepped pyramid of the feathered serpent.
Copan A Maya city in Honduras with a stairway of carved writing.
Corbel Arch A roof made by stepping stones inward until they meet.
Guatemala The modern country that holds Tikal.
Hieroglyph A sign in a writing system of pictures and sounds.
Itzamna A creator god.
Jade The hard green stone the Maya carved into figurines and ornaments.
Kukulkan The Maya name of the feathered serpent.
Limestone The soft rock the Maya cut into blocks and burned for plaster.
Long Count A way of numbering every day from a starting point long ago.
Milpa A field cleared from the forest for corn, beans and squash.
Observatory A building for watching the sky; the round one at Chichen Itza is called the Snail.
Pakal The king of Palenque who ruled for 68 years.
Palenque The city in southern Mexico where King Pakal was buried inside a pyramid.
Popol Vuh The book of creation stories of the Kiche Maya.
Rainforest The warm, wet forest of the Maya lowlands.
Sacbe A raised white road between Maya cities.
Stela A tall carved stone showing a king and the dates of his deeds.
Tikal A great Maya city in the rainforest of Guatemala.
Xibalba The underworld in Maya stories; the name means roughly place of fright.
Zero The number for nothing, written by the Maya as a shell.

Inca 34

Alpaca A relative of the llama, kept for its soft fleece.
Andes The mountain range that runs down the west of South America.
Atahualpa The emperor who was captured by the Spanish in 1532.
Ayllu A family group that shared land and work.
Chasqui A relay runner who carried messages.
Chuno Potatoes freeze-dried by frosty nights and sunny days.
Condor The giant vulture of the mountains.
Coricancha The temple of the sun, once sheathed in gold.
Cusco The capital of the Inca, high in the mountains of Peru.
Guinea Pig A small animal raised for meat.
Inti The sun god.
Llama The pack animal of the mountains.
Machu Picchu A mountain estate built in the 1400s and made known to the world in 1911.
Mita Work owed to the state in place of a tax.
Ollantaytambo A royal estate and fortress with steep terraces.
Pachacuti The ruler who turned a small kingdom into an empire from 1438.
Pachamama The earth mother.
Peru The modern country at the heart of the old empire.
Pizarro The Spanish captain who seized the emperor at Cajamarca.
Potato A root crop first farmed in the mountains of Peru.
Puma The mountain lion; the capital is said to be laid out in its shape.
Quechua The language of the empire, still spoken by millions.
Quinoa A high-mountain plant grown for its seeds.
Quipu A set of knotted cords for keeping counts and records.
Rope Bridge A crossing woven from grass, hung over a canyon.
Royal Road The network of paved highways that tied the empire together.
Sacsayhuaman A fortress above the capital built of giant fitted stones.
Sapa Inca The title of the emperor.
Stonework Walls of blocks cut to fit with no mortar.
Tawantinsuyu The Inca name for the empire; it means the four parts together.
Terraces Steps of level ground cut into a mountainside for farming.
Titicaca The high lake shared by Peru and Bolivia.
Vicuna A wild relative of the llama with the finest wool, kept for royal cloth.
Viracocha The creator god.

How this list was compiled: Own work: the 139 words and every clue were written for this page. Dates, names and places in the clues were checked on October 7, 2026 against English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), among them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_Empire, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenochtitlan, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_script and the article on each person, place or thing named in a clue. Licence: own work

How it works

This Aztec word search printable for children starts from 22 favorites, Tenochtitlan to Chocolate. Three Aztec lists cover the empire, daily life and the gods; a Maya list and an Inca list round out an early Americas unit.

Read the full guide

Aztec, Maya and Inca on separate sheets

Pick Maya under Start from a list and the sheet prints as Maya Word Search, with Tikal, Palenque, Cenote and Popol Vuh among its 28 words. Inca has 34, from Cusco and Machu Picchu to Quipu, Chasqui and Llama. Three sheets let a class sort which people built what.

Long names, spelled plainly

Names are written without accent marks: Tenochtitlan, Quetzalcoatl, Cuauhtemoc. For younger children, Easy Aztec, Maya and Inca keeps to 31 words of 3 to 5 letters, such as Maize, Cacao, Canoe, Llama and Puma. Saved as a PDF, the Aztec word search is page 1 and its answer key page 2.

Chichen Itza, Machu Picchu and Templo Mayor each hide as one run of letters: CHICHENITZA.
Montezuma is spelled the common English way; his clue adds that he was the second ruler of that name.

Questions and answers

What is the difference between the Aztec, the Maya and the Inca?

The Aztec Empire ruled central Mexico from Tenochtitlan, from 1428 to 1521. The Maya built cities such as Tikal across southeastern Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. The Inca held the Andes from Cusco, from 1438 until the Spanish arrived in 1532.

What language did the Aztecs speak?

Nahuatl, which is still spoken in Mexico. English took chocolate, tomato, avocado, chili and coyote from it. Nahuatl is in the Aztec Empire list, and the food words are in Aztec Daily Life.

Where was Tenochtitlan?

On an island in Lake Texcoco, on the spot where Mexico City stands now. It was founded in 1325 and joined to the shore by raised roads. Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Causeway are in the Aztec Empire list.

What did the Aztecs eat?

Maize above all, as tortillas, tamales and atole, with beans, squash, chili, tomato, avocado, amaranth and turkey. Cacao was whipped into a bitter drink. Each of these is a word in Aztec Daily Life.

All 139 words

Aztec Empire 25

Aztec Empire, continued

Aztec Daily Life 29

Aztec Gods and Calendar 23

Maya 28

Inca 34

How it works

Aztec, Maya and Inca on separate sheets

Long names, spelled plainly

Questions and answers

More tools