Christmas Tree Word Search Printable

A puzzle of firs, tinsel and tree farms for December, printed with its answer key.

Name Date

Christmas Tree Word Search

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

0 of 15 words found

RAOEGARLANDHNTE

BRANCHEMKKTGMRM

TPPSPRUCESNSFUO

ITIMBXZUATPYKNX

NDTREBGRZAIELKV

SSSLYCCWRRNGOJH

ENOLORLEFNEEDLE

LFBIAVKFINLVILE

ENWADECORATEIDM

ASTRTOPPERERSPI

HITHHINHRLIGHTS

CWBSTANDDSTRSTB

EXJIRKINDFNERGY

NRYMGLJMTNCEKTG

MARALORNAMENTNE

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.

OrnamentORNAMENT
TinselTINSEL
GarlandGARLAND
StarSTAR
LightsLIGHTS
PinePINE
FirFIR
SpruceSPRUCE
EvergreenEVERGREEN
BranchBRANCH
NeedleNEEDLE
TrunkTRUNK
TopperTOPPER
DecorateDECORATE
StandSTAND

15 of 20 words from the Christmas Tree list.

Pick three words from the list and write how you would use them to trim a tree.

Start from a list

Easy: words go across and down.

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Word list

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

The puzzle changes as you go. See the puzzle

Answer key: Christmas Tree Word Search

RAOEGARLANDHNTE

BRANCHEMKKTGMRM

TPPSPRUCESNSFUO

ITIMBXZUATPYKNX

NDTREBGRZAIELKV

SSSLYCCWRRNGOJH

ENOLORLEFNEEDLE

LFBIAVKFINLVILE

ENWADECORATEIDM

ASTRTOPPERERSPI

HITHHINHRLIGHTS

CWBSTANDDSTRSTB

EXJIRKINDFNERGY

NRYMGLJMTNCEKTG

MARALORNAMENTNE

ORNAMENT, TINSEL, GARLAND, STAR, LIGHTS, PINE, FIR, SPRUCE, EVERGREEN, BRANCH, NEEDLE, TRUNK, TOPPER, DECORATE, STAND

Next step Solve a Christmas crossword Make a word search from your family's own ornaments

All 129 words

Kinds of Tree 18

Aluminum A light, silvery metal; shiny trees made of it were first manufactured in Chicago in 1958.
Artificial Made by people, not grown; a tree of this kind comes out of its carton year after year.
Balsam A North American fir named for its fragrant, sticky resin.
Conifer The group name for firs, pines and spruces: trees that bear their seeds in cones.
Cypress An evergreen with tiny leaves that overlap like scales.
Evergreen Any tree that keeps its leaves through the winter, as every tree on this list does.
Feather The first artificial trees, from 19th-century Germany, were built of goose ones dyed green.
Fir The evergreen most often chosen: flat needles that stay on, and cones that stand upright.
Juniper An evergreen with blue cones that look like berries.
Pine An evergreen with long needles that grow in small bundles.
Plastic The material of most modern artificial trees.
Potted Sold alive, with its roots in a tub of soil.
Sapling A young tree, years away from being tall enough to sell.
Sequoia A giant evergreen of California; young ones are now and then used as holiday trees.
Species A kind of living thing; many different ones are grown as Christmas trees.
Spruce An evergreen with stiff, sharp needles and cones that hang down.
Tabletop Short enough to stand on a desk; small stone pines are sold this way.
Tannenbaum The German word for a fir tree, heard in a well-known Christmas carol.

Show all 129 words (111 more)

Parts of the Tree 19

Bark The rough skin of the stem.
Bough A big branch, cut and laid along a mantel as greenery.
Branch An arm of the tree, strong enough near its base for the heaviest ornaments.
Bushy Thick and full, with no gaps to see through.
Cone The woody, scaly part of the tree that holds its seeds.
Foliage All the green of a tree, taken together.
Fragrant Sweet-smelling, as a balsam is.
Height The distance from floor to tip, checked before the tree comes indoors.
Limb One of the main arms growing out from the stem.
Needle One slim, pointed leaf of a fir or a spruce; dry ones end up on the floor.
Resin The sticky ooze that stays on your hands after carrying a fresh tree.
Roots The underground parts, left behind in the field when a tree is cut.
Scent The fresh, woody smell that fills the room for weeks.
Shape The outline of the tree; growers clip for a neat, pointed one.
Sprig A snipped bit of greenery, small enough to tuck into a wreath.
Stump What stays in the ground once the saw has done its work.
Triangle The three-sided figure that a well-trimmed fir shows from across the room.
Trunk The woody main stem, whose cut end sits in the water.
Twig The thinnest end of a branch, where the lightest ornaments hang.

Trimmings 28

Apple The first decorated trees were hung with this fruit.
Bauble A shiny hollow ball; the first ones of blown glass were made in Lauscha, Germany, in 1847.
Beads Small balls with holes, threaded into a long string.
Bell A small metal cup that jingles when the branch is bumped.
Bow Two loops and two tails of ribbon, tied to a branch or a package.
Bulb One small lamp on a string; when it burns out, a gap goes dark.
Candle A wax light; small ones were clipped to the branches before bulbs took their place.
Candy cane A striped peppermint stick with a crook; a magazine of 1882 describes them hung on a tree.
Electric Run by current from a wall socket; the first known tree lit this way stood in New York in 1882.
Fragile Easily broken, like an ornament of thin blown glass.
Garland A rope of greenery, beads or tinsel that winds around the tree from tip to floor.
Glitter Shiny specks glued to ornaments, and found in the carpet until spring.
Handmade Cut, glued or painted by someone in the family, not bought.
Heirloom An ornament handed down from grandparents to grandchildren.
Hook The bent wire that holds an ornament on its branch.
Icicle A hanging spike of ice, copied in foil to dangle from the branch tips.
Lights Strings of tiny bulbs; in Britain they are called fairy ones.
Ornament A small decoration made to hang from a branch.
Paper chain Loops of colored strips, glued one through the next into a rope.
Ribbon A strip of cloth for tying bows and for hanging cookies from the branches.
Shiny Bright enough to mirror the room, like a new ball ornament.
Snowflake A single ice crystal from a winter sky, copied in folded paper to hang on the tree.
Sparkle To throw back the lamps of the room in tiny flashes.
Star The five-pointed figure that crowns many trees.
Strand One length of bulbs or beads, from plug to tip.
Tinsel Glittering strips; invented in Nuremberg, Germany, around 1610 and first made of silver.
Topper The ornament that sits on the highest point, put on last.
Twinkle To flash on and off, as some strings of bulbs are made to do.

Putting Up the Tree 20

Arrange To move ornaments around until no side looks bare.
Attic The space under the roof where the ornament boxes spend eleven months.
Cord The covered wire that runs from the wall to the tree.
Corner The spot where two walls meet, a favorite place for the tree.
Decorate To dress the bare branches, one ornament at a time.
Fluff To pull apart the flattened branches of an artificial tree after a year in its carton.
Hang To loop an ornament over a branch so that it swings free.
Ladder A set of rungs for reaching the highest branches.
Plug The pronged end of the wire, pushed into the wall socket last of all.
Stand The holder that keeps a tree upright, with a well of water under the stem; such holders appeared as early as 1876.
Storage Where the boxes go when the season is over.
Straighten To turn the screws of the holder until the tree no longer leans.
Switch The small lever that brings the whole tree to life.
Timer A device that turns the bulbs on at sunset and off at night.
Trim A second word for dressing a tree with ornaments.
Unpack To lift each ornament out of its tissue paper.
Untangle To work the knots out of last year's string of bulbs.
Water What a cut tree drinks from the well of its holder.
Window Where a lit tree stands so that people in the street can enjoy it too.
Wrap To wind a string of bulbs around the stem and outward.

At the Tree Farm 23

Acre The unit in which a grower's land is counted.
Bale To squeeze a cut tree into a tight bundle for the ride home.
Choose To walk the rows until one tree looks just right.
Crop Whatever a farmer raises to sell; here it is trees.
Farm Land where trees are planted in rows and tended for years before they are sold.
Field Open land, striped with rows of young trees.
Fresh Just cut, with needles that bend and stay on.
Frost The white ice on the branches on a cold morning.
Grower A farmer whose crop takes years, not months.
Harvest The cutting season, in the weeks before the holiday.
Measure To check that the tree will fit under the ceiling.
Mulch Chopped wood spread on soil; old trees can be recycled into it.
Netting The mesh sleeve that holds the branches flat against the stem.
Nursery A place where trees are raised from seed until they are big enough to set out.
Plant To set a seedling in the ground.
Prune To clip a growing tree so that it fills out evenly.
Recycle To give a used tree a second job, as mulch or as a shelter for wildlife.
Rows The straight lines in which the seedlings are planted.
Saw The toothed blade that families borrow at a "choose and cut" lot.
Sled A flat carrier on runners, for dragging a tree out over snow.
Tractor The machine that pulls the wagon of trees and riders.
Twine Strong string for tying a tree to the roof of a car.
Wagon A cart that carries families out to the far rows.

Around the Tree 21

Admire To stand back and enjoy the finished tree.
Carol A Christmas song; one famous German one is sung to the tree itself.
Cozy Warm and snug, as a room feels when the tree is lit.
Custom Something families do every year without being asked.
December The twelfth month, when most trees go up.
Festive Merry and bright, dressed for a celebration.
Gather To come together in one room.
Germany A country of central Europe where the custom of the decorated tree grew up.
Gift Something given freely, with a name tag on it.
Glow The soft light of the tree in a dark room.
Holiday A day or season of celebration.
Joyful Glad all the way through.
Lighting The evening when a town switches its tree on for the first time.
Morning The early hours of the holiday, when the paper comes off.
Package A box in bright paper, shaken for clues.
Photo The picture taken each year in front of the tree.
Plaza A public square, where many towns put up one large tree.
Present A wrapped surprise that waits under the lowest branches.
Tradition A custom passed on, such as who gets to place the star.
Train A toy that circles the base of some trees on a loop of track.
Yule An old name for the Christmas season.

How this list was compiled: Own work: the word list and every clue were written for this page. Spellings and meanings were checked on 16 October 2026 in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (https://www.ahdictionary.com/). The history, the kinds of tree and the decorations in the clues follow these English Wikipedia articles, read the same day: Christmas tree (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_tree), Tinsel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinsel), Christmas tree stand (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_tree_stand) and Candy cane (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_cane). Paper chain and Tannenbaum were checked in Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/paper_chain). Licence: own work

How it works

Ornament, Tinsel, Garland, Star and Lights are on the opening list of this Christmas tree word search printable, beside Fir, Spruce and Pine. Six themed lists follow the tree from the farm to the living room.

Read the full guide

Six lists, from the farm to the star

Kinds of Tree has Balsam, Juniper and Tannenbaum. Parts of the Tree has Needle, Bough and Resin. Trimmings has Bauble, Icicle and Paper chain. Putting Up the Tree has Untangle, Ladder and Timer. At the Tree Farm has Saw, Bale and Netting, and Around the Tree has Carol, Plaza and Yule.

Dates in the clues

Tinsel was invented in Nuremberg, Germany, around 1610 and was first made of silver. Glass baubles were first made in Lauscha, Germany, in 1847, and the first known tree with electric lights stood in New York in 1882. The first artificial trees were built of goose feathers dyed green. The dates follow Wikipedia's articles on the Christmas tree and on tinsel.

Kinds of Tree doubles as a science list: the clues tell fir from spruce by needles and cones.

Questions and answers

Is the Christmas tree word search free to print?

Yes, and there is nothing to sign up for. It prints on two pages of Letter or A4: the puzzle with a name and date line and a short writing task, then the answer key.

What words are in the Christmas tree word search?

129 words and phrases about the tree alone, from Fir and Bow to Straighten and Tannenbaum. Santa, the feast and the carols are on the Christmas word search.

Is there an easy Christmas tree word search for younger children?

Short and Easy has 12 words of 3 or 4 letters: Fir, Pine, Star, Bell, Bow, Cone, Twig, Bark, Farm, Gift, Glow and Trim.

Which list has the ornaments?

Trimmings, with 28 entries, from Ornament, Garland and Beads to Candy cane, Snowflake and Heirloom. Stand, Ladder and Plug are in Putting Up the Tree.

All 129 words

Kinds of Tree 18

Parts of the Tree 19

Trimmings 28

Putting Up the Tree 20

At the Tree Farm 23

Around the Tree 21

How it works

Six lists, from the farm to the star

Dates in the clues

Questions and answers

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