Colonial America Crossword Puzzle

Print a criss-cross Colonial America crossword on daily life, trades and government in the thirteen colonies, with its answer key.

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Colonial America Crossword

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Answer key: Colonial America Crossword

1C2C3CA4COMMONNLA5TOB6ACCOSEPNT7CPYHR8H9M10HARVESTAARNRRTTBK11MEETINGHOUSERCRT12HERBS

Across 4 COMMON · 5 TOBACCO · 10 HARVEST · 11 MEETINGHOUSE · 12 HERBS

Down 1 CANOE · 2 COLONY · 3 COAST · 6 APPRENTICE · 7 CHARTER · 8 HARBOR · 9 MARKET

Next step Print the Thanksgiving crosswordFind the thirteen colonies in a word search

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The Thirteen Colonies and Their Towns 30

  • Amsterdam New ___: town on Manhattan that the English seized and renamed in 1664
  • Appalachians Mountain chain west of the thirteen; a 1763 order forbade new settlement beyond it
  • Atlantic Ocean every settler from Europe had to cross
  • Backcountry Hill country behind the settled shore, where farms were few
  • Boston Town of 1630 on the Shawmut Peninsula
  • Charleston Southern seaport founded by the English in 1670 as Charles Town
  • Chesapeake Great bay that the James River runs to, below the settlement of 1607
  • Coast All thirteen lay along the eastern one
  • Connecticut The Fundamental Orders were its political rule book from 1639 to 1662
  • Delaware New Sweden, founded there by Swedes in 1638, was its first lasting European settlement
  • Frontier Where the cleared farms stopped and the forest took over
  • Georgia The thirteenth province in order of founding: 1732
  • Jamestown Fort of 1607 on the bank of a river named for the king
  • Maryland Province planned as a refuge for Catholics
  • Massachusetts Bay province of the 1630s, when about 20,000 Puritans migrated to New England
  • Middle Name for the group of provinces between New England and the South
  • New Hampshire Its name, given in 1629, comes from a county in southern England
  • New Jersey Province renamed by the English for an island in the English Channel
  • New York Its name of 1664 honors a duke who later became King James II
  • North Carolina Northern part of a province that existed from 1663 to 1712
  • Pennsylvania Founded in 1681 as a "Holy experiment"; its name means Penn's Woods
  • Philadelphia Its name joins Greek words for dear and brother
  • Plymouth Settlement that the Pilgrims began in 1620
  • Rhode Island New England province begun in 1636, a haven known for religious freedom
  • Roanoke Island of the "Lost" settlement of the 1580s
  • Savannah Oldest city in its state, established in 1733 on a river of the same name
  • South Carolina Southern part of a province that was divided in 1712; Charles Town was its chief town
  • Tidewater Low-lying coastal plain where the water level in the rivers follows the tide
  • Virginia Oldest of the thirteen, home of the first permanent English settlement
  • Williamsburg For 81 years from 1699, the oldest province was governed from this town

Peoples of the Colonies 25

  • Canoe Slim river craft, moved by one blade and no sail
  • Colonist Person who settled in one of the thirteen
  • Dutch People from the Netherlands, who built a fort and a town on Manhattan
  • Gentry The wealthy landowning class
  • Huguenot French Protestant, one of the refugees who fled to the English colonies
  • Immigrant Newcomer from another country who means to stay
  • Iroquois Confederacy of northern nations, also called the Haudenosaunee
  • Lenape Native people whose homeland, Lenapehoking, reached the lower Hudson Valley
  • Longhouse Long bark-walled home meant to house many families
  • Maize Corn, one of the Three Sisters planted together with beans
  • Minister Preacher who led a New England congregation
  • Patroon Landholder with rights over a large tract of New Netherland
  • Pilgrim One of the Separatists who founded a settlement in New England in 1620
  • Planter Gentleman of the South whose fields grew crops for sale abroad
  • Powhatan Algonquian people whose chief governed more than 30 tribes by 1607
  • Puritan English Protestant who held that the Church of England was not reformed enough
  • Quaker One of the Friends, whose "Holy experiment" began in 1681
  • Sachem Title of a leader among the Algonquian peoples of the Northeast
  • Slavery System of forced labor that was legal and practiced in all thirteen
  • Squash The third of the Three Sisters, after corn and beans
  • Thanksgiving Holiday whose story goes back to a celebration held in 1621
  • Wampanoag People of the Northeastern Woodlands whose land includes Martha's Vineyard
  • Wampum Shell beads of the Northeastern Woodlands peoples, also woven into belts
  • Wigwam Also called a wetu or a wikiup: a dwelling with a rounded top
  • Yeoman Man who owned a small piece of land and worked it himself

Home, School and Meetinghouse 43

  • Almanac Farmers read it for the moon, the tides and the days to plant
  • Apron Front cover-up tied on by a smith, a housewife or a kitchen maid
  • Barn Where the cows were milked and the hay was stored
  • Bellows Leather bag squeezed to blow air onto a fire
  • Breeches Once a standard item of men's clothing, reaching the knee
  • Cabin Log house; the first in North America may have been built by Finnish or Swedish settlers
  • Candle Made by dipping a wick again and again in hot fat
  • Chores Daily jobs of a farm child, such as hauling water
  • Churn Where a child's tired arms turned cream into something for the bread
  • Common Land shared by a whole town, often for grazing
  • Cradle Small rocking bed for a baby
  • Dame school Small private class for young children, often in the teacher's own house
  • Flax Field plant pulled, soaked and combed before its fibers could be spun
  • Harvest Autumn's work: bringing the crops in before frost
  • Hearth Floor of the fireplace, where the cooking was done
  • Herbs Garden plants grown for flavor and scent
  • Homespun Rough cloth a family made for itself, from fleece to finished coat
  • Hornbook Alphabet sheet in a frame with a handle, protected by a thin layer of horn
  • Johnnycake Cornmeal flatbread found in the cooking of New England
  • Kettle Iron pot hung over the fire
  • Linen Cloth of colonial shirts, made from a field plant with blue flowers
  • Loom Wooden frame that holds the long threads while the cross threads are woven in
  • Meetinghouse Building paid for by the town, where New Englanders prayed and argued town affairs
  • Orchard Rows of apple trees behind the farmhouse
  • Oxen Two of these under one yoke could drag a stump out of a new field
  • Pewter Soft gray metal, mostly tin, used for plates and mugs
  • Pillory Frame on a post with holes for the head and hands, for public shaming
  • Plow It cut furrows across a field before planting
  • Primer Small book from which colonial children learned to read
  • Quill Goose feather sharpened with a penknife and dipped in ink
  • Quilt Bedcover of stitched layers, often pieced from scraps
  • Sabbath The day when work stopped and families walked to worship
  • Sampler Needlework that showed a girl's skill, often with the alphabet stitched in
  • Sermon Long talk given from the pulpit
  • Soap Boiled at home from fat and wood ashes, for washing
  • Spinning wheel Turning hoop and spindle that made yarn in a colonial kitchen
  • Stocks Frame that held an offender's feet, for public shaming
  • Succotash Dish of corn and beans whose name comes from a Narragansett word
  • Tallow Hard animal fat melted down to give light after dark
  • Town crier Officer who made public announcements in the streets
  • Trencher Small flat plate of wood or metal
  • Tricorn Three-cornered headwear, popular in the 1700s
  • Wool What was sheared each spring, then washed, carded and spun

Trades and Work 39

  • Anvil Block with a horn at one end, where red-hot metal is shaped
  • Apothecary Shopkeeper who mixed and sold medicines
  • Apprentice Boy who lived with a craftsman for years to learn the work
  • Barrel Round wooden container made of staves and hoops
  • Blacksmith His shop rang with hammer blows; he made nails, hinges and horseshoes
  • Carpenter Builder of wooden houses and frames
  • Chandler Maker and seller of candles
  • Cobbler Shoe repairer with an awl and a last
  • Cooper Craftsman who shaped staves and hoops into tight containers
  • Farmer Tiller of the soil
  • Farrier Smith who shoes horses
  • Fisherman New England worker who hauled in the ocean catch
  • Forge A smith's fire and workshop
  • Glassblower Craftsman who shapes hot melted sand into bottles with a pipe
  • Gristmill Building where grain is ground into flour
  • Indentured Word for a servant who owed years of work in return for passage
  • Joiner Woodworker who makes the fitted parts of a house, such as stairs and sashes
  • Journeyman Trained worker who has finished learning a craft but has no shop of his own
  • Mason Builder in stone or brick
  • Merchant Trader who bought and sold shiploads of goods
  • Miller Keeper of the waterwheel and the grinding stones
  • Milliner Maker and seller of women's hats
  • Peddler Traveling seller who carried goods from farm to farm
  • Potter Maker of clay jugs and bowls
  • Printer Worker who set type and ran the press for newspapers
  • Saddler Leather worker a rider visited before a long journey
  • Sailor Worker aboard a ship
  • Sawmill Water-driven blade house that turned trunks into planks
  • Sawyer One of two men on a long saw, cutting planks from a log
  • Shipwright Builder of wooden vessels
  • Silversmith Craftsman who worked a shining precious metal into tableware
  • Surveyor Worker who measures land and marks its boundaries
  • Tailor Maker of fitted clothes
  • Tanner Worker who soaked hides until they became leather
  • Trapper Hunter who caught beavers for their pelts
  • Weaver Maker of cloth
  • Whaler Seaman who hunted the largest sea animals for their oil
  • Wheelwright Builder and mender of wagon wheels
  • Wigmaker Maker of false hair for gentlemen's heads

Government and Trade 42

  • Assembly Elected house of a colonial legislature; voters had to own enough property
  • Barter Swap a bushel of corn for a pair of shoes, with no coins
  • Burgesses House of ___: lawmaking body of the oldest of the thirteen, set up in 1619
  • Cargo Casks, bales and crates in the hold
  • Cash crop Farm product raised for sale, not for the family table
  • Charter Document from the king that gave a settlement the legal right to exist
  • Cod Sea fish that New England crews hauled in by the boatload
  • Colony Each of the thirteen was one, tied to the British Crown
  • Compact Agreement that 41 passengers signed aboard ship in 1620
  • Council Upper house of a colonial legislature, which also advised the province's chief official
  • Customs Duties paid on goods brought in from abroad
  • Export To ship goods out for sale
  • Freeman Colonial man with full rights, including the right to cast a ballot
  • Furs Animal pelts; a fort on Manhattan was built to defend the trade in them
  • Governor Official who led the executive branch in every one of the thirteen
  • Harbor Calm water for anchoring; Provincetown's sheltered the ship of 1620
  • Import To bring goods in from abroad
  • Indigo Plant raised for blue dye, the second most important crop of one southern province
  • Lumber Sawn boards, a product of New England's logging
  • Market Open place where country people sold their goods on set days
  • Mast The broad arrow mark set a pine aside to become one for a warship
  • Mayflower After 10 weeks at sea in 1620, it dropped anchor off the tip of a New England cape
  • Mercantilism Policy of selling as much as possible abroad and buying as little as possible
  • Militia Local men who trained to defend their town
  • Molasses Thick syrup; an act of 1733 put a duty on each gallon brought in from non-British lands
  • Navigation The ___ Acts: English laws that regulated ships and colonial trade
  • Parliament Lawmaking body in England that passed the acts governing colonial shipping
  • Plantation Large southern farm that relied on the forced labor of enslaved people
  • Proclamation A ruler's public order; the king issued a famous one about western lands in 1763
  • Proprietor Person to whom the Crown gave the right to set up and run a province
  • Rice Grain that was the most important crop sold by one southern province
  • Royal Kind of province set up for the Crown itself, not for owners or a company
  • Schooner Sailing vessel whose foremast is usually shorter than its mainmast
  • Shilling British coin worth one twentieth of a pound
  • Smuggler Trader who sneaked goods ashore without paying duty
  • Tar Sticky black pine product made in quantity in the Carolinas
  • Tax Payment to the government; colonial lawmakers decided questions about it
  • Tobacco Leaf crop that was an essential part of the colonial economy
  • Town meeting Gathering where townspeople decide local matters, held in New England since colonial times
  • Triangular Kind of three-way ocean trade that ran between Europe, Africa and the Americas
  • Vote A choice made by a show of hands or on paper
  • Wharf Where barrels were rolled from ship to shore

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for grades 4 to 8. Dates, founders' aims and trade facts were checked against English Wikipedia (Thirteen Colonies, Colonial history of the United States and the article on each province, town and people) in October 2026; trade and household words were checked in Wiktionary. No person is an answer. Slavery is named plainly, as the sources name it. Unofficial classroom practice. Licence: own work

How it works

This Colonial America crossword puzzle is a vocabulary crossword for a social studies unit, on Letter or A4. Colony, Charter, Harbor, Meetinghouse, Apprentice and Tobacco are all in the first puzzle of 12.

Read the full guide

Five sets, and no person among the answers

The Thirteen Colonies and Their Towns has Jamestown, Savannah and Chesapeake. Peoples of the Colonies has Wampanoag, Quaker and Huguenot. Home, School and Meetinghouse has Hornbook, Trencher and Johnnycake. Trades and Work has Cooper, Wheelwright and Farrier. Government and Trade has Burgesses, Mercantilism and Molasses. Every answer is a place, a people, a thing or a job.

Hard facts, said plainly

Slavery is an answer, clued as legal and practiced in all thirteen colonies, and Plantation is clued by the forced labor it relied on.

  • Before a visit to a living history museum, print Trades and Work and have pupils circle each craft they see at work.

Questions and answers

What grade is the Colonial America crossword puzzle for?

The opening set, Upper Elementary Colonial Words, suits grades 4 and 5, with answers such as Hearth, Canoe and Barrel. The five themed sets suit grades 5 to 8. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

Does the crossword have all 13 colonies?

Yes. Each one is an answer in The Thirteen Colonies and Their Towns, from Virginia, the oldest, to Georgia, founded in 1732. A two-word name such as Rhode Island goes in the grid with no space.

Does the Colonial America crossword come with an answer key?

Yes. The filled-in grid prints last, with each answer listed by its number, so the key can stay on your desk while the puzzle goes to the class. Printing is free, with no sign-up.

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