Printable Compound Word Crossword Puzzle

Print a compound word crossword whose clues each hint at two small words, with word bank and answer key.

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Compound Word Crossword

Each clue hints at two small words. Join them to make one compound word.

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Tap a square, and its clue shows here.

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Word bank

  • Backpack
  • Cowboy
  • Cupcake
  • Doorbell
  • Football
  • Notebook
  • Pancake
  • Popcorn
  • Rainbow
  • Snowman
  • Sunflower
  • Weekend

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 8 mm wide. For a PDF, choose Save as PDF in the print window.

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Answer key: Compound Word Crossword

1R2CU3PCAKEAOIP4P5CNCAO6BBO7SNOWMANORCBC8WEEKEN9DAOKOKYP10SUNFLOWERARC11NOTEBOOKKE12FOOTBALLL

Across 2 CUPCAKE · 7 SNOWMAN · 8 WEEKEND · 10 SUNFLOWER · 11 NOTEBOOK · 12 FOOTBALL

Down 1 RAINBOW · 3 POPCORN · 4 PANCAKE · 5 COWBOY · 6 BACKPACK · 9 DOORBELL

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All 179 clues

Show all clues and answers

Outdoors and Weather 23

  • Campfire A place to sleep in tents + flames and heat
  • Daylight Monday or Tuesday + what a lamp gives off
  • Driftwood To float slowly along + what a log is made of
  • Earthquake The planet we live on + to shake and tremble
  • Footpath It has five toes + a narrow way to walk
  • Hailstone Balls of ice from the sky + a small rock
  • Hillside Land lower than a mountain + one face of a box
  • Landslide Solid ground, not sea + a ride you zoom down at the park
  • Lighthouse The opposite of heavy + a building where a family lives
  • Moonlight It glows in the night sky + the opposite of dark
  • Rainbow Drops falling from clouds + a ribbon tied in two loops
  • Raindrop Wet weather + one tiny bead of liquid
  • Riverbank A wide stream that flows to the sea + a place that keeps money safe
  • Seashell The salty ocean + the hard cover of an egg or a nut
  • Snowflake It covers the ground in winter + a thin little chip
  • Snowman White winter flakes + a grown-up boy
  • Sunflower The star that lights the day + a rose or a daisy
  • Thunderstorm The rumble after a flash in the sky + rain and wild wind together
  • Treetop A tall plant with a trunk + the highest point
  • Waterfall What you drink from a tap + to tumble down
  • Whirlpool To spin around fast + a place to swim
  • Wildflower Growing free, not tame + the bloom of a plant
  • Windmill Moving air + a place where grain is ground into flour

Around the House 26

  • Armchair It has a shoulder at one end and a wrist at the other + a seat with a back
  • Backyard The opposite of front + three feet in length
  • Bathtub A wash in warm water + a wide, open container
  • Bedroom It has a pillow and a blanket + a space with four walls and a door
  • Bookshelf It has pages and a cover + a flat board that holds things
  • Clothesline Shirts, pants and socks + a long, thin mark
  • Cupboard A small bowl with a handle, for drinking + a flat piece of wood
  • Dishwasher A plate or a bowl + a machine that cleans clothes
  • Doorbell You open it to come in + it rings
  • Doorknob A way into a room + a round handle
  • Doormat It swings on hinges + a small rug
  • Driveway To steer a car + a path or a road
  • Dustpan Fine dry dirt + you fry eggs in it
  • Earring You hear with it + the sound of a bell
  • Fireplace It burns hot and bright + a spot or a location
  • Flashlight A sudden burst of brightness + not heavy
  • Handbag It has four fingers and a thumb + a sack
  • Keyhole It opens a lock + an opening you could fall into
  • Lampshade It lights a room at the flick of a switch + a cool spot under a tree
  • Mailbox Letters and packages + a container with a lid
  • Newspaper Reports of what just happened + you write and draw on it
  • Rooftop The cover of a building + a spinning toy
  • Staircase One step of many + what a detective solves
  • Tablecloth Furniture you eat at + woven fabric
  • Teapot A hot drink made from leaves + a deep pan for cooking
  • Toothbrush A dentist checks it + a tool with bristles

School and Play 26

  • Backpack The part of your body behind your chest + to fill a suitcase
  • Basketball You carry a picnic in it + a round thing to throw and catch
  • Bookmark A story between two covers + a spot or a stain
  • Bookworm You borrow it from a library + a wiggly thing in the soil
  • Cartwheel A wagon you push at the store + a rolling circle
  • Classroom A group of students + space inside a building
  • Daydream The time when the sun is up + pictures in your sleep
  • Fingerprint One of five on a hand + to write without cursive
  • Football You wear a shoe on it + a round toy that bounces
  • Handwriting It is at the end of your arm + putting sentences on paper
  • Homework Where your family lives + a job to be done
  • Jigsaw A lively dance + a cutting tool with teeth
  • Keyboard A part of a piano you press + a thin, flat panel
  • Leapfrog To jump far + a green pond hopper
  • Lunchbox A sandwich at noon + a square container
  • Notebook A short written message + you read it page by page
  • Paintbrush Colored liquid for walls + you run it through your hair
  • Password To go by + letters that carry a meaning
  • Playground To have fun with toys + the dirt under your feet
  • Racetrack A contest of speed + rails for a train
  • Skateboard To glide on ice + a plank
  • Spaceship Where the stars and planets are + a big boat
  • Stopwatch A red sign says it + a small clock on your wrist
  • Teammate Players on the same side + a friend or a partner
  • Tiptoe The pointed end + one of ten on your feet
  • Touchdown To feel with your fingers + the opposite of up

Animals and Their Homes 29

  • Anteater A tiny insect that marches in a line + one who has a meal
  • Anthill A tiny six-legged worker + land higher than the fields around it
  • Beehive A striped insect that stings + a home full of honeycomb
  • Bluebird The color of a clear sky + it builds a nest and sings
  • Bobcat To dip up and down in water + a pet that meows
  • Bulldog An animal with horns that charges + a pet that fetches
  • Bullfrog A male farm animal with horns + it starts life as a tadpole
  • Butterfly Yellow spread for bread + to travel through the air
  • Catfish A kitten grows into one + it breathes through gills
  • Cottontail Soft white fluff that T-shirts are made of + what a dog wags
  • Dragonfly A fire-breathing monster of stories + a buzzing pest at a picnic
  • Earthworm Soil, or our planet + a long, soft crawler
  • Firefly Something that burns + a small buzzing insect
  • Grasshopper Green blades on a lawn + one who jumps on one foot
  • Hedgehog A row of bushes + a pig
  • Hummingbird Singing with your lips closed + an animal with feathers
  • Inchworm A small step on a ruler + it wriggles and has no legs
  • Jellyfish Wobbly fruit spread + it swims in a school
  • Kingfisher A ruler with a crown + one who catches trout
  • Ladybug A polite word for a woman + a tiny creeping creature
  • Pigpen A pink farm animal that oinks + you write with it in ink
  • Rattlesnake A noisy toy for a baby + a long reptile with no legs
  • Roadrunner A street for cars + a person in a race
  • Sheepdog A woolly farm animal + a pet that barks
  • Starfish It twinkles at night + an animal with fins and gills
  • Stingray What a wasp can do + a beam from the sun
  • Swordfish The long blade of a knight + a swimmer with scales
  • Warthog A hard bump on the skin + a muddy animal with a curly tail
  • Woodpecker Boards and logs are made of it + one that taps with its beak

Food 21

  • Blueberry The color of a robin's egg + a tiny fruit that may grow on a vine or a bush
  • Breakfast To snap in two + very quick
  • Cookbook To make dinner on a stove + pages bound together
  • Cupcake You drink from it + a sweet baked dessert with frosting
  • Doughnut A soft mix that bakes into bread + an almond or a pecan
  • Eggplant A hen lays it + a living thing with roots and leaves
  • Grapefruit It grows in bunches on a vine + an orange or a pear
  • Meatball Beef, pork or chicken + a round shape like a globe
  • Milkshake A white drink from cows + to tremble
  • Oatmeal A grain that horses eat + lunch or dinner, for example
  • Pancake You fry an egg in it + a sweet treat with candles on top
  • Peanut A small round green vegetable + a seed in a hard shell
  • Peppermint It makes you sneeze, beside the salt + a fresh-tasting leaf
  • Pineapple An evergreen tree with needles + a fruit often baked in a pie
  • Popcorn The sound a balloon makes + yellow kernels on a cob
  • Seafood Where sharks swim + what you eat
  • Shortbread The opposite of tall + a loaf you slice for toast
  • Strawberry You sip a drink through it + a small juicy fruit
  • Teaspoon A hot drink poured from a kettle + you eat soup with it
  • Toothpick It can get a cavity + to choose
  • Watermelon Rain is made of it + a big, sweet, round fruit

People 33

  • Anyone No matter which + the number before two
  • Babysitter A very young child + one who rests on a chair
  • Bodyguard Head, arms, legs and all + to protect
  • Cheerleader A happy shout + the one at the front of the line
  • Copycat To do just what someone else does + a pet with whiskers
  • Cowboy A farm animal that moos + a young male
  • Cowgirl She gives milk on a farm + a young female
  • Everyone Each, with none left out + the number after zero
  • Firefighter Hot flames + one who battles
  • Fisherman One who casts a line into a lake + an adult male
  • Goalkeeper What a soccer team scores + one who looks after something
  • Grandmother Large and splendid + a woman who has a child
  • Grandson Very large and fine + the male child of a mother and father
  • Landlord Ground, not water + a nobleman with a castle
  • Lifeguard Being alive + one who keeps watch
  • Lumberjack Boards cut for building + the card between ten and queen
  • Mailman Postcards and packages + a father or an uncle, for one
  • Newcomer Not old + one who arrives
  • Nobody The opposite of yes + arms, legs and all the rest of you
  • Peacemaker The opposite of war + one who creates
  • Quarterback A coin worth 25 cents + the rear side
  • Redhead The color of a stop sign + where your brain is
  • Ringmaster A circle of gold for a finger + the one in charge
  • Scarecrow To frighten + a black bird that caws
  • Schoolteacher Where students learn + one who gives lessons
  • Shipmate A vessel that crosses the ocean + a buddy
  • Sidekick Not the front or the back + what a foot does to a soccer ball
  • Sleepwalker What you do in bed at night + one who goes on foot
  • Somebody A few, but not all + all of a person, head to toe
  • Songwriter Music with words + an author
  • Storyteller A tale + a bank worker at the counter
  • Sweetheart Tasting like sugar + it beats in your chest
  • Zookeeper A park for wild animals + one who looks after something

Times and Places 21

  • Afternoon Later than + twelve o'clock in the day
  • Airport What we breathe + a harbor for ships
  • Bedtime You pull the covers up in it + what a clock tells
  • Birthday The start of a life + Monday or Friday, for example
  • Crosswalk A mark shaped like a plus sign + to stroll
  • Daybreak When the sun is up + to crack into pieces
  • Downtown The opposite of up + smaller than a city
  • Everywhere Each one + a word that asks for a place
  • Greenhouse The color of grass + a building with rooms
  • Highway Far above the ground + a route to travel
  • Nightfall The dark hours + another word for autumn
  • Outside The opposite of in + the left or the right of something
  • Overnight Above + when the stars come out
  • Railroad A metal bar that a train rides on + a street
  • Skyscraper Where clouds float + a tool that rubs paint off
  • Springtime A coil that bounces back + hours and minutes
  • Sunrise It warms the Earth + to go up
  • Sunset The brightest thing in the sky + to put something down
  • Underground Beneath + what a plane leaves at takeoff
  • Weekend Seven days + the last part
  • Workshop A job + a store

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site: each one hints at the two small words inside a compound word, in seven sets from the outdoors to times and places. Every answer is written as one word in English Wiktionary and in the American Heritage Dictionary, and its two parts follow the Wiktionary etymology (CC BY-SA 4.0), read in October 2026. No list was copied. Licence: own work

How it works

This printable compound word crossword puzzle is a vocabulary crossword in a criss-cross grid. The first puzzle has 12 easy answers, among them Sunflower, Backpack, Rainbow, Notebook and Popcorn. It fits Letter or A4.

Read the full guide

How a clue works

A clue reads: The star that lights the day + a rose or a daisy. The first hint is sun, the second is flower, and the answer is SUNFLOWER. Neither small word is printed in its own clue, so the solver has to find both.

Seven sets after the easy one

Outdoors and Weather has Waterfall and Earthquake. Around the House has Doorknob and Flashlight. School and Play has Skateboard and Jigsaw. Animals and Their Homes has Hedgehog and Beehive. Food has Pineapple and Breakfast. People has Lifeguard and Scarecrow. Times and Places has Afternoon and Skyscraper.

  • Once the grid is full, have students draw a line between the two small words in each answer.

Questions and answers

Is the compound word crossword free to print?

Yes, and there is no sign-up. Print a copy for each student. The answer key comes out last, on a sheet of its own, so it is easy to hold back.

What grade is the compound word crossword for?

Easy Compound Words suits grades 1 to 3, with the word bank. The seven themed sets, with answers such as Thunderstorm and Schoolteacher, suit grades 3 to 5. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

What is a compound word?

A word made by joining two or more words, such as sun and flower in sunflower. Every answer in these puzzles is a closed compound: its two words are written as one, with no space or hyphen.

Is butterfly a compound word?

Yes. It joins butter and fly, and it goes back to an Old English word built the same way. Its clue here hints at a yellow spread and at traveling through the air.

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