Ellis Island Word Search

Find 15 Ellis Island words in one grid, from Steamship and Steerage to Great Hall, with an answer key.

Name Date

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

0 of 15 words found

EPPITDATLANTICT

TMEYMCGOHHECIGC

NIBYABEJRZTNNRN

RUQFHYSBHHCESEG

USSDOCTORSRWPAN

LOMUSEUMOCHYETF

ATOKPTELTTOOCHR

ZFTNIPLOHMPRTAX

SGDSTEERAGEKILI

OQSHABBDBRSHOLW

IGXELLISISLANDD

STEAMSHIPFERRYS

XRBAGGAGESCBUCH

DSYVTQUESTIONSE

NETEIOIMMIGRANT

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.

ImmigrantIMMIGRANT
SteamshipSTEAMSHIP
SteerageSTEERAGE
AtlanticATLANTIC
BaggageBAGGAGE
FerryFERRY
InspectionINSPECTION
Great HallGREAT HALL
DoctorsDOCTORS
QuestionsQUESTIONS
HospitalHOSPITAL
Ellis IslandELLIS ISLAND
New York HarborNEW YORK HARBOR
MuseumMUSEUM
HopeHOPE

15 words from the Ellis Island list.

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

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Answer key: Ellis Island Word Search

EPPITDATLANTICT

TMEYMCGOHHECIGC

NIBYABEJRZTNNRN

RUQFHYSBHHCESEG

USSDOCTORSRWPAN

LOMUSEUMOCHYETF

ATOKPTELTTOOCHR

ZFTNIPLOHMPRTAX

SGDSTEERAGEKILI

OQSHABBDBRSHOLW

IGXELLISISLANDD

STEAMSHIPFERRYS

XRBAGGAGESCBUCH

DSYVTQUESTIONSE

NETEIOIMMIGRANT

IMMIGRANT, STEAMSHIP, STEERAGE, ATLANTIC, BAGGAGE, FERRY, INSPECTION, GREAT HALL, DOCTORS, QUESTIONS, HOSPITAL, ELLIS ISLAND, NEW YORK HARBOR, MUSEUM, HOPE

Next step Make a puzzle from your own immigration unit Scramble these Ellis Island words

All 78 words

Crossing the Atlantic 15

Atlantic The ocean the steamships crossed. Steerage travelers could spend up to two weeks seasick on it.
Baggage A traveler's belongings. A room of the main building is named for it.
Barge A flat boat for harbor work. One of these or a ferry carried steerage passengers to the island.
Bunks Narrow beds on a ship, where steerage travelers rode out rough seas.
Europe The continent that most of the first arrivals came from.
Ferry A boat for short trips. One of these or a barge carried steerage passengers from ship to island.
Homeland The country a person comes from. After 1924 inspection could take place there, before the trip.
Immigrant Someone who arrives to settle in a new country. About 12 million were processed on the island.
Ireland Homeland of the 17-year-old who was the first immigrant processed, on January 1, 1892.
Manifest A ship's list of passengers, filled out at the port of departure with each one's name and answers.
Passenger Anyone traveling aboard. Those who paid for first or second class were inspected on the ship.
Port A place where ships load and unload. Boston, Baltimore and New Orleans took in immigrants at theirs too.
Steamship An ocean liner driven by engines. Third class passengers rode near its bottom.
Steerage The lowest class of passenger space on a ship, also called third class.
Third Class The cheapest way to cross. Its passengers were the largest group processed on the island.

Show all 78 words (63 more)

Immigration Station 26

Admitted Let into the country, as the vast majority of arrivals were.
Bakery Built on the island between 1913 and 1915, with a greenhouse and a carpenter's shop.
Benches Seats that replaced the handrails of the Registry Room in 1911.
Bureau A government office. The one of Immigration ran the station.
Chalk Inspectors drew symbols with it on people they suspected were sick.
Clerk An office worker who keeps records. The Bureau of Immigration employed them here.
Commissioner The title of the official in charge of immigration at the station.
Deported Sent back to the country one came from.
Detained Kept on the island for further checks.
Doctors They scanned every person in line for signs of illness.
Dormitory A building with rooms for sleeping. The island gained one, joined to a baggage building.
Great Hall Another name for the Registry Room.
Hospital It opened on the island in March 1902, with room for 125 patients.
Inspection The check every arrival had to pass. For most it took a few hours.
Inspector The official who questioned each newcomer to decide whether he or she could be admitted.
Interpreter A worker who translates between languages, one of the jobs on the station's staff.
Kissing Post A wooden column outside the Registry Room where the admitted met relatives and friends.
Kitchen Built on the island in 1901, along with a laundry and a powerhouse.
Laundry Where clothes and linens are washed. The island got one in 1901.
Literacy The ability to read. Some arrivals were tested on it in their native languages.
Main Building It opened on December 17, 1900, and houses the museum today.
Matron A woman on the station's staff, listed with the interpreters, watchmen and clerks.
Occupation A job or trade: one of the things every arrival was asked about.
Questions Arrivals were asked a couple dozen, such as name, occupation and money carried.
Railroad Immigrants bound inland could buy tickets for it at an office in the main building.
Registry Room The room on the main building's second floor where the inspections were held.

The Island in the Harbor 17

Acres Units of land. The island now covers 27.5, most of them man-made.
Barge Office The Manhattan building where immigrants were processed after the fire of 1897.
Black Tom The nearby island where an explosion in 1916 shattered windows at the station.
Castle Garden The old fort on Manhattan that was New York's immigration station from 1855 to 1890.
Dock A landing place for boats. One was installed beside the site of the first station.
Ellis Island The first and largest federal immigration station, in use from 1892 to 1954.
Federal Belonging to the national government, as the whole island has since 1808.
Fireproof What the station of 1900 was built to be, after flames destroyed the wooden one in June 1897.
Fort Gibson The name given in 1813 to the island's battery of harbor guns.
Georgia Pine The wood of the first immigration building, which opened on January 1, 1892.
Gull Island The meaning of Kioshk, a Native American name for the place.
Landfill Earth added to make new land. It doubled the island before the first station was built.
Lenape The people for whom the bay's oyster beds were a major source of food.
Liberty Island The neighbor once called Bedloe's Island.
New Jersey The state that holds most of the island's 27.5 acres under a Supreme Court ruling of 1998.
New York Harbor The water in which the island lies.
Oysters Shellfish that grew here in large beds. The Dutch called this one of three islands named for them.

Quotas, Closing and Museum 20

Ancestor A person you are descended from. A center on the island helps families search for theirs.
Census The national count of people. Quotas were figured from those of 1910 and 1890.
Coast Guard It opened a training station on the island in 1939.
Consulate A country's office abroad. From 1924 immigrants obtained visas at American ones.
Database A searchable store of facts. The island's holds passenger manifests from 1892 to 1924.
Depression The Great one followed the crash of 1929, and immigration was extremely low.
Detention The holding of people. After 1924 it became the island's main use.
Hope The Island of this was a nickname for the station, the first stop on the way to a new life.
Immigration The coming of people to live in a new country, and the subject of the island's national museum.
Monument In 1965 the island became part of the Statue of Liberty National one.
Museum What the main building became. It opened to the public on September 10, 1990.
Nationality The country a person belongs to. The quota laws counted immigrants by it.
Park Service The national agency that has run the island since 1965.
Quota A limit on numbers. Laws of 1921 and 1924 set one for each nationality.
Records Papers kept as proof. A center for searching them opened on the island in 2001.
Refugees People forced to leave their homes. An act of 1948 let 400,000 of them into the country.
Tears The Island of these was the station's other nickname, for those who were turned away.
Vacant Empty. The island was left this way when its ferryboat made a last run on November 29, 1954.
Visa A permit to enter a country. From 1924 immigrants had to get one before sailing.
Wall of Honor A wall of names outside the main building, first opened in 1990.

How this list was compiled: Own work: the 78 words and every meaning were written for this page. Dates, numbers and names were checked on October 16, 2026 against the National Park Service's Ellis Island pages (https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/index.htm, https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/ellis-island-chronology.htm, https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/places_immigration.htm and https://www.nps.gov/elis/faqs.htm), the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation's history page (https://www.statueofliberty.org/ellis-island/overview-history/) and English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Island. Licence: own work

How it works

This Ellis Island word search hides 15 words: Ellis Island, Immigrant, Steamship, Steerage, Atlantic, Ferry, New York Harbor, Inspection, Great Hall, Doctors, Questions, Baggage, Hospital, Museum and Hope. Four more lists follow the journey from ship to shore.

Read the full guide

Four lists, from the crossing to the museum

Start from a list splits the 78 words: Crossing the Atlantic (15) has Manifest, Bunks and Third Class; Immigration Station (26) has Registry Room, Interpreter and Kissing Post; The Island in the Harbor (17) has Oysters, Landfill and Georgia Pine; Quotas, Closing and Museum (20) runs from Visa to Wall of Honor.

Meanings with dates and places

"It opened on the island in March 1902, with room for 125 patients." is Hospital. "A wooden column outside the Registry Room where the admitted met relatives and friends." is Kissing Post. No person is a puzzle word. To add a name from a family story, type it on the last line of the list.

Easy Ellis Island keeps to 12 words of 4 or 5 letters, such as Ferry, Barge, Chalk, Visa and Hope.
The grid drops spaces, so look for NEWYORKHARBOR, GREATHALL, KISSINGPOST and WALLOFHONOR.

Questions and answers

What was Ellis Island?

The first and largest federal immigration station in the United States. About 12 million immigrants were processed there between 1892 and 1954, and since 1990 its main building has been a national museum of immigration.

When did Ellis Island open and close?

It opened on January 1, 1892. The wooden station burned in June 1897 and a fireproof one opened on December 17, 1900. The last people held there left in November 1954, by the National Park Service's chronology.

What happened in the Great Hall at Ellis Island?

The Great Hall is the Registry Room, on the second floor of the main building. Doctors scanned each person in line, then an inspector asked a couple dozen questions, such as name, occupation and money carried.

Where is Ellis Island?

In New York Harbor. The island is federal property, and since a Supreme Court ruling of 1998 it lies partly in New York and mostly in New Jersey. Next, print the Statue of Liberty word search.

All 78 words

Crossing the Atlantic 15

Immigration Station 26

The Island in the Harbor 17

Quotas, Closing and Museum 20

How it works

Four lists, from the crossing to the museum

Meanings with dates and places

Questions and answers

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