Free Printable Word Search on Empathy

Print the empathy puzzle before a talk about feelings; a writing strip and the answer key come with it.

Name Date

Empathy Word Search

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

0 of 15 words found

HEARTINCLUDEGLE

ULQCPATIENCERSL

NCTOUNUQDCEYIJN

DVBMFSUPPORTPIA

EXDPIIZECMECPUE

RUAADTVRLFFHYNG

SCTSVWTSROREIES

TUESRIPPERXCRCY

ASGIETREATGKHQM

NPGODHWCCSSIAHP

DTKNCTOTHHUNWVA

BASAWJNIOOHLPBT

INCNAIDVUEEYAWH

GDSHNAEETSNVRLY

SADCDIRQLISTENA

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.

ListenLISTEN
WonderWONDER
Check inCHECK IN
PatiencePATIENCE
PerspectivePERSPECTIVE
ShoesSHOES
UnderstandUNDERSTAND
SympathySYMPATHY
CompassionCOMPASSION
HeartHEART
ComfortCOMFORT
IncludeINCLUDE
SupportSUPPORT
Sit withSIT WITH
Reach outREACH OUT

15 of 24 words from the Empathy list.

Write about a time someone understood how you felt. What did they do?

Start from a list

Easy: words go across and down.

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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: Empathy Word Search

HEARTINCLUDEGLE

ULQCPATIENCERSL

NCTOUNUQDCEYIJN

DVBMFSUPPORTPIA

EXDPIIZECMECPUE

RUAADTVRLFFHYNG

SCTSVWTSROREIES

TUESRIPPERXCRCY

ASGIETREATGKHQM

NPGODHWCCSSIAHP

DTKNCTOTHHUNWVA

BASAWJNIOOHLPBT

INCNAIDVUEEYAWH

GDSHNAEETSNVRLY

SADCDIRQLISTENA

LISTEN, WONDER, CHECK IN, PATIENCE, PERSPECTIVE, SHOES, UNDERSTAND, SYMPATHY, COMPASSION, HEART, COMFORT, INCLUDE, SUPPORT, SIT WITH, REACH OUT

Next step Print the emotions word search Make a word search from your class's own kind words

All 129 words

Notice the Feeling 15

Alone With no one else nearby.
Aware Knowing what is going on around you.
Clues Small signs that point to how someone feels.
Face The front of the head, where feelings often show first.
Fidget To move restlessly, often from nerves.
Frown A look with the brows pulled down.
Left out Not asked to join.
Notice To see that something has changed in how a person looks or acts.
Sense To pick up on something without being told.
Shoulders They droop when a person feels low.
Sigh A long breath out that can show a person is sad or tired.
Tears Drops from the eyes that can mean sorrow or joy.
Tune in To turn your whole mind toward someone.
Voice Its sound can tell you more than the words do.
Withdrawn Pulled back from others and saying little.

Show all 129 words (114 more)

Listen and Ask 14

Are you okay Three words that open the door to a talk.
Ask To put a question, such as "what happened?".
Check in To find out how a friend is doing.
Curious Wanting to know more.
I hear you Three words that tell a speaker the message got through.
Lean in To tip your body toward someone to show interest.
Listen To give your ears and your mind to a speaker.
Nod A small dip of the head that says "go on".
Patience Calm waiting, with no hurry.
Reflect To think over what someone has told you.
Respond To answer in a way that fits what was said.
Tell me more Three words that show you want to keep listening.
Wait To give someone time to find their words.
Wonder To be curious about what someone is going through.

In Their Shoes 20

Background The home, culture and past a person comes from.
Bridge Something that joins two sides.
Character A person in a book whose feelings a reader can try on.
Connect To form a link with another person.
Different Unlike your own, as another person's day may be.
Experience Something a person has lived through.
Imagine To picture something in your mind.
Lens A way of seeing; each person looks through their own.
Mirror To show back the feeling you see in another person.
Other side The half of a story you have not heard yet.
Outlook A person's way of seeing things.
Perspective The way things look from where one person stands.
Relate To feel a link with what someone is going through.
Shoes "To be in someone's ..." means to picture life as that person lives it.
Similar Alike in some ways.
Story Each person has one that explains how they feel.
Switch places To picture yourself where another person is.
Understand To grasp what someone means or feels.
Walk a mile Part of a saying about living another person's life before you judge it.
Window A way to see into a life unlike yours; a book can be one.

Feel With Them 18

Ache A dull pain; a heart can have one for somebody else.
Compassion Caring about someone's pain and wanting to ease it.
Concern Worry on someone else's behalf.
Feel with To take on someone's emotion, not only know about it.
Feelings What goes on inside: joy, fear, anger and the rest.
Grief Deep sadness after a loss.
Heart Where people say caring lives.
Hurt Pain, in the body or in the feelings.
Joy Great gladness; empathy is for good news too.
Lonely Sad from being without company.
Moved Stirred to feeling by someone's story.
Relief The ease that comes when a trouble lifts.
Share To take part in what another person feels.
Sorrow Deep sadness.
Sympathy Sorrow for someone's trouble; a close cousin of empathy.
Tender Soft and caring.
Touched Warmed inside by a kind act.
Worry Uneasy thought about what might happen.

Show You Care 23

Be there To show up when a friend needs you.
Befriend To make a pal of someone new.
Care To want good things for someone.
Cheer up To help a sad person feel brighter.
Comfort To ease someone's sadness.
Console To cheer someone in a time of loss.
Forgive To stop holding a wrong against someone.
Help To do part of someone's job for them.
Hug Arms wrapped around someone, best offered after asking.
Include To make room for someone in the game or at the table.
Invite To ask someone to join you.
Lean on To depend on someone for strength.
Note A few written words to say you are thinking of someone.
Reach out To make the first move toward someone who needs a friend.
Reassure To tell someone it will be all right.
Sit with To stay beside someone who is sad, without needing to fix it.
Smile A warm look that costs nothing.
Soothe To calm someone who is upset.
Stand up To speak for someone who is being treated badly.
Stay To remain; sometimes the kindest thing is not to leave.
Support To stand behind someone who is having a hard time.
Tissue A soft paper to hand to someone who is crying.
Walk with To go beside someone so they are not alone.

Words Close to Empathy 19

Attuned In step with how someone feels.
Cognitive The kind of empathy that works out another person's point of view.
Consideration Thought for other people's feelings.
Emotional The kind of empathy that answers a feeling with a fitting feeling.
Empathize To feel what another person feels.
Empathy Understanding and sharing what another person feels. In English since 1909, from a German word for "feeling into".
Fellow feeling An old phrase for sharing someone's emotions.
Golden Rule Treat others as you would want to be treated.
Humanity People as a whole; also kindness toward them.
Kindness The habit of being good to others.
Kindred Alike in spirit, as in "... spirits".
Pathos A Greek word for suffering or feeling, the root of sympathy and empathy.
Pity Feeling sorry for someone who is suffering.
Selfless Putting others before yourself.
Sensitive Quick to notice how others feel.
Tact Care in choosing words that will not wound.
Trait A feature of someone's character.
Virtue A good quality of character.
Warmth Friendly, caring feeling.

What Gets in the Way 20

Apathy Not caring at all; the far end from empathy.
Assume To take something as true without checking.
Blame To say a problem is someone's fault.
Bystander Someone who sees a wrong and does nothing.
Callous Hardened, showing no feeling for others.
Cold Showing no warmth.
Dismiss To wave away someone's feelings as not worth your time.
Distracted With your mind somewhere else.
Exclude To shut someone out.
Gossip Talk about people behind their backs.
Ignore To act as if someone is not there.
Judge To decide what someone is like before you know their story.
Label To sum a person up in one unfair word.
Laugh at To make someone's trouble into a joke.
Rush To hurry someone who needs more time.
Selfish Thinking only of yourself.
Shrug To lift the shoulders as if to say "who cares?".
Stare To look too long in a way that makes someone uneasy.
Tease To make fun of.
Unkind Not gentle or caring.

How this list was compiled: Own work: the word list and every clue were written for this page. Word meanings were checked on 8 October 2026 against each word's entry in Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/empathy and the entries for the other words, with the word histories of empathy, sympathy and pathos). Facts in the clues were checked the same day against the English Wikipedia article Empathy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy). Licence: own work

How it works

Notice, Listen, Wonder, Perspective, Imagine, Shoes and Comfort are among the words this free printable word search on empathy opens on. It belongs to a character series with kindness, respect and responsibility. Feeling names are on the emotions word search.

Read the full guide

Seven lists, in the order of a lesson

Notice the Feeling has Tears, Sigh and Left out. Listen and Ask has Wonder, Check in and Tell me more. In Their Shoes has Perspective, Walk a mile and Switch places. Feel With Them has Sympathy and Compassion, Show You Care has Sit with, Reassure and Reach out, and What Gets in the Way has Assume, Judge and Gossip.

Words Close to Empathy

Empathy is a young word, in English since 1909, made to translate a German word that means feeling into. Its Greek root, Pathos, is in this list with Fellow feeling, Kindred and Attuned, and with the two kinds of empathy, Cognitive and Emotional.

What Gets in the Way works as a sorting task: pupils pair each of its words with one from Show You Care that answers it.

Questions and answers

Is this word search on empathy free to print?

Yes, and there is nothing to sign up for. Press Print or save as PDF. The puzzle prints with a name and date line and the writing strip, and the answer key follows on its own page, on Letter or A4.

What words are in the empathy word search?

129 words and phrases, each with a clue, from Sigh and Hug to Walk a mile and Fellow feeling. Three entries are whole things to say: Are you okay, Tell me more and I hear you.

What is the difference between empathy and sympathy?

Sympathy is sorrow for someone's trouble. Empathy is understanding what the person feels, or seeing things from their point of view. Both words are in the puzzle. Source: Wiktionary, entries for sympathy and empathy, read 8 October 2026.

Which list suits second and third grade?

Short and Easy gives 12 words of 3 to 5 letters, such as Ask, Wait, Face, Care, Hug and Heart. Show You Care is the next step up, with Help, Stay, Smile and Invite among its 23 entries.

All 129 words

Notice the Feeling 15

Listen and Ask 14

In Their Shoes 20

Feel With Them 18

Show You Care 23

Words Close to Empathy 19

What Gets in the Way 20

How it works

Seven lists, in the order of a lesson

Words Close to Empathy

Questions and answers

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