Energy Word Search PDF With Clues, From Kinetic to Renewable

Keep the energy puzzle as a 2-page PDF, or print it the day the unit moves from kinetic to potential.

Name Date

Energy Word Search

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

0 of 16 words found

SALTUGCBFNCOALU

OUMOFQBOWQOLLDT

UBIPULIGESNOHGR

NUCLEARLLPSRLRT

DAHCLRUBEUEDGEX

XKINETICCORAVNN

NZRIPCPQTDVWBEF

ODHCSOLARGEYPWI

QCPUAOEWINDEDAP

HAGCHEMICALQMBP

ESUTHERMALSRLLC

AAITUJOULERTCES

TURBINEDSWSREFQ

IKANTLXCRUCYRNL

FTRANSFORMGRIEI

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.

KineticKINETIC
ThermalTHERMAL
ChemicalCHEMICAL
ElectricalELECTRICAL
NuclearNUCLEAR
SoundSOUND
HeatHEAT
TransformTRANSFORM
JouleJOULE
RenewableRENEWABLE
SolarSOLAR
WindWIND
TurbineTURBINE
FuelFUEL
CoalCOAL
ConserveCONSERVE

16 of 24 words from the Energy Key Terms list.

Start from a list

Easy: words go across and down.

More options

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: Energy Word Search

SALTUGCBFNCOALU

OUMOFQBOWQOLLDT

UBIPULIGESNOHGR

NUCLEARLLPSRLRT

DAHCLRUBEUEDGEX

XKINETICCORAVNN

NZRIPCPQTDVWBEF

ODHCSOLARGEYPWI

QCPUAOEWINDEDAP

HAGCHEMICALQMBP

ESUTHERMALSRLLC

AAITUJOULERTCES

TURBINEDSWSREFQ

IKANTLXCRUCYRNL

FTRANSFORMGRIEI

KINETIC, THERMAL, CHEMICAL, ELECTRICAL, NUCLEAR, SOUND, HEAT, TRANSFORM, JOULE, RENEWABLE, SOLAR, WIND, TURBINE, FUEL, COAL, CONSERVE

Next step Play energy source bingo with the renewable words Build a puzzle from your own energy unit words

All 130 words

Forms of Energy 21

Battery A store of chemical energy that becomes electrical energy when it is wired into a circuit.
Calorie A unit of energy: it warms 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius. Food labels count thousands of them.
Chemical Energy stored in the bonds of food, fuel and batteries, set free by a reaction.
Elastic Potential energy stored in a stretched or squashed object, such as a rubber band.
Electrical Energy carried by moving charges, delivered to homes along wires.
Energy The ability to do work or cause change. It is measured in joules.
Food Chemical energy for living things, counted in Calories on the package.
Gravitational Potential energy an object has because of its height above the ground.
Heat Thermal energy on the move from a warmer object to a cooler one.
Kinetic The kind of energy a thing has because it is moving. A rolling ball has it.
Light Energy the eye can see. It travels as waves and can cross empty space.
Magnetic Energy stored in the invisible field that lets a compass needle swing and iron filings line up.
Mechanical The kinetic and potential energy of an object added together.

Show all 130 words (117 more)

Forms of Energy, continued

Motion A change of position. Anything in it has kinetic energy.
Nuclear Energy held in the tiny core of an atom, set free when such cores split or join.
Potential Stored energy a thing has because of its position or shape, like a rock on a cliff edge.
Radiant Energy that travels as electromagnetic waves, such as sunshine or X-rays.
Sound Energy carried by vibrations through air, water or solids to your ears.
Stored Kept for later. Potential energy is this kind, waiting to be set free.
Thermal The kind of energy that comes from the jiggling particles inside matter. Hotter means more.
Vibration A quick back-and-forth movement. It is how a drum skin makes sound.

Kinetic and Potential Energy 20

Bounce To spring back after hitting the ground, as a ball does when its squashed shape recovers.
Bow A bent length of wood that stores elastic energy until the archer lets the string go.
Catapult A machine that stores energy in a bent or twisted arm, then flings a load through the air.
Compress To squeeze into a smaller space, which stores energy in a spring.
Gravity The pull toward Earth that gives a raised object its potential energy.
Height How far above the ground something is. More of it means more gravitational energy.
Mass The amount of matter in an object. More of it means more kinetic energy at the same speed.
Pendulum A hanging weight that trades potential energy for kinetic and back again as it goes to and fro.
Release To let go, so that stored energy turns into movement.
Roller coaster A ride that gains potential energy on the first climb and spends it as speed on the way down.
Rubber band A stretchy loop that stores elastic energy when you pull it.
Skateboard A deck on four wheels. In a half-pipe its rider trades height for speed and back again.
Slingshot A forked stick with a rubber strip. Pulling the strip back stores elastic energy.
Speed How fast something moves. Double it and the kinetic energy becomes four times greater.
Spring A metal coil that stores elastic energy when it is squeezed or pulled.
Stretch To pull something longer. Doing it to a rubber band stores elastic energy.
Swing A playground seat that works like a pendulum: fastest at the bottom, stopped at the top.
Trampoline A stretchy bed held by coiled springs that stores your landing energy and hands it back.
Waterfall A river dropping over a ledge, turning gravitational energy into kinetic energy.
Windup toy A plaything with a key. Turning the key tightens a spring that then drives the wheels.

Heat and Energy Transfer 22

Absorb To take in energy. A black shirt does this to sunlight and warms up.
Conduction Heat passing through materials that touch, as when a metal spoon warms up in hot soup.
Conservation The law that energy is never created or destroyed. It only changes form or moves.
Convection Heat carried by a moving liquid or gas: warm fluid rises and cool fluid sinks.
Efficiency The share of the energy put in that comes out in a useful form.
Emit To give off energy, as a campfire gives off heat and light.
Engine A machine that turns the chemical energy of fuel into motion.
Friction Rubbing between surfaces, which turns kinetic energy into heat. Rub your hands to feel it.
Horsepower A unit of power from the 1700s, used to compare steam engines. It is about 746 watts.
Infrared Invisible rays just beyond red in the spectrum. Warm objects give them off.
Input The energy that goes into a machine or system.
Insulation Material such as foam or wool that slows the flow of heat through a wall or a coat.
Joule The unit of energy, named for James, an English physicist who ran a brewery and studied heat.
Output The energy that comes out of a machine or system, useful or wasted.
Radiation Heat that travels as waves and needs no matter, the way the Sun warms Earth.
Reflect To bounce energy back. A white roof does this to sunlight and stays cooler.
System The object or group of objects whose energy you are keeping track of.
Temperature A measure of how hot or cold something is, read from a thermometer.
Transfer To move energy from one object or place to another, as a hot drink warms your hands.
Transform To change energy from one form into another, as a toaster turns electrical into thermal.
Watt The unit of power: one joule every second. Named for a Scottish engineer, James.
Work Energy moved by a force pushing an object over a distance, measured in joules.

Renewable Energy 22

Biofuel Fuel made from recently living things, such as ethanol from corn.
Biomass Plant or animal material, such as wood or crop waste, burned or processed for energy.
Blade One of the long arms of a wind turbine. Most large machines have three.
Clean Describes energy that adds little or no pollution to the air.
Dam A wall built across a river to hold back water for a hydropower station.
Ethanol An alcohol fuel fermented from crops such as corn or sugarcane.
Geothermal Describes heat taken from Earth's crust to warm buildings and make electricity.
Geyser A hot spring that throws water and steam into the air from time to time.
Hydropower Electricity made from the push of falling or fast-flowing water, often at a dam.
Panel A flat board of solar cells that turns sunlight straight into electricity.
Photosynthesis The process plants use to turn light energy into chemical energy stored in sugar.
Photovoltaic Describes a cell that turns light directly into electricity.
Renewable Describes an energy source that nature replaces as fast as people use it.
Reservoir The lake held back by a dam, with water ready to run through the turbines.
Resource Something useful taken from nature, such as sunlight, wind, water or coal.
Solar Describes energy that comes from the Sun.
Sunlight Energy from the Sun that reaches Earth. Plants use it to make sugar.
Sustainable Able to keep going for a long time without using up what it depends on.
Tidal Describes power taken from the rise and fall of the sea, which follows the Moon and Sun.
Turbine A wheel with blades that is spun by wind, water or steam to drive a generator.
Wave A disturbance that carries energy from place to place. Ocean ones can drive generators.
Wind Moving air. Its kinetic energy spins the blades of a turbine.

Fossil Fuels and Power Plants 24

Coal A black rock formed from buried wetland plants over millions of years, burned for heat.
Diesel A fuel from crude oil burned by trucks, buses and trains, named for the inventor Rudolf.
Emission Gas or smoke sent into the air when fuel burns.
Fission Splitting the nucleus of a heavy atom into smaller nuclei, which sets energy free.
Fossil Remains of ancient life. Coal, oil and gas formed from such remains, which explains their name.
Fuel Any material that stores energy and gives it up when burned or split.
Furnace An enclosed fire that heats a building or boils the water in a generating station.
Fusion Joining light nuclei into a larger one, the reaction that heats the Sun's core.
Gasoline The liquid refined from crude oil that most car engines burn.
Generator A machine that turns the spinning of a turbine into electricity.
Grid The network of lines that carries electricity from stations to homes.
Mine A place where coal or uranium ore is dug out of the ground.
Natural gas A fossil fuel, mostly methane, piped to homes for stoves and furnaces.
Nonrenewable Describes a resource that forms far more slowly than people use it up.
Oil A thick liquid pumped from underground and refined into gasoline and diesel.
Petroleum Another name for crude oil, from Latin words meaning rock and oil.
Pipeline A long run of pipes that carries oil or gas across country.
Power plant A site where generators turn the energy of fuel, water or wind into electricity.
Propane A gas sold in tanks for barbecues and portable stoves.
Reactor The part of a nuclear station where atoms split and give off heat.
Refinery A factory that separates crude oil into gasoline, diesel and other products.
Smokestack A tall chimney that carries waste gases from a furnace high into the air.
Steam Water boiled into gas. In most large stations it is what spins the turbine.
Uranium The heavy metal used as fuel in nuclear stations.

Saving Energy 21

Appliance A household machine that runs on electricity or gas, such as a washer or a stove.
Audit An inspection of a building to find where energy is being wasted.
Bicycle A two-wheeler that runs on the chemical energy in your breakfast.
Carpool To share one car journey among several people, which saves fuel.
Clothesline A rope for drying laundry in the sun and wind, with no dryer needed.
Conserve To protect a resource from waste so that it lasts longer.
Curtain Cloth hung at a window. Drawing it at night helps hold heat in the room.
Daylight Free illumination from the Sun. Opening the blinds lets you leave the lamps off.
Dimmer A control that lowers the brightness of a lamp.
Draft A stream of cold air leaking in around a door or window.
Footprint With the word carbon, the total greenhouse gases that a person, product or activity causes.
Kilowatt A thousand watts. One hour at that rate is the unit on an electricity bill.
Meter The device that records how much electricity or gas a building has used.
Recycle To turn used material into new products instead of throwing it away.
Reduce To make smaller, as turning the heating down a degree does to a fuel bill.
Standby The waiting mode in which a switched-off TV or console still draws a little power.
Thermostat A control that senses room temperature and switches the heating or cooling on and off.
Unplug To pull a cord from the outlet, the sure way to stop a device drawing standby power.
Usage The amount of energy a home or school goes through, shown on the bill.
Weatherstrip A strip of foam or rubber fitted around a door or window to seal out drafts.
Window Glass set in a wall. Shutting it keeps warmed or cooled air indoors.

How this list was compiled: Own work: the word list and every clue were written for this page. The facts in the clues were checked on 2026-09-19 against Wikipedia, among them the articles on energy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy), kinetic energy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_energy) and renewable energy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy). Some clues were reworded on 2026-09-20, and any fact that changed was checked against Wikipedia the same day. Licence: own work

How it works

For an energy word search PDF, press Print or save as PDF and pick Save as PDF in the print window. The grid opens on 16 of 24 key terms, such as Kinetic and Thermal; 9 lists hold 130 words.

Read the full guide

Six lists that follow the energy unit

Under the puzzle, the Start from a list row follows the unit: Forms of Energy (21 words), Kinetic and Potential Energy (24), Heat and Energy Transfer (23), Renewable Energy (23), Fossil Fuels and Power Plants (26) and Saving Energy (22). The second list sets Roller coaster and Slingshot beside Pendulum, rides and toys that trade stored energy for speed.

What the PDF holds

The file has 2 pages, sized for Letter or A4: the puzzle under a Name and Date line, then the answer key with every word ringed. New puzzle deals another 16 words and a new key, so save again after each grid you like.

Roller coaster, Natural gas, Power plant and 2 more entries hide closed up: ROLLERCOASTER. Key terms are single words.
Photosynthesis needs 14 squares: keep Renewable Energy and Hard Energy on a grid of 15 by 15 or more.
Easy Energy holds 31 words of 3 to 5 letters, such as Heat, Coal and Wind.

Questions and answers

Is the energy word search free to save as a PDF?

Yes, with no sign-up. The PDF comes from your browser's print window, so it works on any computer that can print. The key on page 2 belongs to the grid made here, not to a worksheet from elsewhere.

What units of energy and power are in the puzzle?

Joule, Calorie, Watt, Kilowatt and Horsepower. With Show clues, not words ticked, the sheet says a watt is one joule every second and one horsepower is about 746 watts. Volt, Ampere and Ohm are on the electricity word search.

Can energy be created or destroyed?

No. The law of conservation says energy is never created or destroyed: it only changes form or moves. Conservation is in Heat and Energy Transfer, and the Pendulum in the second list shows the trade, potential to kinetic and back.

Which lists suit a middle school energy unit?

Heat and Energy Transfer and Fossil Fuels and Power Plants carry harder words (Efficiency, Refinery). Pick Hard Energy and press Hard for 38 words of 9 to 14 letters in any of 8 directions. The grid grows by itself when a long word needs room.

All 130 words

Forms of Energy 21

Forms of Energy, continued

Kinetic and Potential Energy 20

Heat and Energy Transfer 22

Renewable Energy 22

Fossil Fuels and Power Plants 24

Saving Energy 21

How it works

Six lists that follow the energy unit

What the PDF holds

Questions and answers

More tools