Halloween Vocabulary Worksheets – Costume to Harvest

All 36 words

Costume words 12

cloak A long sleeveless wrap that hangs from the shoulders. A cloak ties or fastens at the neck.
costume An outfit put on to look like a character or a thing. A sheet of cardboard and some foil can become a robot costume.
costume party A party to which the guests come as characters. Everyone at the costume party came as an animal.
crown The headdress of royalty, often shown with tall points. A crown turns a plain costume into a king's or a queen's.
disguise A change of looks that hides who a person is. A hat and dark glasses are an easy disguise.
dress up To put on special clothes for fun or for a party. Children dress up as animals, heroes and storybook people.
face paint Paint that is made to be worn on the skin. A tiger's stripes can be drawn with face paint.
fairy A tiny make-believe being with wings and magic powers. A fairy costume has wings and a wand.
mask A covering that hides all or part of the face. A paper plate with two eye holes makes a simple mask.
masquerade A party where every guest's face is hidden. At a masquerade it is hard to tell who is who.
whiskers The long stiff hairs that grow beside a cat's mouth. Whiskers drawn on the cheeks finish a cat costume.
wig A covering of false hair for the head. A curly orange wig goes with a clown outfit.

Show all 36 words (24 more)

Night words 12

candle Wax molded around a wick and lit to make a small flame. A candle inside a pumpkin makes its face shine.
doorstep The step in front of an outside door. A pumpkin sat on the doorstep.
evening The hours from sunset until bedtime. Trick-or-treating starts in the early evening.
flashlight A battery light small enough to carry. A flashlight helps walkers see the path after dark.
glow To shine with a gentle light. The lantern began to glow.
glow stick A plastic tube that gives off light after it is bent. A glow stick shines without a battery.
jack-o'-lantern A hollowed pumpkin with a carved face and a light inside. The light of a jack-o'-lantern shines out through the face.
moonlight The light that comes from the moon at night. The yard looked silver in the moonlight.
neighborhood The streets and blocks near a person's house. Most of the neighborhood had lights on.
treat A sweet or small snack handed out as a gift. Each child chose one treat from the bowl.
trick-or-treat To call at houses in costume and ask for candy. Children trick-or-treat on the evening of October 31.
twilight The half-light that lingers once the sun has set. Streetlights come on at twilight.

Harvest and party words 12

apple bobbing A game of catching floating apples with the mouth alone. In apple bobbing no player may use hands or arms.
autumn The season that follows summer. In the United States autumn is often called fall.
bonfire A very large fire lit in the open air for a celebration. Lighting a bonfire is an old Halloween custom.
candy corn A small candy in three stripes that looks like a corn kernel. A bag of candy corn is a common sight in October.
caramel apple A whole apple dipped in soft caramel, held by a stick. A caramel apple is eaten off the stick.
gourd A hard-shelled fruit of a vine, often dried for show. A gourd may be bumpy, striped or shaped like a bottle.
harvest The bringing in of crops that are ready. After the harvest the fields are bare.
hayride A slow wagon trip, with riders seated on hay. A tractor pulled the hayride around the farm.
parade A march of people along a street for others to watch. The school held a costume parade.
pumpkin The round orange fruit of a vine, heavy and thick-skinned. A pumpkin is full of seeds.
scarecrow A stuffed figure put in a field to frighten birds away. A scarecrow is often stuffed with straw.
turnip A garden plant's white root, cooked and eaten. A jack-o'-lantern can be carved from a turnip as well as a pumpkin.

How this list was compiled: Word list chosen for this site on 2026-10-02. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day against the entry for the term in Wiktionary, the free dictionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. The customs named (trick-or-treating in costume, jack-o'-lanterns carved from pumpkins or turnips, apple bobbing, bonfires, costume parties) were read that day in the article Halloween in English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, and the colors of candy corn and the rule of apple bobbing in the articles Candy corn and Apple bobbing. The example after each meaning is our own. Licence: own work

How it works

These Halloween vocabulary worksheets print twelve words down the left and their meanings, mixed up, down the right. Three sets cover costumes, the night itself, and harvest and party words, with nothing scary.

Read the full guide

Three sets

Set opens on Costume words: costume, mask, disguise, wig, face paint, cloak and masquerade. Night words has jack-o'-lantern, trick-or-treat, flashlight, moonlight and twilight. Harvest and party words has pumpkin, scarecrow, hayride, gourd, candy corn and bonfire.

No ghosts or monsters

The list keeps to what a child sees on the day: clothes, lights, food and games. Under the tool each word has a sentence, such as: A paper plate with two eye holes makes a simple mask.

Answer by has Cut and paste: fewer words, with the meanings as tiles to cut out and glue.

Questions and answers

What words go on a Halloween vocabulary list?

Ours has costume words such as mask, wig and cloak, night words such as flashlight, moonlight and trick-or-treat, and harvest words such as pumpkin, scarecrow and hayride. Witches, ghosts and monsters are left out.

Can it be used as a Halloween vocabulary worksheet in ESL classes?

Each meaning is one short line of everyday words, and every word has an example sentence under the tool. Pairs cuts the sheet to 4, 5, 6, 8 or 10 words.

Is there a Halloween vocabulary worksheet PDF?

Press Print worksheet and pick Save as PDF in the browser's print window. There is no separate PDF button, and the answer key is saved as the last page.

Is there an answer key?

Yes. Behind the sheet comes a second page where a line joins every word to its meaning. More options holds the check box that switches the key off.