Honesty Word Search

Print an honesty puzzle for a character lesson, with a writing strip and the answer key.

Name Date

Honesty Word Search

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

0 of 15 words found

TAAWSHPRTRUSTAS

RQBVGPROMISESEN

AHNDMERMRMECNOR

INTEGRITYESAEPA

TUSSLCHARACTERO

BELIEVEDNPSDGOG

RRWEYCBMWOETGOH

VLSHEORIYLOOIFI

THOATRUTHOANOEX

SAVHHHHRSGPERDP

AWOLFSSOWINIWMR

BGOFAIRWAZEURCT

SYFIBSINCEREFEA

BTINLEPEBTTPONS

ERERELIABLEBOWT

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.

TruthTRUTH
SincereSINCERE
ProofPROOF
TrustTRUST
PromisePROMISE
ReliableRELIABLE
BelieveBELIEVE
FairFAIR
AdmitADMIT
ApologizeAPOLOGIZE
IntegrityINTEGRITY
CharacterCHARACTER
FableFABLE
WolfWOLF
FibFIB

15 of 24 words from the Honesty list.

Write about a time when telling the truth was hard. What happened next?

Start from a list

Easy: words go across and down.

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Word list

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

The puzzle changes as you go. See the puzzle

Answer key: Honesty Word Search

TAAWSHPRTRUSTAS

RQBVGPROMISESEN

AHNDMERMRMECNOR

INTEGRITYESAEPA

TUSSLCHARACTERO

BELIEVEDNPSDGOG

RRWEYCBMWOETGOH

VLSHEORIYLOOIFI

THOATRUTHOANOEX

SAVHHHHRSGPERDP

AWOLFSSOWINIWMR

BGOFAIRWAZEURCT

SYFIBSINCEREFEA

BTINLEPEBTTPONS

ERERELIABLEBOWT

TRUTH, SINCERE, PROOF, TRUST, PROMISE, RELIABLE, BELIEVE, FAIR, ADMIT, APOLOGIZE, INTEGRITY, CHARACTER, FABLE, WOLF, FIB

Next step Print the friendship word search Print character traits worksheets

All 129 words

Telling the Truth 18

Accurate Free from mistakes; exactly right.
Candid Open and plain in speaking, even when the news is unwelcome.
Evidence Facts and signs that help show what happened.
Fact Something that can be shown to be so.
Forthright Speaking out plainly and at once.
Frank Saying plainly what you think.
Genuine Being just what it seems; not a copy.
Honesty The habit of telling the truth and dealing fairly with people.
Oath A solemn promise to tell the truth, as made in a court.
Open Hiding nothing.
Proof Something that shows a claim is so.
Real Not imagined or pretend.
Sincere Meaning what you say, with no pretending.
Tactful Careful to say a hard thing kindly.
True Agreeing with the facts; not made up.
Truth What is so; the facts as they really are.
Veracity A formal word for truthfulness.
Witness Someone who saw an event and can tell what happened.

Show all 129 words (111 more)

Trust and Promises 17

Believe To accept that something is so.
Bond A tie that holds people to each other or to a promise.
Confide To tell someone a private matter, sure that they will keep it.
Count on To be sure that someone will come through.
Credible Worth believing.
Faithful Keeping to your promises and to the people who count on you.
Handshake A clasp of right palms that seals an agreement.
Honor code A pledge students take not to cheat or steal. One of the first dates from the early 18th century.
Keep your word To do what you said you would do.
Loyal Standing by a friend or a cause.
Pledge A serious promise, sometimes said aloud by a whole class.
Promise Words that bind you to do what you said.
Reliable Someone like this can be counted on every time.
Rely To depend on.
Reputation What other people think of your character.
Trust To believe that someone will do what they say.
Vouch To say from your own knowledge that someone can be trusted.

Fair Play and Your Own Work 16

Change Money handed back when you pay too much. Saying so when a clerk gives you extra is the honest choice.
Cite To name the book or site an idea came from.
Credit Mention given to the person who did the job or had the idea.
Fair Treating everyone by the same rules, with no favorites.
Judge A person who decides after hearing both sides.
Just Right and deserved.
Level Flat and even. "On the ..." means honest.
Original Made by you, not copied.
Own work What you hand in when every answer on the page came from you.
Quote To repeat someone's exact words and say whose they are.
Return To give back what belongs to someone else.
Rules What players agree to follow.
Scorekeeper The person trusted to write down each side's points.
Source Where a fact or a quotation was found.
Sportsmanship Playing by the rules and staying gracious, win or lose.
Square Honest and even, as in the phrase "fair and ...".

Owning Up 17

Admit To say that something is so, even when it is hard to say.
Amends What you make when you put right a wrong you did.
Apologize To tell someone you are sorry, and mean it.
Come clean To tell the whole truth after hiding part of it.
Confess To tell someone about a wrong you did.
Consequence What follows from an action.
Courage The strength to do a hard thing, such as telling an unwelcome truth.
Explain To make clear how something happened.
Fess up An informal way of saying "admit it".
Forgive To stop being angry with someone who wronged you.
Guilt The heavy feeling of knowing you did wrong.
Lesson What a mistake can teach you.
Make it right To mend the harm a wrong choice caused.
Mistake Something done wrong without meaning to.
Own up To say "that was me".
Regret To wish you had not done something.
Sorry Feeling bad about what you did.

Character Words 17

Backbone The spine; also the firmness to stand up for what is right.
Character What a person is like inside: the sum of their habits and values.
Conscience The inner sense that tells right from wrong.
Decent Good and fair in how you treat people.
Earnest Serious and sincere.
Ethics The study of right and wrong, and a set of rules for good conduct.
Honorable Deserving respect because of fair, truthful conduct.
Humble Not boastful.
Integrity Sticking to what you know is right, whoever is or is not watching.
Principle A rule you live by.
Scruples Doubts that hold you back from doing what you feel is wrong.
Steadfast Firm and unchanging in what you believe.
Trait One feature of what a person is like.
Upright Standing straight; of a person, strictly honest.
Values What a person believes matters most.
Virtue A good quality in a person, such as courage or honesty.
Wisdom Good sense gained from experience. A famous letter calls honesty the first chapter in its book.

Fables and Sayings 20

April The month whose last day, the 30th, is Honesty Day in the United States.
Cherry tree In an old American tale that historians doubt, a boy of six owns up to hacking one with his hatchet.
Child The one in the 1837 tale who blurts out that the ruler is wearing nothing at all.
Emperor In a fairy tale of 1837 he parades in a suit that is not there, and the crowd pretends to see it.
Fable A short tale, often with talking animals, that teaches a lesson.
False alarm A warning of danger that is not there; what "to cry wolf" means.
Golden axe What a god first lifts from the river, and what the man in the fable says is not his.
Legend An old story handed down that may or may not have happened.
Moral The lesson stated at the end of a fable.
Nose What grows on the wooden marionette of the 1883 novel when he lies.
Policy A chosen way of acting. An English proverb calls honesty the best one.
Proverb A short, well-known saying that gives advice.
Puppet In an Italian novel of 1883 a wooden one lies and his nose grows.
Sheep The flock that the boy in the fable was meant to guard.
Shepherd The job of the boy who cried wolf: he looks after a flock.
Tall tale A story stretched far past the facts, told for fun.
Villagers The people the shepherd boy tricks again and again, until they stop coming.
Weavers What the two tricksters pose as in the tale of the ruler's invisible new suit.
Wolf The animal a shepherd boy keeps falsely crying out about in one of Aesop's fables.
Woodcutter In one of Aesop's fables he will not claim a golden axe that is not his, and is given three.

What Honesty Is Not 24

Betray To break the trust of someone who relied on you.
Bluff To pretend to be surer or stronger than you are.
Bribe Money or a favor offered to get someone to break the rules.
Cheat To break the rules to get ahead.
Copy To write down someone else's answers as your own.
Counterfeit Made to imitate money or goods in order to fool buyers.
Cover up To hide a mistake so that nobody learns of it.
Deceive To make someone believe what is not so.
Dishonest Not truthful or fair.
Exaggerate To make something sound bigger than it was.
Excuse A reason given to get out of blame.
Fake Made to look like the real thing when it is not.
Fib A small lie about something that hardly matters.
Forgery A copy of a signature or a paper made to fool people.
Fraud Cheating someone to get money or goods.
Hide To keep from being seen or known.
Hoax A trick meant to make many people believe something that is not so.
Mislead To give a wrong idea on purpose.
Plagiarism Passing off another writer's words or ideas as your own.
Pretend To act as if something is so when it is not.
Rumor A story passed from person to person that nobody has checked.
Steal To take what belongs to someone else.
Trick To fool someone on purpose.
White lie A small untruth told to be polite or to spare feelings.

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/honesty and the entries for the other words). Facts in the clues were checked the same day against these English Wikipedia articles: Honesty (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honesty), Honesty Day, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Honest Woodcutter, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Mason Locke Weems and Academic honor code. Licence: own work

How it works

Truth, Trust, Sincere, Promise and Integrity are among the words of this honesty word search, one of a character series with respect, responsibility and kindness.

Read the full guide

Seven lists for a character lesson

Telling the Truth has Candid, Frank and Veracity. Trust and Promises has Reliable, Pledge and Honor code. Fair Play and Your Own Work has Scorekeeper, Sportsmanship and Square. Owning Up has Admit, Apologize and Amends, Character Words has Integrity and Conscience, and What Honesty Is Not spells out Fib, Cheat, Bluff and Hoax.

Fables and Sayings

This list hides three old stories. Wolf, Shepherd and Villagers come from the fable of the boy who cried wolf, Woodcutter and Golden axe from another of Aesop's fables, and Emperor, Weavers and Child from a fairy tale of 1837. Read one aloud, then hand out the puzzle.

The writing strip reads: Write about a time when telling the truth was hard. What happened next?
April is in the puzzle for a reason: its last day, the 30th, is Honesty Day in the United States.

Questions and answers

What words are in the honesty word search?

129 words and phrases, each with a clue, from Fact and Oath to Forthright and Scruples. Manners and chores are left to the respect and responsibility word searches.

Is the honesty word search free to print?

Yes. Press Print or save as PDF. Page one is the puzzle with a name and date line and the writing strip, page two is the answer key, and both fit Letter or A4.

Which list fits a lesson on cheating and copying?

Fair Play and Your Own Work. Its 16 words include Own work, Cite, Credit, Source, Quote and Original. What Honesty Is Not adds Copy, Forgery and Plagiarism: passing off another writer's words or ideas as your own.

Does it suit second and third grade?

Pick Short and Easy: 12 words of 3 to 5 letters, such as True, Fact, Fair, Wolf, Fib and Nose. Easy keeps every word reading across or down.

Where does "honesty is the best policy" come from?

It is an English proverb, and the moral of Aesop's fable of the honest woodcutter, who would not claim a golden axe that was not his. Policy is in Fables and Sayings. Source: Wikipedia, The Honest Woodcutter, read 8 October 2026.

All 129 words

Telling the Truth 18

Trust and Promises 17

Fair Play and Your Own Work 16

Owning Up 17

Character Words 17

Fables and Sayings 20

What Honesty Is Not 24

How it works

Seven lists for a character lesson

Fables and Sayings

Questions and answers

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