Library Word Search With Book Parts and Reference Book Clues

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Name Date

Library Word Search

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

0 of 16 words found

SNTEBLOGJAVIEJG

UTYNNCKBLIBZNET

OCOTREAUTHORGNA

HQRSPINEERODGCE

BIOGRAPHYDKZNYN

RNICEHAGOIMHTCT

EDTOLEJOLCAVILT

TEPVILLUSTRATOR

UXREAETCAIKOLPN

RTSRCATALOGIEEB

NPHPTENIMNXAADF

ULELTLIBRARYSIE

BHLCHAPTERINIAH

IUFIVRTNEYNWSKG

OWHNDLALMANACLR

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.

LibraryLIBRARY
ShelfSHELF
ReturnRETURN
BookmarkBOOKMARK
CatalogCATALOG
BiographyBIOGRAPHY
AuthorAUTHOR
IllustratorILLUSTRATOR
TitleTITLE
CoverCOVER
SpineSPINE
ChapterCHAPTER
IndexINDEX
AlmanacALMANAC
DictionaryDICTIONARY
EncyclopediaENCYCLOPEDIA

16 of 24 words from the Library Terms list.

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Word list

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

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Answer key: Library Word Search

SNTEBLOGJAVIEJG

UTYNNCKBLIBZNET

OCOTREAUTHORGNA

HQRSPINEERODGCE

BIOGRAPHYDKZNYN

RNICEHAGOIMHTCT

EDTOLEJOLCAVILT

TEPVILLUSTRATOR

UXREAETCAIKOLPN

RTSRCATALOGIEEB

NPHPTENIMNXAADF

ULELTLIBRARYSIE

BHLCHAPTERINIAH

IUFIVRTNEYNWSKG

OWHNDLALMANACLR

LIBRARY, SHELF, RETURN, BOOKMARK, CATALOG, BIOGRAPHY, AUTHOR, ILLUSTRATOR, TITLE, COVER, SPINE, CHAPTER, INDEX, ALMANAC, DICTIONARY, ENCYCLOPEDIA

Next step Build a puzzle from your own library's words

All 187 words

Around the Library 24

Aisle The walkway between two rows of shelves.
Bookcase A piece of furniture made of several shelves.
Bookend A heavy block that keeps a row of books from falling over.
Bookmobile A truck or van fitted out as a small library that drives to its readers.
Bookworm A nickname for someone who spends a lot of time reading.
Branch One of several libraries in a town that share their books.
Browse To look along the shelves with no one book in mind.
Carrel A small desk with low walls, for studying alone near the shelves.
Cart Shelves on wheels. Returned books ride on it back to their places.
Desk Where you go to check out, to hand a book back or to ask for help.
Display Books set out face forward so that you notice them, often on one theme.
Librarian The person who runs the place and can help you find almost anything in it.
Library A place that lends books for free. Its name comes from liber, the Latin for book.
Nook A cozy corner, often with cushions, made for reading.
Patron A library's own word for a person who uses it.

Show all 187 words (172 more)

Around the Library, continued

Poster A big printed sheet on the wall, often about reading.
Quiet How a reading room should sound, so that everyone can think.
Reader Anyone with a book open. Right now that is you.
Shelf A flat board that holds a row of books standing up.
Shelve To put a book back in its right place.
Stacks The rows of tall shelves where most of the books are kept.
Storyteller Someone who tells or reads a tale aloud to a group.
Volunteer A helper who works without pay, for example by putting books away.
Whisper To speak very softly, with your breath and not your voice.

Borrowing Books 21

Barcode The stripes on a book or card that a machine reads as a number.
Book drop A slot or box where you can leave books when the building is closed.
Bookmark A strip that keeps your place, so that no corner gets folded.
Borrow To take a book home for a while and then bring it back.
Checkout The step where a book is recorded under your name before you take it home.
Circulation All the lending and bringing back of books. The front desk is often named for it.
Due date The day by which a borrowed book must be back.
Fine Money charged when a book comes back late. Some libraries have dropped it.
Hold A request that keeps a book back for you once it is handed in. You place one.
Interlibrary This kind of loan brings you a book from another town's shelves.
Lend What a library does when it lets you take a book home.
Library card It shows that you have joined, and it lets you take books home.
Loan Something lent for a set time. A book you have checked out is on this.
Member Someone who has joined and may take books home.
Overdue Still out after the day it should have come back.
Receipt A printed slip that lists what you took out and when it must be back.
Renew To keep the same book for a second stretch of time.
Reserve To ask ahead for a book so that it is set aside for you.
Return To bring a book back.
Scan To pass a book's stripes under a light so the computer knows which book it is.
Stamp An inked mark. Libraries once pressed the day to bring a book back onto a slip inside it.

Finding a Book 24

Alphabetical In ABC order.
Author The person who wrote the book.
Biography The true story of a real person's life, written by someone else.
Call number The code on a book's spine that tells you where it sits on the shelves.
Catalog The list you can search of everything the library owns.
Category A group of things that are alike, such as all the books about space.
Classify To sort books into groups by what they are about.
Collection All the books and other items that a library owns.
Decimal A number with a point in it, such as 636.7. Shelf codes for fact books often use one.
Fiction Made-up stories. They are shelved in ABC order by the writer's last name.
Genre A kind of story, such as mystery or fantasy.
Illustrator The person who made the pictures.
Keyword An important word you type into the catalog to find books about it.
Label The sticker on a spine that carries the book's shelf code.
Locate To find where something is.
Order The rule that says what comes next, such as A to Z or 1 to 999.
Reference Books for looking things up. They usually stay in the building.
Search To hunt through the catalog by typing a name or a word.
Section One part of the room, such as picture books or teen.
Sequel A book that carries on the story of an earlier one.
Series Books that belong together and are numbered 1, 2, 3.
Subject What a book is about. Fact books about the same one sit together.
Surname A last name. Story books are filed under the writer's.
Title The name of a book.

Things to Borrow 20

Anthology Poems or stories by many writers, collected in one book.
Audiobook A recording of someone reading a whole book aloud.
Board book A small book with stiff card pages that a toddler cannot tear.
Braille Writing in raised dots, six to a cell, read with the fingertips. A French boy of 15 devised it.
Chapter book A story in short parts for readers of about 7 to 10, told mostly in words.
Comic book A story told in rows of panels, with art and speech balloons.
Cookbook A book of recipes.
Copy One single book. A library may own five of a popular story.
Edition One printed version of a book. A new one may fix mistakes or add pages.
Graphic novel A long story told in comic-strip panels, with art and words together.
Hardcover A book bound in stiff boards, built to last through many readers.
Journal A magazine for experts in one field. Also a book you write in each day.
Magazine A thin read with a paper cover that comes out every week or month.
Microfilm Film that holds tiny photos of old newspapers. You read it on a machine.
Newspaper Large folded sheets of the day's news.
Pamphlet A few unbound pages about one topic, with a paper cover or none.
Paperback A book with a thin cover that bends.
Picture book A book in which the art tells as much of the story as the words do.
Storybook A collection of tales for children, often with pictures.
Volume One book of a set, such as letter M of an encyclopedia.

Parts of a Book 28

Appendix Extra material at the end, such as tables or maps.
Bibliography The list of sources the writer used.
Binding The glue, thread and cover that hold the pages together.
Blurb The short teaser or praise on the back. An American humorist made the word up.
Caption The words under a picture that say what it shows.
Chapter One numbered part of a long book.
Colophon A note, usually at the end, giving facts about how the book was made.
Contents The list at the front that gives each chapter and its page number.
Copyright The legal right to copy a work. Its date tells you how old a book is.
Cover The outside of a book, front and back.
Dedication A line near the front that offers the book to someone, such as For Mom.
Dust jacket A loose paper wrapper that protects a book bound in stiff boards.
Endpaper The thick sheet glued inside the front or back cover.
Flyleaf A blank sheet at the very start or end of a book.
Footnote A small remark at the bottom of a page, tied to a tiny number in the text.
Foreword A short opening note, often by someone other than the book's writer.
Frontispiece A picture that faces the page naming the book.
Glossary A mini dictionary at the back that explains the book's hard words.
Heading A line in larger type that names the part below it.
Illustration A picture that explains or decorates the words.
Index The ABC list at the back that tells you which pages mention a topic.
Introduction The opening part that tells you what the book will cover.
Margin The blank edge around the words on a page.
Preface A note at the front in which the writer explains why the book was written.
Publisher The company that prepares a book, has it printed and sells it.
Spine The narrow edge you see when a book is on the shelf. It holds the pages together.
Subtitle A second, smaller name under the main one that explains it.
Title page A page near the front that names the book, its writer and its publisher.

Reference Books 24

Abbreviation A short form, such as p. for page or vol. for volume.
Almanac A yearly book of facts, dates, tides and weather.
Article One piece of writing in an encyclopedia, magazine or newspaper.
Atlas A book of maps. A mapmaker's book of 1595 took the name from a Titan of Greek myth.
Definition The part of a dictionary item that tells what the word means.
Dictionary Words in ABC order with their spellings and meanings.
Directory A list of names with addresses or phone numbers.
Encyclopedia Short articles on every subject, A to Z. The name is Greek for general education.
Entry One word or topic in a dictionary and everything written under it.
Gazetteer A dictionary of place names.
Globe A map of the world on a ball.
Guidebook A traveler's book about a place, with maps and things to see.
Guideword The word at the top of a dictionary page that shows the first or last word on it.
Handbook A small book of facts or directions on one subject.
Headword The word in bold type that begins an item in a dictionary.
Lexicon Another word for a dictionary, or all the words of one language.
Manual A book of instructions for using or fixing something.
Map A flat drawing of a place as seen from above.
Nonfiction Books of facts and true events. They are shelved by subject, not by writer.
Periodical Anything that comes out again and again on a schedule, such as a magazine.
Pronunciation The part of a dictionary item that shows how to say the word.
Thesaurus A book that groups words by meaning. Its name comes from the Greek for treasure.
Timeline A line that shows events in the order they happened.
Yearbook A book made every twelve months. A school's one has each class photo.

Research Skills 25

Accurate Free from mistakes.
Archive A place that keeps old records, letters and photographs safe.
Citation A short line naming the writer, name and date of a book you used.
Cite To say exactly where you found a fact.
Credit Naming the person whose work you used. You give it.
Database A large store of facts or articles on a computer, built to be searched.
E-book A book whose pages are on a screen and not on paper.
Evidence Facts that show a statement is true.
Expert A person who knows a great deal about one subject.
Fact Something that can be checked and shown to be true.
Inquiry Finding out by asking questions.
Notes Short reminders you write while reading, in your own words.
Paraphrase To put someone else's idea into your own words.
Plagiarism Passing off another person's words or ideas as your own.
Project A big piece of school work that takes planning and several days.
Question What a good project starts with. It ends in this mark: ?
Quote To repeat someone's exact words, inside special marks.
Reliable Able to be trusted.
Report A written account of what you found out.
Research Careful hunting for facts to answer a question.
Skim To read fast for the main points only.
Source Where a fact came from: a book, a website or a person.
Topic What your project is about.
Verify To check that something is true, for example in a second book.
Website Pages on the internet under one name. Check who wrote it before you trust it.

Books Long Ago 21

Alexandria The city in Egypt whose ancient library held many thousands of rolls.
Carnegie A Scottish-American businessman whose money built 2,509 libraries from 1883 to 1929.
Chain In the Middle Ages valuable books were fixed to the shelf with one, to stop thieves.
Codex An old handwritten book with pages bound at one edge. It replaced the roll.
Cuneiform Wedge-shaped writing of the ancient Near East, pressed into wet clay.
Gutenberg The German goldsmith who brought printing with movable metal letters to Europe around 1440.
Ink The colored liquid in a pen or a printer.
Leaf One sheet of a book. It has a page on each side.
Manuscript A book or paper written by hand.
Monk In the Middle Ages a man like this might spend his days copying books by hand.
Nineveh The ancient Assyrian city where a king's library of clay slabs was dug up.
Page One side of a sheet in a book. A roll of writing has none.
Papyrus Sheets for writing made from a tall African water plant. Ancient Egypt used them.
Parchment The skin of a sheep or goat, prepared for writing on.
Printing press The machine that made books cheap. It was invented in Germany around 1440.
Quill A pen cut from a large feather.
Scribe A person whose job was to copy books by hand.
Scroll A long roll of writing. It was the main kind of book before pages.
Tablet A slab of clay with writing pressed in. One Assyrian king's library held over 30,000.
Type Small metal blocks with raised letters that are inked and pressed onto paper.
Vellum The finest writing skin, made from calfskin.

How this list was compiled: 187 library words chosen and defined for this site, in eight themed lists plus a key terms list, an easy list and a hard list. Every spelling, and the sense behind each clue, was looked up in the American Heritage Dictionary, https://www.ahdictionary.com/, on 2026-09-19. Library card, Book drop, Due date, Circulation, Picture book and Chapter book, which the dictionary does not enter in the library sense, and the history facts in the clues, such as the 2,509 Carnegie libraries and the clay tablets of Nineveh, follow English Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/, read the same day; the Gutenberg clue was checked there again on 2026-09-20. Clues are our own wording. Licence: own work

How it works

Catalog, Spine and Almanac are three of the 24 terms behind this library word search: 16 are hidden across and down in a 15 by 15 grid. Ten more lists sort 187 words, from Borrowing Books to Books Long Ago, each with a clue.

Read the full guide

Turn it into a which book would you use review

Under the puzzle, pick Reference Books from Start from a list, then tick Show clues, not words. Pupils read "A yearly book of facts, dates, tides and weather" and hunt for Almanac. The same switch makes Parts of a Book a quiz on Spine, Index and Glossary.

Library terms for the first lesson of the year

For a library terms word search in the first library lesson, keep the opening list: Checkout, Renew, Return and Bookmark sit beside Author, Illustrator and Spine. Younger classes can pick Easy Library Words, 40 words of 3 to 5 letters such as Shelf, Nook and Quiet, and Large print under More options.

FICTION reads inside NONFICTION, so the two never share a list: Fiction is in Finding a Book, Nonfiction in Reference Books.
Library card and 12 more entries with a space or hyphen are hidden as one run: LIBRARYCARD, DUEDATE, EBOOK.

Questions and answers

What is the difference between a glossary and an index?

Both sit at the back. The glossary is a mini dictionary that explains the book's hard words. The index is an ABC list that tells you which pages mention a topic. Both are in Parts of a Book, in this free printable library word search.

What are the parts of a book?

A book has a cover, a spine and a title page, then the contents, the chapters and, at the back, a glossary, an index and sometimes an appendix or bibliography. Parts of a Book holds 28 such words, down to Flyleaf, Colophon and Frontispiece.

Which words are in the library word find?

The 187 words cover the room, borrowing, finding a book, formats, book parts, reference books, research and book history. No shelving system is named by brand: the list says Call number and Decimal. Spellings follow the American Heritage Dictionary, read in September 2026.

All 187 words

Around the Library 24

Around the Library, continued

Borrowing Books 21

Finding a Book 24

Things to Borrow 20

Parts of a Book 28

Reference Books 24

Research Skills 25

Books Long Ago 21

How it works

Turn it into a which book would you use review

Library terms for the first lesson of the year

Questions and answers

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