Literary Terms Crossword Puzzle for English Class

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Literary Terms Crossword

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares that start at its number, one letter in each square.

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Answer key: Literary Terms Crossword

1E2N3ARRATORXN4FP5THEMEOOA6P7RISINGACTIONEIOI8RSTN9GENREHIITSAOSOODNTFLO10M11MVUW12PROTAGONISTIOTEINDIWOGFN

Across 2 NARRATOR · 5 THEME · 7 RISINGACTION · 9 GENRE · 12 PROTAGONIST

Down 1 EXPOSITION · 3 ANTAGONIST · 4 FORESHADOWING · 6 POINTOFVIEW · 8 RESOLUTION · 10 MOOD · 11 MOTIF

Next step Find literary terms in a word searchScramble your own list of terms

All 60 clues

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Figurative Language and Sound 20

  • Alliteration Same first sound in nearby words, as in big bad bear
  • Allusion Brief mention of a famous person, place or story
  • Analogy Comparison that explains one thing by another it resembles
  • Assonance Repeated vowel sounds in nearby words
  • Consonance Repeated consonant sounds, often at the ends of words
  • Euphemism Gentle word used in place of a harsh one, such as passed away
  • Hyperbole Exaggeration for effect, as in I told you a million times
  • Idiom Phrase such as break a leg, whose meaning is not in its words
  • Imagery Language that appeals to the five senses
  • Irony When the opposite of what is expected happens or is meant
  • Metaphor Figure of speech saying one thing is another, as in time is a thief
  • Onomatopoeia Word that sounds like what it names, such as hiss
  • Oxymoron Two opposite words side by side, such as jumbo shrimp
  • Paradox Statement that seems to contradict itself yet holds a truth
  • Personification Giving human traits to something that is not human
  • Pun Joke that plays on two meanings of a word
  • Rhyme Matching end sounds, as in cat and hat
  • Simile Comparison using like or as
  • Symbolism Using an object to stand for an idea
  • Understatement Making something sound smaller than it is, for effect

Story Elements 20

  • Antagonist Character or force against the main character
  • Climax Peak of the plot, where the tension breaks
  • Conflict Struggle between opposing forces in a story
  • Denouement Final unraveling of a plot, from the French for untying
  • Dialogue Conversation between characters, set in quotation marks
  • Exposition Opening part of a plot that introduces who, where and when
  • Flashback Scene set earlier than the main action
  • Foreshadowing Hints about what will happen later
  • Genre Category of writing, such as mystery or fantasy
  • Mood Feeling a text creates in the reader
  • Motif Image or idea that repeats through a work
  • Narrator Teller of a story, inside it or outside it
  • Point of view Position from which a story is told, such as first person
  • Protagonist The main character
  • Resolution Where the problems of the plot are settled
  • Rising action Events that build tension toward the turning point
  • Setting Where and when a story takes place
  • Suspense Tense feeling of waiting to find out what happens
  • Theme A story's big idea about life
  • Tone Writer's attitude toward the subject

Poetry, Drama and Authors 20

  • Aside Short remark to the audience that other characters do not hear
  • Austen Jane ___, who wrote Pride and Prejudice
  • Ballad Poem or song that tells a story, often with a refrain
  • Comedy Play with a happy ending, often a wedding
  • Couplet Two rhyming lines in a row
  • Dickens Charles ___, who wrote Oliver Twist
  • Elegy Poem of mourning for someone who has died
  • Epic Long poem about a hero's deeds
  • Haiku Three-line Japanese form, traditionally 5, 7 and 5 syllables
  • Homer Greek poet credited with the Iliad and the Odyssey
  • Iambic ___ pentameter, lines of five da-DUM beats
  • Monologue Long speech by one character to others
  • Ode Poem of praise addressed to something or someone
  • Shakespeare He wrote Hamlet and Macbeth
  • Shelley Mary ___, who wrote Frankenstein
  • Soliloquy Speech in a play in which a character, alone, thinks aloud
  • Sonnet Poem of fourteen lines in a fixed pattern
  • Stanza Poem's unit of lines, like a paragraph in prose
  • Tragedy Play that ends in the downfall of the main character
  • Twain Mark ___, who wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

How this list was compiled: 60 clues written for this site for English class, in three sets: figurative language and sound, story elements, and poetry, drama and classic authors. Only authors and works long in the public domain are named, and no line from any work is quoted. Author facts were checked against English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org) in September 2026. Licence: own work

How it works

This literary terms crossword puzzle asks students to match each term to its definition, from Simile and Irony to Denouement and Soliloquy. It is a vocabulary crossword in three sets, and no line from any work is quoted.

Read the full guide

Three sets

Figurative Language and Sound has Oxymoron, Assonance and Euphemism. Story Elements has Protagonist, Exposition and Rising action. Poetry, Drama and Authors has Couplet, Iambic, Aside and six classic writers, from Homer to Twain.

Print or solve

Print gives Letter or A4 with the answer key last. To solve on screen, tap a square and type.

  • After the puzzle, ask students to find one example of each figurative term in the novel the class is reading.

Questions and answers

Is this a literary crossword puzzle about authors too?

Partly. Poetry, Drama and Authors names six writers, each clued by one famous work: Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, Dickens, Austen, Homer and Twain. Only authors long in the public domain are named.

What grades are the literary terms for?

Story Elements and Figurative Language and Sound suit grades 6 to 9. Poetry, Drama and Authors suits grades 8 to 12. These bands are our judgement, not a published standard.

Is there an answer key?

Yes. Every print ends with the answer key on a sheet of its own, and Show all clues and answers, under the puzzle, lists all 60 clues with their answers.

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