Printable Mystery Crosswords

Print a criss-cross mystery crossword of crimes, suspects, clues and detective work, with its answer key.

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Mystery 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: Mystery Crossword

1AL2MOTIVEB3R4D5WITNES6S7THIEFDUT8SLEUTHSEEP9SECRETRETRC10FINGERPRINTVN11CLUE12MIDNIGHT

Across 2 MOTIVE · 5 WITNESS · 7 THIEF · 8 SLEUTH · 9 SECRET · 10 FINGERPRINT · 11 CLUE · 12 MIDNIGHT

Down 1 ALIBI · 3 REDHERRING · 4 DETECTIVE · 6 SUSPECT

Next step Practice mystery vocabulary on a worksheetPlay genre bingo

All 180 clues

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The Crime 31

  • Counterfeit Fake money made to pass as real
  • Danger Chance of harm
  • Enigma Something or someone that nobody can explain
  • Forgery Fake painting or banknote passed off as the real one
  • Fortune Great wealth
  • Fraud Trickery used to cheat someone out of money
  • Heirloom Old family piece that passes from parents to children
  • Heist Bold, carefully planned stealing of something valuable
  • Hoax Made-up tale or stunt staged to fool the public
  • Jewel Gem such as a diamond or an emerald
  • Lie Untrue thing said on purpose
  • Loot Goods carried off by robbers
  • Missing Gone, with nobody knowing where
  • Necklace Jewelry that fastens behind the neck
  • Riddle Brain-teaser asked as a question
  • Robbery What a bank's alarm is there to stop
  • Rumor Unproven talk that spreads from mouth to mouth
  • Sabotage Damage done on purpose to make a plan fail
  • Safe Steel box with a dial, for keeping valuables
  • Scandal Shocking event that sets a whole town talking
  • Scene Place where it happened: the ___ of the crime
  • Scheme Sly plan worked out ahead of time
  • Secret What you promise not to tell
  • Smuggle To carry goods across a border against the law
  • Stolen Taken without the owner's leave
  • Theft Crime of taking another's property
  • Treasure Hoard of gold, gems or coins
  • Trespass To go onto another's land without leave
  • Vanish To be gone in a blink
  • Vault Room behind a bank's heavy round door
  • Will Paper that says who gets a person's belongings

The People 32

  • Accomplice One who helps a wrongdoer carry out the deed
  • Amateur One who does a thing for love of it, not as a paid job
  • Burglar One who breaks into a building to steal
  • Butler Head servant of a great house, blamed in a worn-out mystery joke
  • Bystander Person who was near but took no part
  • Constable Lowest rank in most Commonwealth police forces
  • Crook A swindler or a cheat, in casual talk
  • Culprit The one who did it
  • Detective Professional solver of crimes
  • Guard Person who keeps watch over a place
  • Guest Visitor staying at the house
  • Gumshoe Slang for a crime investigator, from a word for a rubber overshoe
  • Heir Person who stands to receive another's property
  • Impostor One who fools others under a false name
  • Informant One who quietly passes facts to the police
  • Inspector Police rank below superintendent
  • Mastermind Brain behind a clever plan
  • Officer Member of a police force
  • Partner Other half of a two-person team
  • Pickpocket One who lifts wallets in a crowd
  • Reporter Newspaper writer who digs for the facts
  • Rookie One who is new to the force
  • Sidekick Close companion who works at the hero's side
  • Sleuth Word for a crime solver that once meant a tracking hound
  • Snoop Nosy person who pries into others' business
  • Spy Agent who watches unseen and reports back
  • Stranger Person whom nobody in town knows
  • Suspect One whom the police believe may be guilty
  • Thief One who robs or shoplifts
  • Victim Person who was robbed or tricked
  • Villain The bad one in a book or a play
  • Witness One who was there and can tell what took place

Clues and Evidence 37

  • Alibi A plea of having been in another place when it happened
  • Button Coat fastener that may pop off and be left behind
  • Cipher Method of hidden writing worked by set steps
  • Clue Fact or object that points toward the answer to a mystery
  • Code System of signs that conceals a message
  • Diary Book of private writing, one day at a time
  • Document Paper that gives official information
  • Evidence Everything that is gathered to back up a charge
  • Fingerprint Mark left by the ridges of a fingertip
  • Footprint Mark that a shoe leaves in soft ground
  • Glove Covering worn on the hand
  • Handwriting A person's own way of forming words with a pen
  • Hunch Idea that rests on a feeling, not on facts
  • Initials First letters of a person's names
  • Ink Invisible ___: writing that can be made to show by heat
  • Key Thing on a ring that fits one lock
  • Lead Piece of information worth following up
  • Lens Glass disk at the heart of a magnifier
  • Map Chart of a place, sometimes with an X on it
  • Motive The why behind a deed
  • Note Few words on a scrap of paper
  • Password Word you must say to be let in
  • Pattern Regular way in which a thing keeps happening
  • Photograph Image caught on film
  • Proof Facts that leave no room for doubt
  • Receipt Paper handed over after a payment
  • Red herring Something that pulls attention away from the truth, named for a smoked fish
  • Scratch Thin mark cut by something sharp
  • Signature How a person signs a check or a contract
  • Smudge Blurry, smeared mark
  • Stain Mark that cannot be wiped off
  • Statement Formal account of what a person says happened
  • Thread Thin strand pulled from cloth
  • Tip Useful piece of inside information
  • Trace Tiny amount left behind
  • Tracks Trail of prints across snow or mud
  • Whorl With the loop and the arch, one of the three basic shapes of fingertip ridges

Detective Work 36

  • Accuse To say that someone did wrong
  • Arrest To take someone into police custody
  • Badge Metal shield worn to show police authority
  • Capture To seize after a hunt
  • Chase Fast pursuit on foot or by car
  • Compare To set two things side by side and judge them
  • Confess To admit to having done it
  • Crack To work out at last, as a tough puzzle
  • Deduce To reach a conclusion by reasoning from the facts
  • Disguise Wig, hat or costume that keeps others from knowing you
  • Eavesdrop To listen in on others without their knowing
  • Examine To study a thing inch by inch
  • Flashlight American word for a hand torch
  • Guess Answer picked with no facts to go on
  • Handcuffs Pair of locking metal rings for the wrists
  • Hide To tuck away where nobody would look
  • Infer To work out something that was not said outright
  • Interrogate To question someone closely and at length
  • Investigate To dig for the truth of a matter
  • Lineup Row of people shown so that one of them can be picked out
  • Logic Sound thinking that moves from fact to fact
  • Magnifying glass Tool with a handle that makes small things look bigger
  • Notebook Small pad for jotting down facts
  • Observe To keep your eyes on something and take it all in
  • Patrol To walk or drive a route while keeping watch
  • Search To go through a place hunting for something
  • Sketch Quick drawing of a face made from a description
  • Sneak To move quietly so as not to be noticed
  • Solve To clear up, as a mystery
  • Stakeout The covert watching of a place by police
  • Tail To follow someone without being seen
  • Theory Idea that might explain the facts but is not yet proven
  • Trap Setup meant to catch a wrongdoer in the act
  • Unmask To show who someone really is
  • Warrant Paper from a court that lets police enter a home
  • Whisper Low talk meant for one pair of ears

Mystery Story Words 44

  • Attic Space at the very top of a house
  • Author Name on the cover of a book
  • Candle Wax light with a flame
  • Caper Crime tale with humor, told from the side of those who pull the job
  • Cellar Room below the ground floor
  • Chapter One section of a novel
  • Character Person in a tale
  • Circle Closed ___: small, cut-off group, one of whom must be guilty
  • Cliffhanger End of an installment that leaves the hero in a risky, unresolved spot
  • Climax High point of a mystery, where the truth comes out
  • Cozy Gentle kind of mystery set in a small, close community
  • Ending Last part of a tale
  • Fog Thick mist that blots out the street
  • Foreshadow To drop early hints of events to come
  • Genre Family of books that share a style, mysteries for one
  • Gothic Style of fiction built on fear and haunting
  • Hardboiled Tough kind of crime fiction whose hero battles organized crime
  • Howcatchem Nickname for a tale that shows who did it first, then follows the hunt
  • Island Land with water on all sides, a cut-off place for a closed-group mystery
  • Lantern Portable light with a case to shield the flame
  • Library Room lined with shelves of books
  • Locked ___-room mystery: it seems that nobody could have got in or out
  • Manor Main house of a country estate
  • Mansion Very large, grand house
  • Midnight Hour when one day turns into the next
  • Narrator The one who tells the tale
  • Noir Dark, moody kind of crime fiction, from the French for black
  • Passage Hidden ___: narrow way behind a wall or a bookcase
  • Plot Chain of events in a tale
  • Poe American writer whose 1841 tale began fiction about crime investigators in English
  • Reveal To bring a hidden truth into the open
  • Sequel Follow-up book
  • Series Set of books that share a hero
  • Setting Backdrop of a tale: an old house, a seaside town
  • Shadow Dark shape that trails you under a streetlamp
  • Solution Answer to the puzzle, given at the end
  • Staircase Steps and banister between two floors
  • Storm Thunder, wind and hard rain
  • Suspense Excited, anxious waiting to learn what comes next
  • Thriller Fast tale that keeps its audience on the edge of their seats
  • Train Railway cars pulled by an engine, a cut-off place for a closed-group mystery
  • Trapdoor Hatch underfoot or overhead
  • Twist Sudden turn of events that nobody saw coming
  • Whodunit Mystery whose main puzzle is the name of the guilty one, a squeezing of three words

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site about mystery stories, in five sets: the crime, the people, clues and evidence, detective work and mystery story words. Word meanings were checked in Wiktionary (en.wiktionary.org) and, for 25 key words, the American Heritage Dictionary (ahdictionary.com); kinds of mystery and story terms were read in English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0), in October 2026. No fictional detective, book or film is named. Licence: own work

How it works

These printable mystery crosswords are vocabulary crosswords for a mystery unit or a detective party. The first puzzle has 12 easy words, among them Clue, Detective, Alibi, Suspect and Red herring. The crimes are thefts and tricks, with no violence.

Read the full guide

Five sets after the easy one

The Crime has Heist, Forgery and Counterfeit. The People has Culprit, Accomplice and Gumshoe. Clues and Evidence has Whorl, Cipher and Receipt. Detective Work has Deduce, Stakeout and Eavesdrop. Mystery Story Words has Whodunit, Cliffhanger and Foreshadow.

For a mystery genre unit

Mystery Story Words is the set for a reading class: it has the terms of the genre, such as Suspense, Twist and Climax, and its kinds, such as Cozy, Caper and Noir.

  • After a class mystery novel, print Clues and Evidence and ask which answers turned up in the book.

Questions and answers

Are these mystery crossword puzzles printable for free?

Yes, with no sign-up. The answer key prints last, on a sheet of its own, so the puzzle goes to the solvers and the key stays with you.

What grade are the mystery crosswords for?

Easy Mystery Words suits grades 3 to 5, with answers such as Thief, Map and Fog. The five themed sets suit grades 5 to 8. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

What is a red herring in a mystery?

Something that misleads or distracts from the truth, often put in a story on purpose to lead readers to a false conclusion. The phrase comes from a strong-smelling smoked fish. Red herring is an answer in Clues and Evidence.

What is a whodunit?

A mystery built around one puzzle, who did the crime, with the answer revealed at the climax. The word is a squeezed form of "who done it". Whodunit is in Mystery Story Words.

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