Piano Word Search

A piano vocabulary puzzle with its answer key, from Keys and Pedal to Arpeggio and Sostenuto.

Name Date

Piano Word Search

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

0 of 16 words found

OMOIAAEEUNUTDRS

RBBTQGORLESSONR

IBEDROUPRIGHTTB

INNOXCLEFHYADJP

PNCDMJCPOLCHORD

IRHKEYSDTREBLEP

AODKTSCALETPVCI

NMWERJETNAAEPIA

ITVYOSABMTOMOTN

SAPBNWCASAKILAO

TJFOOEGLOPEDALC

EVVAMTQTAATIKLT

FYORENUSQGRANDA

IPADSTOGUMUOHCV

WHIOIAJVFEWUPPE

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.

KeysKEYS
PedalPEDAL
OctaveOCTAVE
ChordCHORD
ScaleSCALE
BenchBENCH
MetronomeMETRONOME
PianoPIANO
KeyboardKEYBOARD
GrandGRAND
UprightUPRIGHT
TrebleTREBLE
ClefCLEF
PianistPIANIST
RecitalRECITAL
LessonLESSON

16 of 20 words from the Piano Key Terms list.

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Word list

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Answer key: Piano Word Search

OMOIAAEEUNUTDRS

RBBTQGORLESSONR

IBEDROUPRIGHTTB

INNOXCLEFHYADJP

PNCDMJCPOLCHORD

IRHKEYSDTREBLEP

AODKTSCALETPVCI

NMWERJETNAAEPIA

ITVYOSABMTOMOTN

SAPBNWCASAKILAO

TJFOOEGLOPEDALC

EVVAMTQTAATIKLT

FYORENUSQGRANDA

IPADSTOGUMUOHCV

WHIOIAJVFEWUPPE

KEYS, PEDAL, OCTAVE, CHORD, SCALE, BENCH, METRONOME, PIANO, KEYBOARD, GRAND, UPRIGHT, TREBLE, CLEF, PIANIST, RECITAL, LESSON

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All 153 words

Parts of the Piano 24

Action The set of levers that carries each press of a finger to the wire.
Bench The seat a player sits on.
Bridge The strip of wood that carries the shaking of the wires to the soundboard.
Case The wooden outside of the instrument.
Caster A small wheel under a piano, for rolling it.
Damper The felt pad that rests on a string to stop its sound.
Ebony The dark wood once used for the black keys.
Fallboard The hinged cover that folds down to protect the black and white levers.
Felt The pressed wool cloth that covers the striking parts.
Frame The heavy cast-iron plate that bears the pull of all the wires.
Hammer The felt-covered part that strikes a string when a player presses down.
Ivory The material that once covered the white keys.
Keyboard The whole row of black and white levers.
Keys The black and white levers that the fingers press.
Leg One of the supports that hold the instrument off the floor.
Lid The hinged top of the case.
Pedal A lever worked by the foot.
Pinblock The block of hardwood that holds the tuning pins in place.
Rim The curved wooden side of a grand.
Sostenuto The middle pedal of a modern grand, which sustains chosen notes and leaves the rest alone.
Soundboard The large, thin wooden board that makes the sound of the wires louder.
String A steel wire stretched tight that sounds when it is struck.
Sustain To let a note ring on; the right pedal does this by lifting the dampers.
Una corda The Italian name for the soft pedal, on the left.

Show all 153 words (129 more)

Pianos and Other Keyboards 20

Accordion A squeezebox with bellows; many have a small piano-style keyboard.
Acoustic Making its sound without electronics.
Carillon A set of tower bells played from a keyboard of levers.
Celesta A small keyboard instrument whose hammers strike metal bars for a bell-like sound.
Clavichord A soft-sounding early keyboard instrument whose strings are struck by small brass wedges.
Console A compact kind of upright.
Digital Describes a piano that makes its sound with electronics, not strings.
Electric Describes an instrument whose sound is made or changed by an electronic device.
Fortepiano Any of the early pianos that came before the modern instrument.
Grand A piano with its strings lying flat in a long, wing-shaped case.
Harmonium A small organ whose metal reeds are sounded by air from a bellows.
Harpsichord An older keyboard instrument whose strings are plucked, not struck.
Instrument Anything made to produce music.
Organ A keyboard instrument that sounds by sending air through pipes.
Pianoforte The full, formal name of the instrument.
Player piano An instrument that plays itself from a roll of punched paper.
Spinet A very small, low upright.
Synthesizer An electronic keyboard that can make many kinds of sounds.
Upright A piano with its strings standing up and down, so it fits against a wall.
Weighted Describes digital keys built to feel as heavy as those of a grand.

Reading Piano Music 26

Accidental A sharp, flat or natural sign placed beside a note.
Bass The lowest range of notes.
Brace The curly bracket that joins two or more staffs.
Clef The sign at the start of each line that tells which notes the lines stand for.
Coda The closing passage of a piece.
Fermata A sign that tells the player to hold a note longer.
Fingering Small numbers over the notes that tell which finger to use.
Flat A sign that lowers a note by a half step.
Grand staff Two staffs joined by a brace, the usual layout of keyboard music.
Half step A semitone: the distance from one key to the very next one, black or white.
Interval The distance in pitch between two notes.
Ledger line A short line added above or below the five lines for a very high or low note.
Measure One of the short sections of music between two upright lines on the staff.
Middle C The C written on the ledger line between the treble and bass staffs.
Natural A sign that cancels a sharp or flat.
Notation The written signs for music.
Octave The distance from one note to the next with the same letter name, eight notes away.
Score The written or printed copy of a piece of music.
Sharp A sign that raises a note by a half step.
Sheet music Pieces printed on loose pages, not bound as a book.
Slur A curved line over different notes that tells the player to connect them smoothly.
Stem The thin upright line attached to a note head.
Tie A curved line that joins two notes of the same pitch into one longer note.
Time signature The two numbers at the start that tell how the beats are counted.
Treble The highest range of notes.
Whole step An interval of two semitones, such as from C to D.

At the Keyboard 30

Accompany To play the supporting part for a singer or another player.
Arpeggio The notes of a chord played one after another.
Cadence The chords that bring a phrase to its close.
Chord Three or more notes played at the same time.
Chromatic Describes a scale that uses every key, black and white, in order.
Contrary motion Two lines of music moving in opposite directions, one up while the other goes down.
Dexterity Quick, skillful movement of the fingers.
Exercise A short pattern played to train the fingers.
Glissando A slide up or down the keys.
Harmony Notes sounded together to support the tune.
Improvise To make up music while playing.
Inversion A chord rearranged so that a note other than the root is lowest.
Legato Played smoothly, with each note joined to the next.
Melody The tune: single notes that follow one another.
Memorize To learn a piece so well that no printed page is needed.
Metronome A device that clicks a steady beat at the speed you set.
Phrase A musical sentence.
Posture The way a player holds the body while sitting at the keys.
Practice Playing again and again to get better.
Root The note a chord is built on and named after.
Scale Notes played in order, step by step, going up or down.
Sight-read To play a piece on first seeing it, without preparing.
Staccato Played short and detached.
Thumb The short, thick first finger of the hand.
Tonic The home note of a scale.
Touch The way the fingers press the keys, light or firm.
Triad A chord of three notes.
Trill A quick back-and-forth between two neighboring notes.
Warm-up Easy playing at the start, to loosen the hands.
Wrist The joint between the hand and the forearm.

Piano Pieces 28

Bagatelle A short, light piece.
Barcarolle A piece that imitates the song of a Venetian boatman.
Boogie-woogie A style of blues piano playing with a quick tempo and a repeated bass line.
Concerto A piece for a solo player with an orchestra.
Duet A piece for two players or two singers.
Etude A study piece written to train one skill.
Fugue A piece in which one tune enters again and again in different voices.
Impromptu A piece meant to sound made up on the spot.
Invention A short piece that develops a single theme in more than one voice.
Mazurka A Polish dance with three beats to the measure.
Medley Several tunes played one after another as a single piece.
Minuet A stately old dance with three beats to the measure.
Movement One complete section of a longer work.
Nocturne A dreamy piece that suggests the night.
Opus A musical work, given a number to show its order among a composer's works.
Polonaise A stately Polish dance with three beats to the measure.
Prelude A short piece, at first one played as an introduction.
Ragtime A style with an off-beat tune over a steadily accented accompaniment.
Rhapsody A piece of free, irregular form.
Rondo A piece whose main tune keeps coming back.
Scherzo A lively, quick movement or piece.
Sonata A piece in three or four movements for one or more solo instruments.
Sonatina A short, easy sonata.
Suite A set of short pieces, often dances, played in order.
Theme The main tune of a piece.
Toccata A showy piece full of fast finger work.
Variation A tune played again in a changed form.
Waltz A dance piece with three beats to the measure.

Lessons and Recitals 25

Accompanist A pianist who plays along with a singer, choir or solo player.
Applause Clapping that shows the audience enjoyed the music.
Audition A short tryout played for judges or a teacher.
Beginner A person who is just starting to learn.
Bow To bend at the waist to thank the audience.
Encore An extra piece played because the audience keeps clapping.
Lesson A set time with a teacher to learn to play.
Maestro A title of respect for a master of music, such as a composer or teacher.
Ovation Eager applause that goes on for a long time.
Performance Playing for an audience.
Pianist A person who plays the piano.
Piano The keyboard instrument whose hammers strike wire strings; in Italian the word means softly.
Pitch How high or low a note sounds.
Prodigy A person, often a child, with exceptional talent.
Program The list of pieces to be played at a concert.
Recital A public performance of music, often by one player or by students.
Rehearsal A run-through before a performance.
Repertoire The pieces a player knows and can perform.
Soloist A performer who plays alone or is featured in front of others.
Stage The raised floor where a performer plays.
Student A person who is learning.
Teacher The person who shows a student how to play.
Tuner A person who puts the strings into proper pitch.
Tuning Putting the strings into proper pitch.
Virtuoso A player of outstanding skill.

How this list was compiled: Own work: the word list and every clue were written for this page. Spellings and meanings were checked on 2026-10-09 against The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, https://www.ahdictionary.com/. Facts about the instrument were checked on 2026-10-09 against English Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/, in the articles Piano, Piano pedals, Staff, Contrapuntal motion and Semitone. Licence: own work

How it works

This piano word search opens on 16 key terms: Keys, Pedal, Octave, Chord, Scale, Bench and Metronome among them. Every word has a one-line meaning, and six more lists run from the parts of the instrument to recital day.

Read the full guide

The instrument and the printed page

Under Start from a list, Parts of the Piano has Hammer, Damper, Soundboard and Fallboard. Pianos and Other Keyboards sets Grand beside Upright, Spinet, Harpsichord and Celesta. Reading Piano Music has Grand staff, Brace, Middle C and Ledger line.

Technique, pieces and recital day

At the Keyboard has Arpeggio, Legato, Glissando and Contrary motion. Piano Pieces runs from Etude and Sonatina to Nocturne and Boogie-woogie. Lessons and Recitals has Repertoire, Audition and Encore. On Letter or A4, any of the six is a piano word search printable for a studio class, and its answer key follows on the next sheet.

Middle C, Grand staff and Una corda hide closed up: MIDDLEC.
Short Piano Words has 45 words of three to five letters, such as Keys, Lid, Clef, Flat and Trill: a first sheet for a beginner.
Under More options, tick Show clues, not words and Bench prints as "The seat a player sits on."

Questions and answers

How many keys does a piano have?

Most modern pianos have 88 keys: 52 white and 36 black. They cover seven octaves plus a minor third, from A0 to C8. Some older pianos have 85.

What do the three pedals on a piano do?

From left to right: the soft pedal, or una corda, changes the tone and softens it; the sostenuto pedal sustains selected notes; the damper pedal lifts every damper so the strings keep sounding. Some pianos have no sostenuto pedal.

What is the difference between a grand piano and an upright?

In a grand piano the frame and strings lie flat, with the strings running away from the keyboard. In an upright, also called a vertical piano, the frame and strings stand upright, which makes the instrument more compact.

Where is middle C in piano music?

On the grand staff, middle C sits between the two staffs: on the first ledger line below the treble staff, which is also the first ledger line above the bass staff.

All 153 words

Parts of the Piano 24

Pianos and Other Keyboards 20

Reading Piano Music 26

At the Keyboard 30

Piano Pieces 28

Lessons and Recitals 25

How it works

The instrument and the printed page

Technique, pieces and recital day

Questions and answers

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