Respect Crossword Puzzle Printable

Print a criss-cross respect crossword in which most clues are a small moment at school or at home.

More options

Settings you change are kept in this browser for your next visit.

Name Date

Respect Crossword

Most clues are a small moment. Write the word that the moment shows, one letter in each square.

This grid is wider than a phone screen, so it scrolls sideways. It prints whole.

Tap a square, and its clue shows here.

Across

Down

Word bank

  • Consider
  • Courtesy
  • Kind words
  • Knock
  • Listen
  • Manners
  • Please
  • Polite
  • Return
  • Smile
  • Take turns
  • Tidy

Type in a square and the next one takes over. Tap the same square again, or press Space, to switch between Across and Down. Arrow keys move around the grid, Enter goes to the next clue, and a clue takes you to its squares.

Print gives 2 pages on Letter or A4: the puzzle with its clues, then the answer key. The squares print 8 mm wide. For a PDF, choose Save as PDF in the print window.

A share link holds the puzzle number and these settings, nothing you typed.

Answer key: Respect Crossword

1KNO2CKO3K4PU5CI6SMILERONETND7MANNERSWSSIO8PO9LITEYDRIEDS10TAKE11TURNSTI12RETURNDNY

Across 1 KNOCK · 6 SMILE · 7 MANNERS · 8 POLITE · 10 TAKETURNS · 12 RETURN

Down 2 COURTESY · 3 KINDWORDS · 4 PLEASE · 5 CONSIDER · 9 LISTEN · 11 TIDY

Next step Find respect words in a word searchPractice respect vocabulary

All 120 clues

Show all clues and answers

Polite Words and Greetings 37

  • Apologize To tell the friend whose cup you broke that it was your fault
  • Apology "I broke it, and I will fix it" is a good one
  • Applause Sound that fills the gym when the school play ends
  • Bow What actors take, bending low, when the curtain comes down
  • Civil Word for a debate in which nobody shouts or sneers
  • Compliment "That was a great speech" is one
  • Courtesy Holding the elevator for a stranger is a small act of this
  • Curtsy Small dip with bent knees, a formal gesture made chiefly by women and girls
  • Etiquette The practices that social convention prescribes: which fork, when to stand, who goes first
  • Excuse "___ me": said when you need to squeeze past in a crowded aisle
  • Goodbye Last thing said at the door as the visitors leave
  • Gracious Word for a loser who congratulates the winner and means it
  • Gratitude What a note of thanks puts into writing
  • Greet To say good morning to the bus driver as you climb on
  • Greeting "Good afternoon" or "hi there", for example
  • Handshake Brief clasp exchanged by two people when they meet or part
  • Introduce "Maya, this is my cousin Leo" is how you do it
  • Invite To hand a classmate a card that says when and where your party is
  • Kind words "Nice goal!" and "I like your drawing" are examples
  • Madam A clerk may call a woman this: "Good morning, ___"
  • Manners Napkin on your lap and elbows off the table are good table ones
  • Nod Wordless yes made with the head
  • Pardon "I beg your ___": a gentle way to ask somebody to say it again
  • Please Word that softens "pass the salt"
  • Polite Word for a caller who begins, "May I speak with Sam?"
  • Praise "You worked hard on this" is a piece of it
  • Reply To write back the same day instead of leaving a friend wondering
  • Request A demand turns into this when you add a soft word
  • Salute A cadet's snap of the palm to the brim of a cap
  • Sir A waiter may call a man this: "Right this way, ___"
  • Smile Friendly look you give a new student
  • Sorry What you say right after you bump into somebody
  • Tact Skill of telling a friend about the spinach in his teeth without embarrassing him
  • Thank you What to say, in two syllables, when you are handed a gift
  • Title Mr., Ms. or Dr., written before a surname
  • Wave A hello made with a raised palm, from too far away to speak
  • Welcome Word on a doormat; also said back to someone grateful

Listening and Talking 25

  • Attention What you give the speaker when you put your pencil down and look up
  • Brag To go on about your trophy to the team that lost
  • Disagree To see it another way and say so without shouting
  • Discuss To talk a problem through until each side has been heard
  • Encourage To tell a nervous classmate "you can do it"
  • Eye contact What you make when you meet a speaker's gaze
  • Gossip Talk of a personal sort about a classmate behind her back
  • Insult "That is the ugliest coat I ever saw" is one
  • Interrupt To jump in with your story before a friend has finished hers
  • Listen What your ears and eyes do while a classmate is speaking
  • Mock To copy somebody's voice or walk to get a laugh
  • Mute What to do to a phone before the movie starts
  • Opinion "Blue is the best color" is one, not a fact
  • Patience What you need while a slow reader finishes the page aloud
  • Question "Could you explain that again?" is one
  • Rude Word for answering "whatever" and walking off
  • Rumor Unproved "did you hear?" story that grows as it travels
  • Sarcasm A cutting "nice work" said to somebody who just dropped the tray
  • Silence What a room gives a speaker who is about to begin
  • Take turns What two children do with one swing so that both can ride
  • Tease To keep joking about a new haircut after its owner asks you to stop
  • Tone It can make "fine" mean two opposite things
  • Volume Loudness, turned down indoors
  • Whisper Voice to use while a baby sleeps in the next room
  • Yell What an indoor voice never does

Respecting People and Differences 35

  • Accept To take a classmate as she is, glasses and all
  • Admire To look up to an older cousin who never gives up
  • Boundary "I do not like to be hugged" sets one
  • Bully One who picks on smaller kids again and again
  • Cheer What good sports do for a great catch, even by the other team
  • Consider To weigh how your choice will land on somebody else before you make it
  • Culture A family's recipes, songs and special days, handed down
  • Custom Something done the same way for generations, like a birthday candle
  • Dignity The worth of every human being, whatever their job or age
  • Diversity A class with many languages, foods and holidays has plenty of it
  • Elder A person of your grandmother's generation
  • Empathy Wincing when a teammate skins her knee, as if it were yours
  • Equal Word for two teams with the same number of players
  • Exclude To tell somebody "you can't sit with us"
  • Fair Word for a race in which nobody gets a head start
  • Forgive To let go of a grudge after a real "I was wrong"
  • Golden ___ Rule: act toward a classmate the way you hope she will act toward you
  • Guest The one you offer the best chair and the first slice
  • Honor To show high regard for a hero, as with a medal or a parade
  • Host The one who opens the door and takes your coat
  • Include To call over the kid sitting alone and make room at your table
  • Kindness Carrying a stranger's groceries up the stairs is an act of it
  • Neighbor The one whose yard your ball lands in
  • Nickname Short name to use only if its owner likes it
  • Permission What you need before posting a friend's photo
  • Prejudice Deciding you dislike the new kid before she has said a thing
  • Privacy What a shut bedroom door and a locked phone both ask for
  • Pronounce To get a hard name right after hearing it once, syllable by syllable
  • Seat What a rider gives up on a crowded bus for a passenger with a cane
  • Share To break your cookie in two and hand over half
  • Stare To look too long at a stranger who looks different
  • Stereotype The lazy notion that all teenagers, or all grandparents, act alike
  • Thoughtful Word for a friend who saves you the window chair because you like it
  • Tolerance Letting others hold views unlike yours without trying to stop them
  • Unique Word for each of us: nobody else is quite the same

Respecting Places, Things and Rules 23

  • Borrow To use a classmate's pencil after asking, planning to give it back
  • Grab To take the ball out of another player's arms without asking
  • Graffiti Spray-painted names on a bridge that the painter does not own
  • Knock Three taps of the knuckles before you enter a room
  • Lend To let a classmate use your eraser for the test
  • Litter A juice box left under the bleachers
  • Museum Hall of "look, do not touch", with a guard in every room
  • Promise "I will be there at noon" is one you should keep
  • Property A bike, a backpack or a fence that belongs to somebody
  • Punctual Word for a visitor who rings the bell at six when asked for six
  • Queue Orderly file of people waiting for the bus
  • Quiet How your voice should be in a library
  • Recycle To put a can in the blue bin so it can be made into something new
  • Referee The one whose call ends the argument on the field
  • Replace To buy a new one after you break a friend's toy
  • Return To carry the ladder back to its owner's garage when you finish
  • Shove To push past somebody in a doorway
  • Slam What not to do to a door when you are angry
  • Tidy How you leave your desk when your things are put away
  • Trash It goes in the can, not on the cafeteria floor
  • Trust What you lose when you read a sister's diary
  • Vandalism Breaking a park bench on purpose is this
  • Wipe What to do with muddy shoes on the mat before you step inside

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for grades 2 to 8, in four sets. Most are small moments at school or at home and state no fact. The clues that define a word were checked in The American Heritage Dictionary (ahdictionary.com), and the Golden Rule clue against English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), in October 2026. The word list is our own and follows no published program. Licence: own work

How it works

This respect crossword puzzle prints on Letter or A4 with a word bank and an answer key. The first puzzle has 12 words, including Listen, Polite, Courtesy, Manners, Consider, Kind words and Take turns. Respect itself is never an answer.

Read the full guide

Four sets after the basics

Polite Words and Greetings has Pardon, Compliment, Etiquette and Handshake. Listening and Talking has Interrupt, Tone, Patience and Rumor. Respecting People and Differences has Empathy, Boundary, Dignity and Golden. Respecting Places, Things and Rules has Litter, Queue, Punctual and Promise.

Clues that are moments

"Three taps of the knuckles before you enter a room" is Knock, and "To break your cookie in two and hand over half" is Share. A few clues, such as those for Etiquette and Handshake, follow a dictionary definition instead.

  • After the puzzle, ask each student to write a new moment for one answer and trade it with a partner.

Questions and answers

Is there a free respect crossword with an answer key?

Yes. Press Print: the puzzle, its clues and the word bank come first and the answer key prints last, so a class set can go out without it. There is no sign-up.

What grade is the respect crossword puzzle for?

Respect Basics suits grades 2 to 4, with answers such as Listen, Please and Share. The four themed sets suit grades 4 to 8, with answers such as Etiquette, Stereotype and Punctual. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

What is the Golden Rule?

The principle of treating others as you would want to be treated by them. It is sometimes called an ethic of reciprocity. Golden is an answer in Respecting People and Differences.

More tools

Show 7 more

Browse Puzzles