Russia Word Search

Sixteen words from Moscow and Lake Baikal to Sputnik and Samovar, in a puzzle you can print with its key.

Name Date

Russia Word Search

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

0 of 16 words found

DXSLOBORSCHTJUF

HHYGVNSPUTNIKMU

COQTAIGAPWNQBKR

ODRMATRYOSHKARE

STPETERSBURGLED

MMFBOIOPFAHSLMS

OOVRHIWLSODRELQ

NSOOSIBERIAITIU

ACLWIBUCYDMYONA

UOGNYHWOIXTDHDR

TWABLAKEBAIKALE

RAAEOSTSEYIHDHH

YURALMOUNTAINSN

TENRUNSLSAMOVAR

AIMOGAOCSEWUCAS

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.

MoscowMOSCOW
St. PetersburgST. PETERSBURG
SiberiaSIBERIA
VolgaVOLGA
Lake BaikalLAKE BAIKAL
Ural MountainsURAL MOUNTAINS
KremlinKREMLIN
Red SquareRED SQUARE
BalletBALLET
MatryoshkaMATRYOSHKA
BorschtBORSCHT
SputnikSPUTNIK
CosmonautCOSMONAUT
Brown BearBROWN BEAR
TaigaTAIGA
SamovarSAMOVAR

16 of 27 words from the Russia Favorites list.

Start from a list

Easy: words go across and down.

More options

Show clues, not words

Word list

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

The puzzle changes as you go. See the puzzle

Answer key: Russia Word Search

DXSLOBORSCHTJUF

HHYGVNSPUTNIKMU

COQTAIGAPWNQBKR

ODRMATRYOSHKARE

STPETERSBURGLED

MMFBOIOPFAHSLMS

OOVRHIWLSODRELQ

NSOOSIBERIAITIU

ACLWIBUCYDMYONA

UOGNYHWOIXTDHDR

TWABLAKEBAIKALE

RAAEOSTSEYIHDHH

YURALMOUNTAINSN

TENRUNSLSAMOVAR

AIMOGAOCSEWUCAS

MOSCOW, ST. PETERSBURG, SIBERIA, VOLGA, LAKE BAIKAL, URAL MOUNTAINS, KREMLIN, RED SQUARE, BALLET, MATRYOSHKA, BORSCHT, SPUTNIK, COSMONAUT, BROWN BEAR, TAIGA, SAMOVAR

Next step Make a puzzle from your own Russia unit words Scramble the Russian city and river names

All 211 words

Russian Cities 27

Arkhangelsk Old timber port of the north, where the Dvina River nears the White Sea.
Chelyabinsk Ural city over which a meteor exploded in 2013.
Irkutsk Siberian city near Lake Baikal, a stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Kaliningrad Baltic port in a piece of the country cut off from the rest, between Poland and Lithuania.
Kazan Capital of Tatarstan on the Volga, with a white-walled kremlin of its own.
Khabarovsk Far eastern city on the Amur River, near the border with China.
Krasnoyarsk Siberian city on the Yenisei, beside a nature reserve of rock pillars.
Moscow Capital and largest city, built around the red walls of the Kremlin.
Murmansk Port north of the Arctic Circle whose harbor stays free of ice all winter.
Nizhny Novgorod Big city where the Oka River joins the Volga.
Norilsk Mining city far above the Arctic Circle, one of the northernmost in the world.
Novosibirsk Largest city in Siberia, on the Ob River.
Omsk Siberian city where the Om River meets the Irtysh.
Oymyakon Siberian village often called the coldest inhabited place on Earth.
Perm City on the Kama River that gave its name to a period of geologic time.

Show all 211 words (196 more)

Russian Cities, continued

Rostov-on-Don Southern port city on a river that runs to the Sea of Azov, gateway to the Caucasus.
Samara Volga city where rockets and spacecraft are built.
Sochi Resort on the Black Sea that hosted the Winter Olympics of 2014.
St. Petersburg City of canals on the Baltic, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 as a new capital.
Suzdal Small town of the Golden Ring filled with old churches and wooden houses.
Tula City south of Moscow famous for samovars and spiced gingerbread.
Ufa Capital of Bashkortostan, west of the Ural Mountains.
Vladivostok Pacific port at the eastern end of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Volgograd City on the Volga once named Stalingrad, with a giant statue on a hill.
Yakutsk Very cold Siberian city on the Lena, built on permanently frozen ground.
Yaroslavl Volga city of the Golden Ring whose historic center is a World Heritage Site.
Yekaterinburg City in the Urals close to the line between Europe and Asia.

Russian Rivers, Lakes and Mountains 32

Altai Mountains of southern Siberia where Russia meets Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan.
Amur River that forms a long stretch of the border with China.
Arctic Ocean Icy sea along the whole northern coast.
Baltic Sea Northern sea reached from St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad.
Bering Strait Narrow water that separates Russia from Alaska.
Black Sea Warm sea of the southwest, lined with beach resorts.
Caspian Sea Largest inland body of water in the world, on the southern border.
Caucasus High range between the Black and Caspian seas, along the southern border.
Don River of the south that flows into the Sea of Azov.
Eurasia Europe and Asia taken together; the country lies across both.
Far East Name for the Pacific side of the country.
Geyser Hot spring that shoots water into the air; Kamchatka has a whole valley of them.
Kamchatka Far eastern peninsula of volcanoes, geysers and brown bears.
Lake Baikal Siberian giant that holds more fresh water than any other of its kind on Earth.
Lake Ladoga Largest body of fresh water in Europe, north of St. Petersburg.
Lena Great Siberian river that reaches the Arctic Ocean through a huge delta.
Mount Elbrus Sleeping volcano in the Caucasus, the highest peak in Russia and in Europe.
Neva Short, wide river that runs through St. Petersburg.
Onega Second-largest lake in Europe, known for the wooden churches on one of its islands.
Permafrost Ground that never thaws, lying under most of Siberia.
Sakhalin Long island in the Pacific, north of Japan.
Siberia Vast, cold region that stretches from the Urals to the Pacific.
Steppe Dry, grassy plain of the south.
Taiga Great belt of evergreen forest that covers much of the country.
Time Zones The country spans eleven of them from west to east.
Tundra Treeless, frozen plain along the Arctic coast.
Ural Mountains Low, old range that marks the usual boundary between Europe and Asia.
Volcano Mountain that erupts; Kamchatka has many active ones.
Volga Longest river in Europe, flowing to the Caspian Sea.
White Sea Arm of the Arctic Ocean in the northwest.
Wrangel Island Arctic nature reserve known for polar bears, walruses and the remains of woolly mammoths.
Yenisei Siberian river that flows north through the middle of the country to the Arctic.

Russian Food 26

Beet Dark red root that gives borscht its color.
Blini Thin pancakes eaten with jam, honey or sour cream, a treat of the festival at winter's end.
Borscht Sour beet soup served with sour cream, eaten across Eastern Europe.
Buckwheat Three-cornered seed cooked as porridge.
Cabbage Leafy vegetable eaten fresh, stewed or pickled.
Caviar Salted fish eggs, the most prized from sturgeon.
Dill Feathery herb sprinkled on soups, potatoes and pickles.
Herring Oily fish eaten salted, sometimes under a layered salad.
Kasha Porridge, most often of buckwheat.
Medovik Layered honey cake.
Mushroom Forest food that families gather in late summer and autumn.
Okroshka Cold summer soup of chopped vegetables.
Olivier Salad of diced potato, vegetables and mayonnaise made for the New Year table.
Pelmeni Small dumplings filled with minced meat, a Siberian favorite.
Pickles Cucumbers preserved in salty brine.
Pirozhki Small baked or fried buns with a filling.
Pryanik Honey-sweetened gingerbread, often stamped with a pattern; Tula's is famous.
Rye Bread Dark, dense loaf with a sour tang.
Shashlik Skewers of meat grilled over coals.
Shchi Cabbage soup.
Solyanka Thick soup with a sour and spicy taste.
Sour Cream Thick dairy topping, called smetana, spooned onto soups and dumplings.
Stroganoff Dish of beef strips in a sour cream sauce, named for a noble family.
Sunflower Its seeds are a favorite snack and its oil is used for cooking.
Syrniki Fried cakes of soft farmer's cheese.
Ukha Clear fish soup.

Russian Ballet, Music and Books 24

Balalaika Folk instrument with a triangular body and three strings.
Ballet Theater dance in which Russian companies and teachers became world famous.
Bolshoi Moscow theater and ballet company whose name means big.
Chekhov Writer of short stories and of plays such as The Cherry Orchard.
Chess Board game in which players from this country long held the world title.
Circus Show of acrobats, clowns and trained performers, a much-loved tradition in Moscow.
Cyrillic Alphabet used to write Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian and many other languages.
Dostoevsky Novelist who wrote Crime and Punishment.
Firebird Glowing magic creature of folk tales, and a ballet with music by Stravinsky.
Hermitage Huge art museum in St. Petersburg, begun with the collection of Catherine the Great.
Icon Painting on a wooden panel in a very old tradition; Andrei Rublev is its best-known master.
Kandinsky Painter, a pioneer of abstract art.
Mariinsky Historic theater of opera and ballet in St. Petersburg.
Nutcracker Ballet about a toy that comes to life, first danced in St. Petersburg in 1892.
Pavlova Ballerina famous for the solo The Dying Swan.
Prokofiev Composer of Peter and the Wolf.
Pushkin Poet often called the founder of modern Russian literature.
Rachmaninoff Composer and pianist known for his piano concertos.
Sleeping Beauty Fairy-tale ballet with music by Tchaikovsky.
Stravinsky Composer of The Firebird and The Rite of Spring.
Swan Lake Ballet about a princess under a spell, with music by Tchaikovsky.
Tchaikovsky Composer of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.
Tolstoy Author of the long novel War and Peace.
Tretyakov Moscow gallery of Russian painting.

Russian Traditions and History 28

Babushka Word for grandmother.
Banya Steam bathhouse.
Catherine Empress of the 1700s, called the Great, whose art collection began the Hermitage.
Cossack Member of a frontier people known as skilled horsemen.
Dacha Country cottage with a garden, used on weekends and in summer.
Ded Moroz Grandfather Frost, who brings New Year gifts with his granddaughter the Snow Maiden.
Federation Word in the official name of the country.
Figure Skating Sport of jumps and spins on blades in which the country has won many medals.
Gymnastics Sport of flips, balance and strength.
Gzhel Pottery painted in blue on white.
Ice Hockey Team sport on skates, hugely popular in winter.
Khokhloma Wooden ware painted with red, gold and black flowers.
Kokoshnik Tall decorated headdress of traditional costume.
Kopek Coin worth one hundredth of a ruble.
Maslenitsa Week-long festival at winter's end, with blini and bonfires.
Matryoshka Set of wooden dolls that nest one inside another.
New Year Biggest family holiday, with a decorated tree and gifts at midnight.
Peter the Great Ruler who built a navy and a new capital on the Baltic.
Romanov Family of tsars that ruled from 1613 to 1917.
Ruble The national money.
Samovar Metal urn that heats water for tea.
Sarafan Long sleeveless dress of traditional costume.
Sleigh Sled drawn over snow by horses.
Soviet Union Country of which Russia was the largest part from 1922 to 1991.
Troika Sleigh or carriage pulled by three horses side by side.
Tsar Title of the old rulers, taken from the Latin word Caesar.
Ushanka Fur cap with ear flaps that tie up or down.
Valenki Warm winter boots made of thick felt.

Russian Landmarks 21

Amber Room Chamber lined with golden-brown fossil resin, lost in wartime and later rebuilt.
Arbat Old pedestrian street of artists and musicians in Moscow.
Bronze Horseman Statue of Peter the Great on a rearing horse in St. Petersburg.
Drawbridge Kind of bridge over the Neva that opens at night to let ships pass.
Golden Ring Loop of old towns northeast of Moscow, full of churches and kremlins.
Gorky Park Large riverside green space in Moscow with paths, ponds and a big winter ice rink.
Kizhi Island in a northern lake with wooden churches crowned by clusters of domes.
Kremlin Walled fortress at the heart of Moscow, seat of the government.
Metro Moscow's underground railway, with stations decorated like palaces.
Nevsky Prospect Main avenue of St. Petersburg.
Onion Dome Bulb-shaped roof typical of Russian churches.
Ostankino Moscow television tower, among the tallest structures in Europe.
Peterhof Seaside palace near St. Petersburg famous for its golden fountains.
Red Square Great open plaza beside the Kremlin; in old Russian its name also meant beautiful.
Saint Basil's Cathedral beside the Kremlin topped with swirling, brightly colored domes.
Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok, one of the longest in the world.
Tsar Bell Giant cracked casting that stands on the ground in the Kremlin and has never been rung.
Tsar Cannon Enormous bronze gun in the Kremlin that was never fired in war.
Tsarskoye Selo Royal estate near St. Petersburg whose name means Tsar's Village.
White Nights Midsummer weeks in St. Petersburg when the sky never gets fully dark.
Winter Palace Green and white home of the tsars on the Neva, now part of a museum.

Russian Wildlife and Forests 29

Amur Leopard One of the rarest big cats in the world, found near Vladivostok.
Arctic Fox Small fox with a white winter coat.
Baikal Seal Small gray swimmer called the nerpa, the only one of its kind living wholly in fresh water.
Birch White-barked tree, a national symbol found in songs and paintings.
Brown Bear Big forest animal that is used as a symbol of the country.
Chamomile Daisy-like white and yellow meadow flower.
Cranberry Sour red berry gathered in bogs.
Ermine Stoat in its white winter coat.
Hare Long-eared runner; the mountain kind turns white in winter.
Larch Conifer that drops its needles in autumn and covers eastern Siberia.
Lingonberry Small red berry of northern forests.
Lynx Tufted-eared cat of the taiga.
Mammoth Extinct hairy elephant whose frozen remains are found in Siberia.
Moose Largest deer, at home in northern forests and swamps.
Pine Evergreen with long needles.
Polar Bear White hunter of the sea ice.
Reindeer Deer of the tundra herded by northern peoples.
Sable Small forest hunter prized for centuries for its dark fur.
Saiga Steppe antelope with a large, drooping nose.
Salmon Fish that crowds the rivers of Kamchatka each summer.
Sea Eagle Huge dark bird of prey with a heavy yellow beak that fishes along the Pacific coast.
Siberian Crane Tall white bird that nests in the Arctic and is close to extinction.
Siberian Tiger Great striped cat of the snowy forests of the Far East, also called the Amur kind.
Snowy Owl White owl of the tundra.
Spruce Cone-shaped evergreen, decorated at New Year.
Sturgeon Ancient armored fish, the source of black caviar.
Walrus Tusked sea mammal of Arctic coasts.
Wolf Wild dog that hunts in packs across forest and steppe.
Wolverine Stocky, fierce member of the weasel family.

Russian Space and Science 24

Cosmonaut Russian word for a space traveler.
Gagarin Yuri, the first human in space, who circled the Earth on April 12, 1961.
Icebreaker Ship that smashes through frozen seas; Russia has nuclear-powered ones.
Korolev Chief designer of the first Soviet rockets and spacecraft.
Kovalevskaya Mathematician of the 1800s, a pioneer for women in science.
Laika Dog that became the first animal to orbit the Earth, in 1957.
Lomonosov Scientist and poet of the 1700s for whom Moscow's university is named.
Luna Series of probes; one took the first pictures of the far side of the Moon.
Lunokhod Robot rover that drove across the Moon in 1970.
Mendeleev Chemist who arranged the elements into the periodic table.
Mir Space station that orbited from 1986 to 2001; its name means peace or world.
Orbit Path of a spacecraft around a planet.
Pavlov Scientist known for his experiments on how dogs learn.
Periodic Table Chart of all the chemical elements, first drawn up by Mendeleev.
Rocket Vehicle that lifts spacecraft off the Earth.
Satellite Object that circles a planet.
Soyuz Spacecraft that still carries crews into orbit, decades after its first flight.
Space Station Home in orbit; Russia built part of the international one.
Spacewalk Leaving the craft in a suit; Alexei Leonov made the first in 1965.
Sputnik First artificial satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in October 1957.
Star City Town near Moscow where cosmonauts train.
Tsiolkovsky Schoolteacher who worked out the mathematics of rocket flight.
Tunguska Siberian forest flattened by an exploding space rock in 1908.
Vostok Spacecraft in which the first human flew.

How this list was compiled: Own work. Words and names about Russia for grades 3 to 8: eight themed lists (cities; rivers, lakes and mountains; food; ballet, music and books; traditions and history; landmarks; wildlife and forests; space and science), Russia Favorites, an easy list of every word of 3 to 5 letters and a hard list of every word of 8 letters or more. Entries have 3 to 14 letters, and inside one list no word sits inside another, forwards or backwards. Russian names are spelled as English atlases print them, and the grid keeps only the letters A to Z, so Lake Baikal is hidden as LAKEBAIKAL and Rostov-on-Don as ROSTOVONDON. Clues are our own wording; no clue repeats a word of four letters or more from its own entry. Every person named is a figure of the past; no living person, brand or drink is listed, and no disputed place is an entry. Places, people, animals and terms were checked on 16 October 2026 against the English Wikipedia article for each entry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia, license CC BY-SA 4.0). Dates, firsts and records were checked the same day in a second work: Store norske leksikon (https://snl.no/Russland and its articles on St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Sochi, the Volga, Elbrus, Ladoga, Onega, the Caspian Sea, the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Romanovs, the Soviet Union, The Nutcracker, Sputnik, Gagarin, Laika, Mir, Leonov, the Luna probes, Tunguska, the moose and the Baikal seal) and NASA (https://science.nasa.gov/moon/missions/ and its article on the Chelyabinsk meteor of 2013). Where no second work gave a date or a record, the clue leaves it out. Unofficial and not affiliated with any government or space agency; an educational puzzle, so check an official source before you rely on a fact. Licence: own work

How it works

This Russia word search opens with St. Petersburg, Siberia, the Volga, Ural Mountains, Kremlin, Red Square, Matryoshka and nine more favorites. Eight lists go further: cities, rivers and mountains, food, ballet and books, traditions, landmarks, wildlife, and space and science.

Read the full guide

A list for the first steps into space

Russian Space and Science starts where the space age did: Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, in 1957; Laika, the first animal in orbit; Gagarin, the first human, in 1961. Vostok, Soyuz, Mir, Lunokhod and Spacewalk follow, beside Mendeleev and his Periodic Table.

Ballets with their composers

Russian Ballet, Music and Books pairs each ballet with the composer of its music: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker with Tchaikovsky, Firebird with Stravinsky. Bolshoi and Mariinsky are the two famous theaters. Tolstoy, Pushkin, Chekhov and Dostoevsky stand for the books.

Saint Petersburg in full has 15 letters, one too many for an entry, so the city is listed as St. Petersburg.
Vostok, the spacecraft, also hides inside Vladivostok: a bonus find for fast finishers when that city is in the grid.
Easy Russia runs to 45 short words: Ufa, Omsk, Perm, Tula, Don, Neva, Mir, Luna, Tsar, Wolf, Lynx, Icon.

Questions and answers

Can I print the Russia word search with its answer key?

Yes. Print or save as PDF gives two pages: the puzzle with a Name and Date line, then the key. For a second version, press New puzzle and 16 of the 27 favorites are drawn and laid out again.

Does the puzzle have Russian cities beyond Moscow?

Russian Cities has 27, from Moscow and St. Petersburg across Siberia to Vladivostok: Kazan, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Yakutsk and Murmansk, plus small places with a story, such as Suzdal, Tula and Oymyakon, often called the coldest inhabited place on Earth.

Is the Trans-Siberian Railway in the word search?

Yes, as Trans-Siberian in Russian Landmarks, with Saint Basil's, Winter Palace, Peterhof and Golden Ring. Its two ends, Moscow and Vladivostok, and the stop at Irkutsk are in Russian Cities.

Can it be a Russia geography quiz?

Open More options and tick Show clues, not words. Volga becomes "Longest river in Europe, flowing to the Caspian Sea", and Lake Ladoga the largest body of fresh water in Europe.

All 211 words

Russian Cities 27

Russian Cities, continued

Russian Rivers, Lakes and Mountains 32

Russian Food 26

Russian Ballet, Music and Books 24

Russian Traditions and History 28

Russian Landmarks 21

Russian Wildlife and Forests 29

Russian Space and Science 24

How it works

A list for the first steps into space

Ballets with their composers

Questions and answers

More tools