St Patrick's Day Word Search Free Printable for March 17
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St. Patrick's Day Word Search
Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.
0 of 16 words found
TJNSNXVNPPRCERS
AINWHRJVAILTJUD
SGJPWAEETNXVIRA
TEDAJYITRCAESVO
UORRVRJAIHHBUFI
NCHARMEACEACEIR
ODEDVLUCKYRLBCE
QFWECEQXENPOPSL
ARAINBOWDMIVRGA
WKNFTBFIDDLESON
ATIYSOCCEMERALD
AASHAMROCKHPIDC
NPUEWRQLVCCDNUE
RACRIDGCGLHETUW
GLEPRECHAUNIPNE
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.
LEPRECHAUN
SHAMROCK
CLOVER
LUCKY
CHARM
RAINBOW
GOLD
EMERALD
PINCH
PARADE
IRELAND
HARP
PATRICK
SAINT
FIDDLE
JIG
16 of 24 words from the St. Patrick's Day Favorites list.
Tap or click the first letter of a word, then its last letter. Or drag across the word. On a touch screen, hold the first letter for a moment before you drag. On a keyboard, the arrow keys move, Enter marks the first and the last letter, and Escape clears a first letter.
BeardHair on the chin. Irish folklore gives its little shoemaker one.
BuckleA metal clasp, drawn on the hat and footwear of a storybook leprechaun.
CharmA small object kept to bring good fortune, such as a horseshoe over the door.
CloverA small meadow plant, nearly always with three leaflets. About 1 in 5,000 has four.
CobblerA mender of shoes, which is the trade of the leprechaun.
CoinsRound pieces of metal money. Those of Ireland carry a harp.
FairyA magical being of folklore. The leprechaun is classed as a solitary one.
GoldThe shiny yellow metal that fills the crock in the tale. The harp on the arms of Ireland is this color too.
HorseshoeA curved iron plate nailed to a hoof, and hung over a door for good fortune.
LeprechaunA small bearded trickster of Irish folklore who makes and mends shoes. Before the 1900s he wore red, not green.
LuckyFortunate, like the finder of a four-leaf clover.
MagicThe power to do impossible things, which every creature in a fairy tale seems to have.
MischiefPlayful trouble, the favorite pastime of a leprechaun.
Show all 100 words (87 more)
Luck and Leprechauns, continued
PotA round container. In later tales the little shoemaker hides one full of gold where the rainbow ends.
RainbowAn arc of seven colors seen opposite the sun when light bends in raindrops. Red is on the outside.
ShamrockA sprig of young clover with three leaves, a symbol of Ireland since the 1700s. Its Irish name is seamrog.
ShoesWhat a leprechaun makes and mends. Irish dancers wear soft ones called ghillies, or hard ones that click.
TrapA box set out by American children on March 16 to catch a leprechaun. He always gets away and leaves chocolate coins.
TreasureHidden riches. The poet Yeats wrote that leprechauns guard crocks of it, buried long ago in wartime.
WishesIn a medieval Irish tale, three captured little people grant a king three of these to be set free.
Parades and Green 20
ChicagoA city in Illinois that first turned its river green for the day in 1962.
CrowdThe people lining the street. In New York about two million turn out to watch in a typical year.
DyeColoring stirred into water or cloth. Chicago uses forty pounds of a vegetable kind on March 17.
EmeraldA bright green gemstone. A poem of 1795 first gave Ireland the nickname of the isle of this name.
FloridaThe state where the first recorded American celebration of the day took place, at St. Augustine in 1600.
FountainA jet of water in a pool. The ones at the White House first ran green for the day in 2009.
GreenThe color of the day. Ribbons of it have been worn on March 17 since at least the 1680s.
HeritageWhat a people hands down: its songs, stories, language and customs.
HolidayA day off work and school. March 17 is a public one in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Montserrat.
LandmarkA famous building or place. More than 300 in fifty countries have been lit green for the day.
MarchThe third month of the year. The holiday falls on its 17th day.
MontrealA Canadian city whose March procession was first held in 1824.
ParadeA procession down the street with bands and floats. The first for this day was in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1601.
PinchA nip between finger and thumb. An old American joke says it awaits anyone without green on March 17. In class, just point.
PlumbersPipe fitters. Their union local in Chicago sponsors the green river and keeps the recipe a secret.
RibbonA narrow strip of cloth. Green ones were pinned on for the day as early as the 1680s.
RiverA large natural stream. Dye turns the one in Chicago green for a few hours.
SavannahA city in Georgia whose March 17 procession was first held in 1824.
ShortestLittle Compton, Rhode Island, claims the parade that fits this word. It is 89 feet long.
WaterfordThe city that held the first parade for the day in Ireland itself, on Sunday, March 15, 1903.
Around Ireland 24
AtlanticThe ocean that beats on the west coast of Ireland.
BasaltDark volcanic rock. It cooled and cracked into columns on the north coast 50 to 60 million years ago.
BelfastNorthern Ireland's largest city.
BlarneyThe castle near Cork with a famous stone. Kiss it, legend says, and win the gift of the gab.
CamogieThe name of hurling when women play it.
CastleA stone fortress with towers. Visitors lean over backwards at the top of one in Ireland to kiss a stone.
CausewayA raised path. The famous one in County Antrim has about 40,000 stone columns, most with six sides.
CladdaghA ring from a Galway fishing village: two hands for friendship, a heart for love and a crown for loyalty.
CliffsTall rock faces by the sea. The ones at Moher in County Clare rise 214 meters above the ocean.
CorkA city in the south of Ireland. The Blarney Stone is about 5 miles from its center.
CountyOne of the 32 districts that make up Ireland, such as Clare, Mayo or Antrim.
DublinThe capital and largest city of Ireland.
FlagGreen, white and orange in three upright bands. The white in the middle stands for peace.
GalwayA city and county in the west. The Claddagh ring comes from a fishing village there.
GiantFinn MacCool was one. Legend says he built a stone road across the sea to meet a rival from Scotland.
HarpA stringed instrument played in Ireland as long ago as the 900s, and the gold emblem on its passports.
HurlingAn ancient Irish field game for two teams of 15, played with ash sticks and a small ball called a sliotar.
IrelandThe third-largest island in Europe, home of the saint's day and of 32 counties.
IrishOf the green land west of Britain, or its old language, in which the country is called Eire.
IslandLand with water all around it.
LimerickA funny five-line poem rhyming AABBA, most likely named after an Irish city and county.
PuffinA seabird that nests in large colonies on the Cliffs of Moher.
ShannonAt 360 km, about 224 miles, the longest river in Ireland.
WolfhoundOne of the largest of all dog breeds, first kept in Ireland to hunt wolves.
The Story of Patrick 16
ArmaghThe city where Patrick is said to have founded a church, by tradition in 445.
BishopA senior church leader, the office Patrick held in Ireland.
BlueA color also tied to Patrick, because an order of knights named for him chose it in 1783.
BritainThe larger island next door, where Patrick was born as Roman rule was ending.
CenturyOne hundred years. Patrick lived in the fifth.
EscapeTo get away. Patrick did after six years, and went home to his family.
FeastA holy day on a church calendar. March 17 became an official one in the early 1600s.
HerderSomeone who minds animals. Patrick worked as one in Ireland for six years.
LegendAn old story handed down that may not be true, like the one about Patrick and the snakes.
MountainCroagh Patrick in County Mayo is one. The saint is said to have spent forty days on its summit.
PatrickThe foremost patron saint of Ireland, a missionary and bishop of the 400s. March 17 is the traditional date of his death.
PatronA special protector. Patrick is the foremost one of Ireland.
PiratesSea raiders. Irish ones carried Patrick off from his home.
SaintA holy person honored by a church. Ireland has three chief ones: Patrick, Brigid and Columba.
SixteenThe age at which Patrick was captured and taken across the sea.
SnakesAn old tale says Patrick drove them out, but Ireland has had none since the Ice Age.
Irish Music, Dance and Food 20
AccordionA squeezebox with buttons. It reached Ireland late in the 1800s.
BodhranA frame drum of bent wood and goatskin, played with a short stick called a tipper.
BreadThe Irish soda kind has four basic ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk.
ButtermilkA sour dairy liquid. Its acid meets baking soda and makes the bubbles that raise a loaf.
CabbageA leafy vegetable. The Irish name of colcannon means the white-headed kind.
CeiliA social gathering with Irish music and dancing. Some dances need only two people, others sixteen.
ColcannonMashed potatoes mixed with cabbage or kale, a dish eaten on March 17.
ConcertinaA small squeezebox. On the Anglo kind a button sounds one note on the push and another on the pull.
DancerA performer who holds the upper body rigid and the arms down while the feet fly.
FiddleA violin played in the folk style, heard in most Irish dance music.
FluteA wooden one with few keys has been part of Irish music since about the middle of the 1800s.
HornpipeA dance performed in hard shoes that click on the floor.
JigA lively dance. The light and slip kinds are performed in soft shoes.
PipesThe uilleann kind are filled by a bellows held under the elbow, not by the breath of the player.
PotatoThe vegetable mashed with butter, milk and cabbage to make colcannon.
ReelA quick dance, mostly in 4/4 time, performed in soft shoes.
SessionA gathering of musicians who play together, very often with no dancing at all.
SodaThe baking kind takes the place of yeast in a classic Irish loaf.
TuneA melody. A reel or a jig is one.
WhistleThe tin kind is a small pipe, mass-produced in Manchester in the 1800s and fingered much like a flute.
How this list was compiled: Word list written for this page: 100 St. Patrick's Day words in five themed lists, with 24 marked as favorites, 32 short words of 3 to 5 letters and 24 long words of 8 to 10 letters. No brands and no words about drinking. Bodhran, Ceili and seamrog are printed without their accents because the grid holds only A to Z. Dates, places, people and customs were checked on 2026-09-19 against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day (17 March, by tradition the day Saint Patrick died; an official feast day in the early 17th century; a public holiday in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Montserrat and, for provincial government employees, Newfoundland and Labrador; green ribbons and shamrocks worn since at least the 1680s; Emerald Isle first used in a poem of 1795; blue adopted by the Order of St Patrick, founded 1783; first parade in Ireland in Waterford on Sunday 15 March 1903; Montreal's parade first held in 1824; over 300 landmarks in fifty countries lit green since 2010; Little Compton, Rhode Island, claims the shortest parade at 89 feet), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day_in_the_United_States (first recorded celebration in St. Augustine, Spanish Florida, in 1600 and first parade there in 1601; Chicago River first dyed green in 1962, sponsored by Plumbers Union Local 130, forty pounds of vegetable dye, color lasting several hours; White House fountains first dyed green in 2009; Savannah procession first held in 1824; New York parade with 150,000 marchers and two million spectators in a typical year; those not wearing green are pinched), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick (fifth-century Romano-British missionary and bishop; born in Britain as Roman rule was ending; captured by Irish pirates at sixteen; six years as a herder before escaping; primary patron saint with Brigid and Columba; snake legend although post-glacial Ireland never had snakes; Armagh church by tradition in 445; forty days on Croagh Patrick, County Mayo), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamrock (a sprig of young clover; Irish seamróg; symbol of Ireland since the 18th century), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-leaf_clover (about 1 in 5,000; hope, faith, love and luck), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprechaun (solitary fairy; makes and cobbles shoes; bearded; mischief; wore red before the 20th century; the pot of gold a later addition; Yeats on treasure-crocks buried in wartime; three wishes in the medieval tale of Fergus mac Léti), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprechaun_trap (children's craft in the United States, set the night before; chocolate coins left behind), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow (refraction, reflection and dispersion in water droplets; opposite the sun; red outside; Newton's seven colors), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland (third-largest island in Europe; 32 counties; Dublin the largest city; Belfast the largest in Northern Ireland; Éire), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Shannon (360 km, 224 miles, the longest river in Ireland), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Ireland (green, white and orange; white for lasting peace), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Ireland (a gold harp with silver strings on blue; on coins, passports and seals), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blarney_Stone (Blarney Castle, about 5 miles from the centre of Cork; the gift of the gab; kissed leaning over backwards), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claddagh_ring (heart for love, hands for friendship, crown for loyalty; Claddagh, County Galway), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_(poetry) (five lines, AABBA, the name generally taken to refer to the city or county of Limerick), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant%27s_Causeway (County Antrim; about 40,000 basalt columns, most hexagonal; formed 50 to 60 million years ago; the legend of Fionn mac Cumhaill and a Scottish giant), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffs_of_Moher (County Clare; 214 metres; Atlantic puffins in large colonies), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Wolfhound (one of the largest of all breeds; bred to hunt wolves), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_traditional_music (fiddle; tin whistle mass-produced in 19th-century Manchester; wooden flute since about the middle of the 19th century; uilleann pipes filled by a bellows at the elbow; harp played since at least the 900s; bodhrán a frame drum of bent wood and goatskin, played with a tipper; accordion from late in the 19th century; Anglo concertina; the seisiún, very often with no dancing), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_dance (reel, light jig and slip jig in soft shoes called ghillies; hornpipe in hard shoes; rigid upper body; a céilí dance for two to sixteen people), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_bread (baking soda instead of yeast; flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk; lactic acid and carbon dioxide), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colcannon (mashed potatoes with cabbage or kale; potatoes, butter, milk and cabbage; cál ceannann, white-headed cabbage; eaten on Saint Patrick's Day) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling (ancient Gaelic Irish origin; teams of 15; ash hurley and sliotar; camogie when played by women). The spellings Bodhran and Ceili were checked on Wiktionary the same day. Rechecked 2026-09-20 after the truth review: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day_in_the_United_States (traditionally those caught not wearing green are pinched affectionately). The Pinch clue now tells it as an old joke and tells a class to point, because the sheet goes to children. Review fix 2026-09-20 (round 3), checked live that day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Montreal says that on March 12 Montreal called off its St. Patrick's Day parades, a first in 196 years, so the sentence in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day ("held yearly without interruption since 1824") is out of date and the Montreal clue gives the first year only. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day_in_the_United_States says of Savannah that there was no parade in 1861 to 1865, 1917 to 1918, 1942 to 1945 or 2020 to 2021, and no source read covers a March 17 that falls on a Sunday, so the Savannah clue dropped "always" and "never". The same article gives 1962 for Chicago's first green river and 2009 for the White House fountains; both clues now give the first year and make no claim about every year since. Recheck each spring: Chicago and River (the dyeing), Fountain. Licence: own work
How it works
Shamrock, Leprechaun and Rainbow lead the 16 words of the first grid in this St. Patrick's Day word search free printable. New puzzle draws another 16 of the 24 favorites, and the Start from a list row opens all 100.
Read the full guide
Luck, parades, Ireland and music
Luck and Leprechauns has 20 words. Parades and Green has 20 too. So has Irish Music, Dance and Food. Around Ireland has 24, with Dublin, Shannon and Causeway. Easy St. Patrick's Day has the 32 words of 3 to 5 letters (Pot, Jig, Harp). For a St. Patrick's Day word search hard enough for fifth grade, choose Hard St. Patrick's Day (24 words) and press Hard.
The Story of Patrick
The Story of Patrick is a St. Patrick word search printable of its own: 16 words, all in one puzzle. Its clues tell his life. Born in Britain as Roman rule ended, he was taken by Irish pirates at sixteen. A herder in Ireland for six years, he escaped and later became a bishop.
Fast finishers turn three words from the St. Patrick's Day word search puzzle into a limerick: five lines, rhymed AABBA.
A St. Patrick's Day word search for kids in kindergarten: pick the Easy list, then Large print under More options.
Another word search printable? St. Patrick's Day shares Irish roots with the Halloween word search, home of Samhain and Turnip.
Questions and answers
Can I get a free St. Patrick's Day word search PDF?
Yes. Press Print or save as PDF, then choose Save as PDF. The St. Patrick's Day word search printable is 2 pages, puzzle then answer key. Press New puzzle between saves for a fresh grid and key.
Why is St. Patrick's Day on March 17?
March 17 is the traditional date of Patrick's death, in the 400s. It became an official feast day in the early 1600s. The first recorded American celebration was at St. Augustine, Florida, in 1600, and the first parade there in 1601.
Did St. Patrick really drive the snakes out of Ireland?
No. An old tale says he drove them out, but Ireland has had no snakes since the Ice Age. Snakes and Legend are both in The Story of Patrick, beside Armagh, where tradition says he founded a church in 445.
Why do people wear green on St. Patrick's Day?
Green ribbons were pinned on for March 17 as early as the 1680s. Before the 1900s the leprechaun wore red, and Chicago first dyed its river green in 1962. Parades and Green is the St. Patrick's Day printable word search for that lesson.