Valentines Word Search for Kids, Ready for the Class Party
This Valentine's Day word search for kids is ready: press Print or save as PDF, or solve it on screen.
Name Date
Valentine's Day Word Search
Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.
0 of 16 words found
OVFNSDCANDYAFYF
TLSRBRUWFVKISSB
RXHEARTLEAISAII
DGIOLPRYBLNFJWV
TSNZLUFHREDEMUH
EOIROSESUNNYZOQ
QTCHOCOLATESTPL
TNPINKSSRISHGSS
NFADCATCYNSYNWC
SMGNWRIICEJZTPV
CYENHRCUPIDNOOR
SFUWPOKSMILEEEY
PWFLOWERSISCFMS
MEGISGRWAEKHAMN
SPBOFFRRRDOROPZ
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.
POEM
STICKER
CANDY
CHOCOLATE
KINDNESS
KISS
SMILE
HEART
CUPID
ARROW
ROSES
FLOWERS
PINK
BALLOON
VALENTINE
FEBRUARY
16 of 24 words from the Valentine'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.
AdmirerA person who likes you. A secret one sends a card with no name on it.
CardA folded sheet with a picture outside and a few kind words written within.
DoilyA round of paper cut in a lacy pattern. Glue a red heart on it and you have a valentine.
EnvelopeA paper pocket for a valentine. Seal the flap and write a name on the front.
ExchangeWhen everyone in class gives and gets valentines on the same day.
GlitterTiny sparkling flakes. They stick to glue, to the table and to you.
HandmadePut together by you with paper and glue, not bought in a store.
LaceFancy openwork trim. Early valentines used the real thing, and paper versions arrived in the mid 1800s.
MailboxWhere valentines are dropped. In class it may be a decorated bag or shoebox on each desk.
MessageThe words you write inside a card.
PoemA few lines that may rhyme. The oldest valentine that survives is one, written in French in the 1400s.
RhymeRed and said, blue and you. A rose verse built on the second of those was printed in London in 1784.
Show all 100 words (88 more)
Valentine Cards, continued
RibbonA strip of satin tied in a bow around a gift or threaded through a card.
SecretSomething you keep to yourself. An unsigned valentine keeps its sender one.
ShoeboxCover it in paper, cut a slot in the lid, and it collects valentines on your desk.
SignatureYour name in your own handwriting at the end of a message.
StampA small paid label that lets a letter travel by post.
StickerA small picture with a gummed back, handy for sealing an envelope.
XOXOHugs and kisses, in four letters at the foot of a note.
Valentine Treats 17
CandySmall heart-shaped pieces of it, printed with short messages, belong to February 14 in the United States.
CaramelSugar cooked until it is golden brown and chewy. It hides inside some boxed chocolates.
CherryA small red fruit with a stone in the middle, sometimes dipped in chocolate.
ChocolateIn 1868 a British maker sold a heart-shaped box of it for Valentine's Day.
CinnamonA warm brown spice from tree bark. It gives small red heart candies their heat.
CocoaPowder from roasted beans, stirred into hot milk on a cold February day.
CookieBaked in a heart shape and iced in pink for a class party.
CupcakeA cake sized for one person. Peel off its paper wrapper before the first bite.
FrostingThe sweet topping spread on a cupcake. Icing is another name for it.
LollipopHard candy on a stick. Some valentines have a slot to hold one.
MarshmallowA soft white puff of sugar. In Japan a candy maker's 1977 day named for it grew into White Day.
SprinklesLittle colored sugar shapes scattered over icing to decorate it.
StrawberryA red fruit with its seeds on the outside, often dipped in chocolate for February 14.
SugarWhat makes candy taste the way it does. It comes from cane or from beets.
SweetThe taste of sugar and honey. In the rose rhyme, it is what you are.
TreatSomething nice to eat that you do not get every day.
TruffleA soft round sweet from a gift box, often rolled in cocoa powder.
Love and Friendship 23
AdoreTo like someone or something very, very much.
AffectionA gentle feeling of fondness, shown with a hug or a warm word.
CareTo look after someone, or to mind what happens to them.
CherishTo treasure something and look after it well.
CompanionSomeone who keeps you company. The Latin parts of the word mean with and bread: a person you eat beside.
ComplimentSomething nice said about another person. Spelled with an I, unlike the word for completing a set.
DarlingAn old-fashioned pet name for someone you are very fond of.
DearThe first word of most letters, just before the name.
DevotionDeep loyalty that lasts for years. A dog shows it to its owner.
FamilyParents, children, grandparents. US card makers estimate that half of all valentines go to relatives like these.
ForeverAlways, without ever stopping.
FriendSomeone you like, trust and choose to spend time with.
GenerousHappy to give more than you have to.
HugsArms wrapped around someone. In XOXO they are usually said to be the O.
KindnessBeing gentle, helpful and generous. A class can count acts of it all through February.
KissIn XOXO it is the X. The first example in the Oxford dictionary of X used this way is from a novel of 1878.
LoveA deep, warm feeling for family, friends or a sweetheart. Amor is the Latin for it.
LoyalSticking by a friend when it is not easy.
PalA short word for a friend. Pen ones write to each other from far away.
ShareTo split a treat so that a friend gets some too.
SmileWhat a friendly note puts on a face.
ThoughtfulNoticing what another person needs or would enjoy, and acting on it.
TogetherSide by side, as a pair or a group.
Hearts and Cupid 18
ArrowCupid shoots one from his bow. In the poet Ovid's tale, a gold-tipped one makes its target fall in love.
BalloonIt floats on a ribbon. Shiny heart-shaped ones are filled with helium.
BouquetA bunch of cut blooms tied together. The word is French, and its ending sounds like kay.
BowCupid's weapon. Also the loops you tie in a ribbon.
CherubA chubby winged child painted on ceilings and printed on old-fashioned valentines.
CupidThe Roman god of love, a winged boy with a bow. In most tellings his mother is Venus.
DoveA gentle white bird. Along with hearts and Cupid, it is one of the symbols of the day.
FlowersTulips, carnations and more. They are sent in bunches on February 14.
GiftA present. Flowers, candy and cards are the usual ones on February 14.
GoldThe metal on the sharp tip of Cupid's love dart. His other dart has a blunt tip of lead and drives love away.
HeartThe shape that stands for love. It has been a red suit on playing cards since the late 1400s.
LocketA tiny hinged case worn on a necklace, with room for a photo inside.
PinkWhat you get by mixing white into the color of a paper heart.
RedThe color of paper hearts, and of the roses sent most often on February 14.
RosesRed ones are the most popular flower to send on February 14.
TeddyA soft toy bear, often holding a heart. The name comes from President Theodore Roosevelt.
VenusThe Roman goddess of love, and in most stories the mother of Cupid.
WingsCupid has two on his back. An old explanation says people in love are flighty and change their minds.
Valentine's Day History 23
AmethystA purple gem, the birthstone of February.
AnonymousWith no name given. Cheap postage let people send valentines this way in the 1800s.
BirdsIn Chaucer's poem they gather on Saint Valentine's Day so that each can choose a mate.
DukeA noble title. Charles, who held it for Orleans, wrote the oldest valentine that survives.
EmbossedPressed so a pattern stands up from the paper. Esther Howland sold valentines with lace made this way soon after 1847.
FebruaryThe month of this holiday. It has 28 days, or 29 in a leap year. Its name comes from a Latin word for purification.
FinlandIn this Nordic country February 14 is called Friend's Day, and it is more about pals than couples.
FourteenThe date of Valentine's Day in February. Twice seven.
HoneyMade by bees. The 1784 rose rhyme says it is sweet, and so are you.
JapanHere women and girls give chocolate on February 14. Return gifts come a month later, on White Day.
LegendAn old story that may not be true. One says Valentine signed a letter Your Valentine, a detail added in the 1700s.
LetterThe oldest valentines in English are in ones written in 1477 by Margery Brews to the man she later married.
MedievalFrom the Middle Ages, the time of knights and castles, when this day was first tied to love.
ParliamentA meeting to decide things. Chaucer's poem of about 1382 imagines one held by birds.
PennyThe price of the first British postage stamp in 1840. Within a year, 400,000 valentines went by post.
PoetGeoffrey Chaucer was one. About 1382 he linked Saint Valentine's Day with love, the first time on record.
RomeThe city where the priest named Valentine lived and was buried, more than 1,700 years ago.
SaintA person a church honors as holy. This day is named for one who was a priest in Rome in the 200s.
TeacherCount classroom cards and, says the US Greeting Card Association, this person gets the most valentines.
TowerA French duke captured in battle in 1415 was held in the one of London, where he wrote a valentine to his wife.
ValentineA card or a person. You can send one, and you can ask someone to be yours.
VioletA small purple bloom and one of February's birth flowers. The rhyme calls it blue.
WhiteThe Day named for this color is March 14 in Japan, when the gifts of February 14 are returned.
How this list was compiled: 100 Valentine's Day words chosen and defined for this site, in five themed lists (valentine cards, valentine treats, love and friendship, hearts and Cupid, the history of the day) plus three cross-cutting lists: 24 favorites that open the page, the 45 short words of 3 to 5 letters and the 27 long words of 8 to 11 letters. The list leans toward friendship, kindness and the classroom card exchange, because children use it. Every entry is a single word of 3 to 12 letters with no spaces, hyphens or apostrophes. No clue contains its own word, because the clue replaces the word in clue mode, and no listed word can be read inside another listed word (so Heart is in and Sweetheart is out, Friend is in and Friendship is out). No person's name, brand or product name is an entry; the chocolate maker of 1868 is not named. Definitions are our own wording for readers of about 6 to 12. Facts with a date, a place or a number in them were checked on 2026-09-19 against these English Wikipedia articles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day (celebrated annually on February 14; Valentine of Rome, a priest, martyred in 269 and buried on the Via Flaminia; the Your Valentine letter is an 18th-century embellishment of the legend; the first recorded association with romantic love is believed to be Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls, 1382, in which birds choose their mates; the oldest valentine that survives is a rondeau of the 1400s by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife, written in the Tower of London after his capture at Agincourt in 1415; the earliest surviving valentines in English are among the Paston Letters: Margery Brews wrote them in 1477 to the man she would marry; The Young Man's Valentine Writer, 1797; real lace and ribbons, with paper lace from the mid-19th century; 60,000 valentines posted in the United Kingdom in 1835 and 400,000 one year after the Penny Black of 1840; anonymous mailing; Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts, sold embossed paper lace valentines shortly after 1847; a British chocolate company made a heart-shaped box for Valentine's Day in 1868; the US Greeting Card Association's estimates that half of valentines go to family members other than a spouse, usually children, and that teachers receive the most once classroom cards are counted; the rose rhyme in Gammer Gurton's Garland, London, 1784: the rose is red, the violet's blue, the honey's sweet, and so are you; symbols of the day are the heart-shaped outline, doves and the winged Cupid; conversation hearts, candies with messages, in the United States; the red rose is the favorite flower; in Finland the day is ystavanpaiva, Friend's Day, more about friends than significant others), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid (Roman god of love, often the son of Venus and Mars; Amor means love; bow and arrows; in Ovid one arrow has a sharp golden point and the other a blunt tip of lead that causes aversion; said to have wings because lovers are flighty and change their minds), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_symbol (the indented red heart printed on playing cards from the late 1400s), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugs_and_kisses (XOXO; the Oxford English Dictionary's earliest example of X for a kiss is from a novel of 1878), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Day (March 14, begun in Japan in 1978, when men return the gifts women gave them on February 14; a Fukuoka confectioner's Marshmallow Day of 1977 came first), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February (28 days, 29 in leap years; named from the Latin februum, purification; birth flowers violet, primrose and iris; birthstone amethyst) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_bear (named after President Theodore Roosevelt, following a hunting trip in November 1902). The etymology of companion (Late Latin com- plus panis, with plus bread) and the one-word spelling of shoebox were checked on Wiktionary the same day. The page's "updated" date is the launch date of the run, 2026-09-18. Review fix 2026-09-20 (round 3): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day read again that day: the British company made heart-shaped Fancy Boxes for Valentine's Day in 1868 and the article does not call the box the first, so the Chocolate clue dropped "the first". Seven clues (Card, Cupcake, Sprinkles, Together, Forever, Locket, Saint) were reworded because they nearly matched the clue lines of valentines-day-crossword, a page of another family. Licence: own work
How it works
Heart, Cupid, Candy and 13 more: this valentines word search for kids opens on 16 words a first grader knows. The bank of 100 leans toward friendship, kindness and the class card exchange.
Read the full guide
Written for the class party
Most of the 100 words are about cards, treats and being a good friend: Doily, Shoebox, Sticker, Kindness, Compliment. Love and Friendship has 23 words, Loyal and Generous among them, which makes a love word search printable fit for second grade. Valentine Cards has 19 and Valentine Treats 17, both under Start from a list.
From kindergarten to a hard version
Easy Valentine's Day holds 45 words of 3 to 5 letters, such as Pal, Hugs and Dove. Pick the Easy list and tick Large print in More options, and kindergartners can finish it. For a Valentine's Day word search hard enough for fifth grade, pick Hard Valentine's Day (27 words, Marshmallow the longest) and press Hard. The grid grows by itself when a long word needs room.
XOXO is in Valentine Cards, and the clues for Hugs and Kiss settle which letter is which.
Fast finishers write a short valentine and put it into code with the cryptogram maker for a friend to crack.
With Show clues, not words ticked, Valentine's Day History is a quiz: the first British postage stamp's price is Penny.
Questions and answers
Can I send the Valentine's Day word find home as a PDF?
Yes. Press Print or save as PDF, then pick Save as PDF from the list of printers. The Valentine's Day word search PDF has 2 pages, puzzle first and answer key second, so page 1 can go home alone.
Is it all about romance?
No. Of the 5 themed lists, only Hearts and Cupid comes near it, through Roman myth: Cupid and Venus. In Finland February 14 is called Friend's Day, and the US Greeting Card Association says teachers get the most valentines once classroom cards are counted.
Why is Valentine's Day on February 14?
It is the feast day of Saint Valentine, a priest buried in Rome on February 14 in the 200s. The first known link with love came about 1382, when Geoffrey Chaucer wrote of birds choosing mates that day.