No matter what your age, word search puzzles are an excellent brain-buster activity. For young children, searching for sight words in a grid format reinforces their spelling and vocabulary skills in a fun manner that doesn’t feel like you are tricking them into doing homework. And for us grownups, solving sudoku, crosswords or word search puzzles keeps our brains sharp while helping to improve concentration and deepen our problem-solving skills. It can be relaxing, too!

Now that it’s spooky season, this collection of Halloween word searches is a perfect activity to get you and your family in a witchy mood. These puzzles can easily be printed at home for some after-school entertainment or be used as a fun activity at a Halloween party. Most of these puzzles have just eight words to find—easy enough for children in primary grades to do on their own with minimal help. But we’ve also included a few word searches that are more challenging for the older crew, and even where the words zigzag!

Are you ready to search forward, backward, and diagonally? Let’s get this party startled!

19 Free Printable Halloween Word Search Puzzles

This 10-letter puzzle features some scary Halloween words set against a purple cat background.

There’s a full moon out tonight! Well, there is a full moon on this 10-word puzzle that will have kids searching for some after-dark objects.

Your little monsters will have to search for eight things that go bump in the night in this spooky puzzle.

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A colorful jack-o-lantern is the background for the eight hidden words on this puzzle

Kids will need to look every witch way to find these 10 hidden words!

A colorful wand will help kids find the 10 Halloween words hiding in this puzzle.

Related: Creative Pumpkin Carving Ideas

A sweet candy treat is behind this eight-word search about Halloween monsters.

Don’t be afraid of that scary monster hiding behind these ten Halloween words!

It’s fall y’all! This autumn-themed word search features ten seasonal sightings.

A wizard is ready to help little ones find a black cat and other spooky items in this puzzle

Related: Halloween Puns

Find 10 words about monsters and Halloween myths in this puzzle.

Some of these words are scary, some of these words are sweet!

Kids will go batty over this cemetery-themed word search.

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In this puzzle, kids can search for Halloween’s classic creatures.

If you’ve mastered forward, backward, and diagonal searches, give this zigzag puzzle—that uses every letter in the grid—a try!

A witch’s potion will help kids uncover eight hidden words. 

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Eight words about Halloween and Halloween parties are included in this word search puzzle.

Have a gourd time searching for 10 words on this pumpkin puzzle.

This word search has a 14×14 grid and 16 words to hunt for, making it more suitable for older children.

Next up, pick the perfect face for your pumpkin carving with one of these printable stencil templates!