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Large print winter word search

Sixteen words for the cold months, from blizzard and windchill to the wool socks and thermos that get you through them, hidden in a 12 by 12 grid of big, bold capitals.

Words read across, down and diagonally, always left to right. When every word is circled, the letters left over spell a short saying, read left to right and top to bottom.

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Prints on US letter paper: the puzzle page, then the answer key on its own page (2 pages in all). In the print window, choose your printer, or Save as PDF to keep a copy.

Solving tips

Look for the rare letters first: a Z, Q, J, X or K is easy to spot in big print. Then circle the long words, which cross more of the grid. Every letter belongs to a word or to the hidden saying, so the uncircled letters left at the end are the saying, in order.

In this grid, 4 words read across, 5 words down and 7 words diagonally, and none read backward. The longest is Long johns and the shortest is Sleet, which hides best: look for it last.

About the words

In the Northern Hemisphere, astronomical winter begins at the December solstice, the day with the fewest hours of daylight. Weather forecasters in the United States count it a little differently, using December, January and February as the winter months.

Blizzard: The National Weather Service uses a strict definition: sustained winds or frequent gusts of at least 35 miles per hour, with blowing snow cutting visibility to under a quarter mile for three hours or more.
Earmuffs: Chester Greenwood of Farmington, Maine, is credited with inventing earmuffs in 1873, at age 15. He received a patent in 1877, and Maine still observes Chester Greenwood Day.
Flurries: Flurries are light, short bursts of snow that usually leave little or nothing on the ground. Forecasters use the word when snow comes and goes in passing showers.
Frost: Frost appears on cold, clear nights when water vapor in the air turns straight into ice on grass, windows and car roofs, without passing through liquid water first.
Icicle: Icicles grow when snow or ice melts in the sun, runs along a roof edge and refreezes as it drips. Each new layer of water freezes onto the tip and lengthens it.
Long johns: Long johns are close-fitting thermal underwear that cover the legs and often the arms, worn beneath clothing in cold weather. The origin of the name is not certain.
Parka: A parka is a long, hooded winter coat, traditionally lined or trimmed with fur. The design comes from Arctic peoples, who made them from animal skins to handle bitter cold and wind.
Rock salt: Rock salt is mined from underground deposits of the mineral halite. Spread on icy walks, it dissolves into the ice and lowers the temperature at which water freezes.
Shovel: A snow shovel has a wide, scoop-shaped blade for lifting and pushing snow. Many have a bent handle or a slick coating so the snow slides off more easily.
Sleet: In American weather reports, sleet means raindrops that froze into small ice pellets before landing. They bounce and rattle on hard surfaces. In Britain, the same word often means a rain and snow mix.
Snowdrift: Wind sweeps loose snow along the ground and drops it where something slows the air, such as a fence, a wall or the side of a house. That is how drifts pile up.
Snowflake: A snowflake is a cluster of ice crystals that falls together. In 1885, Wilson Bentley of Vermont took the first known photograph of one through a microscope.
Snowplow: Early snowplows were wooden blades pulled by horses. Trucks with steel plows became common in the early 1900s, as cities and states began clearing roads for cars.
Thermos: Scottish scientist James Dewar invented the vacuum flask in 1892. A German company began selling it as the Thermos in 1904, and many people now use the name for any insulated bottle.
Windchill: Windchill is a number that describes how cold the air feels on bare skin when wind is blowing. The United States and Canada adopted the current formula in 2001.
Wool socks: Wool comes from sheep. Its crimped fibers trap tiny pockets of air, which is why wool has been knitted into warm socks, mittens and sweaters for centuries.

The hidden saying (no peeking until you have found every word): The line is a hopeful way to say that trouble often has a bright side. It echoes a 1634 passage in John Milton’s masque Comus, which speaks of a dark cloud turning its silver lining toward the night.

Prefer a screen? Cottage Word Search is the same kind of puzzle to play free in your browser, with hints and saved progress.

Large print winter word search