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Sports Word Search

Sports, games and things to play.

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Your puzzle

Where the words come from
Kind of puzzle
36 themes, grouped by kind.
4 to 25 from this theme
Print size
10 to 20 squares
Border
Answer key
Raise this to put a different one on every page.
Up to 40 characters, printed on the sheet and its answer key. Leave it empty for the title shown.
Your word search

Sports Word Search

  • BADMINTON
  • FENCING
  • GYMNASTICS
  • SQUASH
  • TRIATHLON
  • GOLF
  • POLO
  • BASEBALL
  • CYCLING
  • JUDO
  • TENNIS
  • RUNNING

Created for free at puzzleandprint.com

Sports Word Search, Answer Key

  • BADMINTON
  • FENCING
  • GYMNASTICS
  • SQUASH
  • TRIATHLON
  • GOLF
  • POLO
  • BASEBALL
  • CYCLING
  • JUDO
  • TENNIS
  • RUNNING

Created for free at puzzleandprint.com

Or take one that is already made

Four sheets, each with a different job. Every one is a two-page PDF, the puzzle, then the answer key on its own page.

Sports word search printable, large print: 11 by 11 grid, 7 words, easySports word search, large print11 × 11 · 7 words · EasyDownload PDF ↓Sports word search printable, everyday: 14 by 14 grid, 11 words, mediumSports word search, everyday14 × 14 · 11 words · MediumDownload PDF ↓Sports word search printable, more words: 15 by 15 grid, 14 words, mediumSports word search, more words15 × 15 · 14 words · MediumDownload PDF ↓Sports word search printable, challenge: 17 by 17 grid, 15 words, hardSports word search, challenge17 × 17 · 15 words · HardDownload PDF ↓

Every sheet here is free to print as often as you like. If one saved you time, the tip jar is on Ko-fi.

Sport is one of the few vocabulary sets children arrive already knowing, and sport names motivate in a way most vocabulary does not, particularly for children who would rather be moving than reading. That alone earns this sheet a place in the folder.

The list is deliberately broad rather than tied to any one country, so ARCHERY and FENCING sit alongside FOOTBALL and SWIMMING.

The words vary a lot in length, from GOLF and JUDO up to VOLLEYBALL and GYMNASTICS, so one list covers a wide age range without any editing.

The sixteen sports that end in ing

Forty sports, and the pattern to notice is the ending. Sixteen of them finish in ING, from BOXING and SKIING through SWIMMING, CLIMBING and FENCING to WRESTLING and KAYAKING, which makes this a good list for a child who has just learned that ending and wants to see it working. SKIING is the odd one out with its double I, one of very few English words that has one, so it is worth spelling aloud before the hunt starts. GYMNASTICS and TRIATHLON are the two hardest to spell, and LACROSSE hides a double S nobody hears.

Only three words are four letters long, GOLF, JUDO and POLO, and they sit on different sheets: GOLF on the large-print sheet, JUDO on more words and challenge, POLO on the challenge sheet alone. HURDLES, JAVELIN and DISCUS are on the list but on none of the four ready-made sheets; with TRIATHLON, MARATHON, KAYAKING and PICKLEBALL they are the seven words only the maker will place. SOFTBALL is on the more words and challenge sheets.

Which sports word search to print around a tournament

The four sheets work down the forty-word list in order, each later sheet repeating the end of the one before it: one word, then five, then eight. The large-print sheet takes the first seven, SOCCER to SKIING, on an eleven-square grid. The everyday sheet starts again at SKIING and runs to DIVING, eleven words on fourteen squares. More words repeats FOOTBALL to DIVING and adds nine more up to FENCING, fourteen words on fifteen squares, and the challenge sheet repeats ARCHERY to FENCING before adding the seven from BADMINTON to GYMNASTICS, fifteen words on seventeen squares.

For a particular tournament, check which sheet carries its sport: SOCCER, TENNIS, RUGBY and HOCKEY are only on the large-print sheet, while FOOTBALL and BASKETBALL are on both the everyday and more words sheets. If the sport is on the easiest sheet but the class is older, type the event words into the maker on this page instead; every ready-made sheet is two pages, the puzzle and then its answer key.

Common questions

Are these the sports children actually play?

Mostly yes for the large-print sheet: its seven words, SOCCER, TENNIS, HOCKEY, GOLF, RUGBY, BOXING and SKIING, are the seven that open the list. Further down, LACROSSE, CURLING, SQUASH and POLO appear only on the challenge sheet, so that is the sheet for meeting games a class may only have watched.

Is this any good around a big tournament?

Yes, and the list covers more than one kind of event. For a track and field week, MARATHON, HURDLES, JAVELIN and DISCUS are on the list but on no ready-made sheet, so put them into the maker. For a winter Games, SKIING and SKATING are both on the everyday sheet, and CURLING is only on the challenge sheet.

How many of the sports end in ing?

Sixteen of the forty, and the everyday sheet is the one to print for practicing that ending, since eight of its eleven words end in ING. The more words sheet has seven of fourteen, the challenge sheet five of fifteen and the large-print sheet two of seven, BOXING and SKIING, while KAYAKING is the one ING word on no ready-made sheet.

More questions about the Word Search Maker