Thanksgiving Word Scramble (Free Printable + Answers)

On this page

1. What’s on the printable
2. The hard version, for teens and adults
3. How to play
4. Answer key: regular word scramble
5. Answer key: hard word scramble
6. Ways to make it easier or harder
7. Other ways to play
8. How many to print
9. More Thanksgiving printables
10. Questions hosts ask

A word scramble is the quietest game you can hand out on Thanksgiving. Nobody has to stand up or perform, a pencil is the only supply, and it keeps a table of cousins busy for ten solid minutes while the gravy gets made.

What’s on the printable

The regular sheet has 22 numbered words with their letters shuffled, so TURKEY might print as something like KRYUTE. The engine makes sure no word prints in its real order. Each word has a line beside it for the answer, and there’s a spot at the top for the player’s name.

The answer key prints on its own page, in the same numbered order as the puzzle. Keep it face down with the host, or fold it into a napkin until time’s up.

It suits readers from about age 8 up. Younger kids can play on a team with an older helper, and grown-ups will find it quick, which is where the hard version comes in.

The hard version, for teens and adults

The hard sheet has 22 longer answers, including a few two- and three-word phrases like HORN OF PLENTY and CRANBERRY SAUCE. Each word in a phrase gets scrambled on its own, so players can see where one word ends and the next begins. There’s a short hint printed beside each one (“corn and beans cooked together,” “the ship from 1620”), which is the only thing standing between most people and a blank line next to SUCCOTASH.

Give this one to a Friendsgiving table, a family of puzzle people or the older kids who finished the easy sheet in four minutes and want something to do.

How to play

1. Print one sheet per player or per team of two, and one answer key for the host.
2. Hand out sheets face down with a pencil.
3. Say “go” and start a timer: 10 minutes for the regular sheet, 15 for the hard one.
4. Players unscramble as many words as they can. They can skip around.
5. When time’s up, read the answers from the key and have players swap sheets to check.
6. Most correct wins. Break a tie by whoever finished first, or with one bonus word read aloud.

Answer key: regular word scramble

These are the 22 answers in the order they print. The right-hand column is a hint you can read out if someone’s stuck, without giving the word away.

#	Answer	Hint to give
1	TURKEY	The main dish
2	GRAVY	Goes over the mashed potatoes
3	STUFFING	Bread side dish, sometimes cooked inside the bird
4	PUMPKIN	Orange squash that becomes pie
5	PILGRIM	What the Plymouth colonists are often called
6	HARVEST	Gathering the crops in fall
7	AUTUMN	Another word for fall
8	THANKFUL	How the day asks you to feel
9	GRATEFUL	Means almost the same as number 8
10	CRANBERRY	Tart red berry
11	FEAST	A very big meal
12	ACORN	The nut of an oak tree
13	SQUASH	The plant group pumpkins belong to
14	CORNUCOPIA	The “horn of plenty”
15	WISHBONE	Two people pull it for luck
16	PARADE	New York’s Thanksgiving morning tradition
17	FOOTBALL	On TV in the afternoon
18	NOVEMBER	The month
19	LEFTOVERS	Friday’s lunch
20	CASSEROLE	A baked dish, often with green beans
21	APRON	The cook wears it
22	GOURD	Bumpy cousin of the pumpkin

Answer key: hard word scramble

In print order, with the hint that appears on the sheet in parentheses.

1. MAYFLOWER (the ship from 1620)
2. WAMPANOAG (Native nation at the 1621 feast)
3. PLYMOUTH (the colony)
4. HORN OF PLENTY (another name for a cornucopia)
5. GRATITUDE (being thankful)
6. ABUNDANCE (more than enough)
7. DRUMSTICK (turkey leg)
8. GIBLETS (the little bag inside the bird)
9. CORNBREAD (made with cornmeal)
10. SUCCOTASH (corn and beans cooked together)
11. NUTMEG (a pie spice)
12. CINNAMON (another pie spice)
13. SWEET POTATOES (sometimes topped with marshmallows)
14. CRANBERRY SAUCE (homemade or from a can)
15. PECAN PIE (a nutty dessert)
16. CENTERPIECE (middle of the table)
17. TABLECLOTH (goes on first)
18. GRAVY BOAT (it pours)
19. POTLUCK (everyone brings a dish)
20. FRIENDSGIVING (dinner with friends)
21. PUMPKIN PATCH (where pumpkins grow)
22. BLACK FRIDAY (the shopping day after)

A note on two of those. Merriam-Webster defines succotash as lima or shell beans cooked with kernels of green corn, and “cornucopia” comes from the Latin for “horn of plenty.” WAMPANOAG is easy to misspell even after you’ve worked out the letters, so accept a close spelling if your table is feeling generous.

Ways to make it easier or harder

Easier, for younger kids

Read the hint aloud when a kid gets stuck, or tell them the first letter. Let two kids share a sheet: one reads the letters out loud while the other tries them in different orders on scrap paper. Setting a shorter goal helps too. “Get five and you win a sticker” keeps a 7-year-old going longer than a full sheet does.

Harder, for grown-ups

On the hard version, award a bonus point for every word solved without peeking at its hint, or cut the time to 8 minutes. For puzzle fans, try “no pencil”: players solve in their heads and call out answers, and the first to say a word correctly claims it.

For seniors

Print at 100% so the letters stay large, give extra time and play in pairs. Scrambles work well in a senior group because there’s no rush unless you add one. Our printable games for seniors have more options for large-print play.

For a classroom

The regular sheet fits a 15-minute slot at a class party with time to check answers. Put students in pairs so strong and weaker readers work together, and read the answers aloud at the end so everyone gets the payoff.

Other ways to play

Team relay. Split into two teams and put one sheet per team on a table across the room. One player at a time runs up, solves one word, and runs back to tag the next teammate. First team to finish wins.

On the TV. In Play mode, the scrambled word shows up big on the screen and you reveal the answer when someone gets it. The first person to shout the right word earns a point. It works well for a big family crowd that won’t all fit at the table.

Scramble and sort. After solving, players sort the answers into “things you eat” and “things you don’t.” Expect a debate about whether a gourd counts.

How many to print

One sheet per player, or one per pair if you want people to work together. Add a couple of spares and one answer key per version. If both versions are in play, print the hard one on a different color of paper so the host can tell them apart at a glance.

More Thanksgiving printables

A scramble fills 10 to 15 minutes. For the rest of the day, our free printable Thanksgiving games include bingo, This or That cards and a fill-in-the-blank story, and Thanksgiving bingo has cards for all ages. Trivia fans can play straight from our Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers. Everything for the season lives on the Thanksgiving games page.

Questions hosts ask

By the Party Game Book editors. Every game here is free to print for personal, classroom and non-commercial use. How we make and check our games.