puzzPrintable space word search for kids
Space vocabulary is unusually good word-search material: the words are long, distinctive and full of uncommon letters. JUPITER, NEBULA and ASTEROID stand out in a grid in a way that CAT and DOG never will, which means a space pack can be set at medium difficulty without becoming a slog.
These three grids are 9x9 with seven or eight words each, and diagonals are in play. The word list covers the solar system (MARS, VENUS, SATURN, NEPTUNE, MERCURY), the hardware (ROCKET, SHUTTLE, LAUNCH, TELESCOPE) and the phenomena (ECLIPSE, GRAVITY, ORBIT, CRATER), so the pack doubles as quiet reinforcement for a primary space topic.
What is in this pack
| Theme | space — planets, spacecraft and astronomy | |
|---|---|---|
| Grid | 9x9 letters, medium setting | |
| Words hidden | seven or eight per puzzle | |
| Directions | across, down and forward diagonals | |
- Four A4 pagesThree puzzles, then a full answer key. Print the first three only if you would rather keep the answers.
- One verified solution eachEvery puzzle is passed through a solver and discarded unless exactly one answer fits.
- No sign-up, no watermarkA direct PDF download. No email address, no account, nothing to dismiss.
- Free to photocopyUse them at home, in a classroom, at a childminder or in a holiday club.
Teaching tip. Use this alongside a space topic and ask the child to say what each word means as they ring it. The vocabulary is the reason to choose a themed pack over a general one — otherwise it is just letters.
How to solve a word search
There is a method beyond staring, and children who learn it get dramatically faster.
- Read the word list firstLook at the list before touching the grid. Pick one word to hunt for rather than trying to spot all of them at once — searching for a single target is far faster than scanning for anything at all.
- Hunt the first letter, not the wordChoose the word you want, then sweep the grid for just its first letter. Every time you land on one, glance at the neighbouring letters to see whether the second letter follows. Most letters are ruled out in under a second.
- Start with the longest wordsLong words are much easier to spot and, once ringed, they cut the grid down for everything else. Working longest-first also means the hardest finds happen while the child is still fresh.
- Check every direction the grid allowsEasy grids hide words across and down only. Medium grids add both diagonals, and tricky grids also run words backwards, upwards and diagonally up. If a word will not appear, it is nearly always running in a direction the child has not thought to look in yet.
- Ring it and cross it offDraw a loop round each word in the grid and strike it off the list at the same time. Keeping the two in step stops the frustrating end-game of re-hunting a word that was already found.
Who this pack suits
See the age guide on the word search page for how this pack compares to the others.
How the word search packs compare
| Word Search pack | Ages | What it asks of them |
|---|---|---|
| Easy, 7x7 | 5-7 | Five or six short words, across and down only. Nothing backwards, nothing diagonal. |
| Medium, 9x9 | 7-9 | Seven or eight words, and diagonals appear for the first time. |
| Tricky, 11x11 | 9-12 | Nine or ten longer words, running in all eight directions including backwards. |
| Themed packs | 5-9 | A single subject per pack — good for topic work, a party or a rainy afternoon. |
Questions about this pack
What space words are hidden in the grids?
From a curated list including PLANET, ROCKET, COMET, GALAXY, ORBIT, METEOR, ASTEROID, MARS, VENUS, SATURN, JUPITER, NEPTUNE, MERCURY, ECLIPSE, CRATER, NEBULA, GRAVITY, TELESCOPE and ASTRONAUT. Each puzzle uses seven or eight.
Is this suitable for a solar system school topic?
Yes — the planet names and core astronomy vocabulary are all present, and one grid works well as a settling activity at the start of a lesson or as a fast-finisher task.
What age is the space word search aimed at?
Seven to ten. It uses the medium 9x9 setting with diagonals, so it is a step up from the animal pack.
Are the words backwards?
No. This pack runs across, down and diagonally downwards. For backwards words, use the tricky general pack.
More free worksheets
Other word search packs
Other kinds of puzzle
See all 17 free worksheet packs.
Hundreds more of these in the app
Puzzeroo is an iPhone and iPad app with two hundred word search levels alongside three other puzzle types — eight hundred in total, all generated by the same verified engines that made this worksheet, all working fully offline with no adverts and no accounts. The worksheets and the app draw from completely separate puzzle ranges, so printing these gives nothing away.