Word scrambles to make, print and solve

Thanksgiving Word Scramble

Unscramble Thanksgiving and autumn words online, or print the puzzle with an answer key for the table or class.

A Thanksgiving word scramble is a puzzle of Thanksgiving words with mixed-up letters; this free tool makes jumbled-letter puzzles that you can solve on screen or print as worksheets. You can use a Thanksgiving word list, a fall and autumn list, any of the other 52 lists on the site, or words you type yourself. It runs in your browser, with no account or sign-up, and nothing you type is uploaded.

Each puzzle can have 5 to 40 scrambled words. Press New puzzle to get a fresh random scramble with the same settings. The tool works on phones and tablets, and printing works from any browser.

How to make a Thanksgiving word scramble

  1. Choose your words under Word source. Press the Thanksgiving chip or the Fall & Autumn chip. To use both lists, press the Mix of these chip. To use another theme, open the More lists menu.
  2. To use your own words, press My words. Type one word or short phrase per line, or separate them with commas or semicolons. You can enter up to 200 items, each up to 30 characters.
  3. Set Number of words. You can choose from 5 to 40. The worksheet starts with 12.
  4. If you are using a topic list, set Difficulty. To use one word length only, set Letters per word to a number from 4 to 8.
  5. Choose Mixing: Shuffle all letters, or Keep first and last letter for an easier puzzle.
  6. Choose a Hint: No hint, First letter, First and last letter, or Number of letters.
  7. Turn on Word bank if you want the answers in a jumbled list under the puzzle. Uppercase letters is already on.
  8. Under print settings, set the Worksheet title, Paper size, Columns, Font size, and Copies (1 to 30). Turn on Include an answer key page if you want one.
  9. Press Print / Save PDF. In the print dialog, choose Save as PDF to keep a file.

Press Copy link to save every setting and the puzzle number, so the same puzzle reopens later. Press Print answer key only to print the answers without the puzzle.

How do you make a Thanksgiving word scramble with answers?

Turn on Include an answer key page in the print settings. The tool adds an answer page after each copy, listing the scrambled letters next to the correct word. If you want the answers on the puzzle sheet itself, turn on Word bank, which shows every answer in mixed order below the puzzle.

The scrambling follows fixed rules. The scrambled letters are always different from the original word. A scramble is never another real English word made of the same letters, so HEART is never shown as EARTH. For words of 4 or more letters, at most half of the letters stay in their original place when possible. A phrase such as candy cane is scrambled one word at a time, and the space stays where it is.

Shuffle all letters changes every letter. Keep first and last letter moves only the middle letters, which makes the puzzle easier. For example, TURKEY becomes EURTYK when all letters are shuffled, and PLANET becomes PLAENT when the first and last letters are kept.

When someone types a different real word made of exactly the same letters, the answer counts as correct. For example, ANGLE is accepted for ANGEL. This applies to 341 of the 1,744 single-word list entries. Words you type yourself are not checked against a dictionary.

Can a fall or autumn word scramble be about something other than Thanksgiving?

Yes. Press only the Fall & Autumn chip for a fall theme, or open More lists and choose any list. The menu includes every list on the site, grouped as topics, holidays, science, kids, hard words and spelling. Pick one list, or press the Mix of these chip to use both of this page’s lists.

If you choose Letters per word and a list has too few words of that length, the tool adds words from other lists in the same group. An info line tells you when this happens, so you know which words were added.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good activity for the Thanksgiving table or the kids’ table?

Print several copies, up to 30, so each child gets a different version labelled Version 1, Version 2, and so on. Use Easy (3–5 letters) with a First letter hint for younger children. Older children can try Hard (8+ letters) with no hint.

Can I add family names or our own words?

Yes. Press My words and enter names, one per line or separated by commas. Names can include letters, spaces, hyphens and apostrophes. The tool lists any entries it cannot use and gives the reason, such as too long, fewer than 2 letters, or cannot be scrambled into a different order.

What words are in the fall and autumn word scramble?

The Fall & Autumn list has 46 words, including autumn, leaves, harvest, pumpkin, scarecrow, acorn, squirrel, apple, cider, orchard, bonfire and sweater. Some words, such as harvest and pumpkin, also appear in the Thanksgiving list.

Can I check the answers on screen without printing?

Yes. Type an answer in its box and press Enter or Check. The message tells you whether it is correct. Press Hint to reveal one more starting letter each time, or Show answer to see the word. Check all and Reveal all work on the whole puzzle. The progress line, such as “7 of 10 solved”, shows how far you have got, and the timer starts with your first action.

When is Thanksgiving, so I can plan a puzzle for it?

In the United States, Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November. In Canada, it falls on the second Monday of October.