Jobs Word Search
A jobs word search with 10 occupations, from doctor to baker, plus two fixed printable puzzles: eight short job titles for beginners and a 15 x 15 challenge of 16 longer ones.
Two printable jobs puzzles
These two puzzles are fixed: the grid is the same every time, so you can print identical sheets for a class or a party. Each has a word list, a Show answers button, a Print button and a printable answer key. Download both as a PDF (with answer keys)
Jobs Word Search 1: Job Titles
A 10 x 10 puzzle for beginners. Eight short words, hidden across, down and diagonally down to the right only.
Name: ____________________ Date: ______________
Jobs Word Search 1: Job Titles: answer key
- CHEF: row 2, column 10, down
- COOK: row 4, column 4, across to the right
- DRIVER: row 5, column 3, diagonally down and to the right
- MAYOR: row 3, column 9, down
- POET: row 1, column 3, down
- SAILOR: row 7, column 3, across to the right
- TAILOR: row 4, column 3, diagonally down and to the right
- VET: row 10, column 4, across to the right
Jobs Word Search 2: Careers Challenge
A 15 x 15 puzzle with sixteen longer words, hidden in every direction, including backwards and up.
Name: ____________________ Date: ______________
Jobs Word Search 2: Careers Challenge: answer key
- ACCOUNTANT: row 1, column 1, down
- ARCHITECT: row 7, column 10, across to the left
- CARPENTER: row 11, column 12, across to the left
- ELECTRICIAN: row 14, column 15, diagonally up and to the left
- ENGINEER: row 6, column 10, across to the left
- FIREFIGHTER: row 9, column 12, across to the left
- JOURNALIST: row 14, column 12, across to the left
- LIBRARIAN: row 13, column 1, across to the right
- MECHANIC: row 4, column 10, across to the left
- PARAMEDIC: row 7, column 13, down
- PHARMACIST: row 2, column 15, across to the left
- PHOTOGRAPHER: row 12, column 12, across to the left
- PROGRAMMER: row 1, column 3, across to the right
- SCIENTIST: row 15, column 1, across to the right
- SURGEON: row 6, column 14, down
- VETERINARIAN: row 3, column 15, across to the left
About this jobs word search
Jobs is a standard theme for a primary-school careers week, and a word search is a good warm-up. The default list is ten familiar jobs: doctor, teacher, farmer, dentist, plumber, painter, lawyer, pilot, nurse and baker. They cover health, education, food, building, the law and transport, so they give you a range of work to talk about.
The easy puzzle uses eight short job titles that are easy to read and spell: cook, vet, chef, mayor, poet, tailor, driver and sailor. The challenge puzzle moves to longer titles, electrician, firefighter, veterinarian, photographer, journalist and programmer among them, which are good vocabulary for older children thinking about what they might do when they grow up.
After solving, ask students to choose a job and say what the person does all day, what tools they use and what they need to study. For a careers day, invite a visitor and build a puzzle with the generator from the jobs of the people in the room, then use it as a welcome activity.
Word notes
- Doctor: a person trained to treat illness and injury.
- Dentist: a doctor who looks after teeth and gums.
- Plumber: a person who installs and repairs pipes, taps and drains.
- Lawyer: a person trained to give legal advice and speak for others in court.
- Pilot: a person who flies an aircraft, or steers a ship in and out of harbor.
- Farmer: a person who grows crops or raises animals.
- Baker: a person who makes bread, cakes and pastries.
Vocabulary tip
Many job words are formed from a verb plus -er or -or (teach, teacher; paint, painter; bake, baker). Ask students to find the verb inside each default word, then to guess the job from a verb such as drive or sail.
Difficulty guide
- Generator (default list). The 10 words run from 5 letters (pilot, nurse and baker) to 7 letters (teacher, dentist, plumber and painter), 6.1 letters on average and 61 letters in all, which fills about 31% of the default 14 x 14 grid. On the default Medium setting, words can run in five directions. Choose Easy for across, down and diagonal-right only, or Hard to add backwards and upwards.
- Easy puzzle. 8 words of 3 to 6 letters in a 10 x 10 grid, with nothing hidden backwards or upwards.
- Challenge puzzle. 16 words of 7 to 12 letters in a 15 x 15 grid, with 10 of them hidden backwards or upwards. The longest titles in the challenge are veterinarian and photographer at 12 letters, and electrician and firefighter have 11, so these four names fill most of a row.
Ways to use it
- Ask students to match each job to a place of work: hospital, school, farm, kitchen.
- Find a word, then mime the job for classmates to guess.
- To use your own list, edit the words in the box at the top of the page and press Generate puzzle, or press New layout, same words for a fresh grid. Print it with Show answers ticked to add a separate answer page.
- Which jobs in the puzzle work in health care?
- Doctor, dentist and nurse in the default list, and paramedic, pharmacist, surgeon and veterinarian in the challenge.
- Is there a word search for a careers day?
- Yes. Use the default list or the challenge, or type the jobs of your visitors into the generator and print a puzzle with their names.
- What is a veterinarian?
- A doctor for animals. The shorter form, vet, is in the easy puzzle.
- How are two-word job titles handled?
- Spaces are removed, so a title such as police officer becomes POLICEOFFICER in the grid.
FAQ
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