180+ Thanksgiving Words List (Free Printable!)

As you teach all things Thanksgiving, take the opportunity to build students’ vocabulary with this list of Thanksgiving words. Kids build word knowledge by using words in context, so as students are discussing what they are thankful for, making apple and marshmallow turkeys, and learning about Thanksgiving traditions, teach and reinforce words for Thanksgiving foods, traditions, and celebrations. Grab the free printable Thanksgiving word list and then try some of the activities below.

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Activities for Teaching Thanksgiving Words

Need ideas for using these creative words with your students? Here are some options:

Give students a list of food words and have them create a Thanksgiving menu. What did they include? What did they leave off? Why?

Make a Thanksgiving Word Web

Help students see the connections between words by creating word webs. You can do this as a whole-group activity or post a web topic for students to add to throughout a lesson or week.

Read Thanksgiving Books

As you read books like Thanksgiving in the Woods by Phyllis Alsdurf and Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet, see how many of the Thanksgiving words on the printable list students can find. For more ideas, check out these Diverse and Thoughtful Thanksgiving Books for the Classroom.

Play Thanksgiving Word Bingo

Put the words or pictures that represent a selection of Thanksgiving words on bingo cards and play word bingo. To get creative, give students sentences about the words, or sentences with fill-in-the-blanks, rather than the words themselves. Here’s a free bingo card generator you can use.

Do a Thanksgiving Word Search

Word searches are great to reinforce spelling, attention and focus, and persistence. Use the words on this list and a word search generator to make your own.

Thanksgiving Word List from A to Z

Here are all the words you need for your Thanksgiving word walls or word banks and to teach Thanksgiving vocabulary.

Thanksgiving Words That Start With A

• Abundance
• Acorn squash
• Acorns
• Allspice
• Appetite
• Apple
• Aroma
• Arrange
• Arrangement
• Assemble
• Autumn

Thanksgiving Words That Start With B

• Bake
• Baking
• Balloon
• Band
• Banquet
• Belonging
• Biscuits
• Blessing
• Bounty
• Bowl
• Bread
• Brown
• Butternut squash

Thanksgiving Words That Start With C

• Calendar
• Candles
• Candy
• Carrots
• Carve
• Casserole
• Celebration
• Centerpiece
• Cider
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Colonists
• Colony
• Commemorate
• Community
• Companion
• Companionship
• Cook
• Corn
• Cornbread
• Cornucopia
• Costume
• Cranberry
• Crisp
• Crowds

Thanksgiving Words That Start With D

• Dance
• Decorations
• Delicacy
• Delicious
• Dessert
• Dinner
• Dressing
• Drumstick
• Duck

Thanksgiving Words That Start With E

• Eat
• Embrace
• Ensemble
• Exciting

Thanksgiving Words That Start With F

• Fall
• Family
• Famished
• Feast
• Festival
• Fireplace
• Fireside
• Fish
• Float
• Football
• Fried turkey
• Friends
• Fry bread
• Fun

Thanksgiving Words That Start With G

• Gather
• Give
• Gizzard
• Gobble
• Goose
• Gourd
• Grand marshal
• Grateful
• Gratitude
• Green beans
• Greeting
• Guests

Thanksgiving Words That Start With H

• Ham
• Harvest
• Hayride
• Hearth
• Heritage
• Holiday
• Hoodie
• Host
• Hostess
• Hugs
• Hungry

Thanksgiving Words That Start With I

• Indigenous
• Inspire
• Invite

Thanksgiving Words That Start With J

• Jellied cranberry sauce
• Journey
• Joy

Thanksgiving Words That Start With K

Thanksgiving Words That Start With L

• Laughter
• Leaves
• Leftovers
• Love

Thanksgiving Words That Start With M

• Maize
• Maple syrup
• March
• Marshmallows
• Mashed potatoes
• Mayflower
• Meal
• Memories
• Merriment
• Migration
• Mulled cider

Thanksgiving Words That Start With N

• Nap
• Native American
• November
• Nuts

Thanksgiving Words That Start With O

Thanksgiving Words That Start With P

• Parade
• Pardon
• Party
• Peace
• Pecans
• Performance
• Pilgrim
• Pine cone
• Pots
• President
• Prosperous
• Pumpkin

Thanksgiving Words That Start With Q

Thanksgiving Words That Start With R

• Recipe
• Relatives
• Relax
• Reunion
• Roast
• Rosemary
• Route

Thanksgiving Words That Start With S

• Salad
• Satiated
• Sauce
• Savory
• Scarecrow
• Seasoning
• Serve
• Sharing
• Snow
• Spinach
• Stuffed
• Stuffing
• Sweet

Thanksgiving Words That Start With T

• Tasty
• Thanksgiving
• Thursday
• Thyme
• Tofurky
• Travel
• Trim
• Trimmings
• Turkey

Thanksgiving Words That Start With U

Thanksgiving Words That Start With V

• Vacation
• Vanilla
• Volunteer
• Voyage

Thanksgiving Words That Start With W, X, Y, and Z

• Waddle
• Warm
• Welcome
• Wishbone
• Wreath
• Xenial
• Yams
• Yummy
• Zeal

Get your free Thanksgiving words printable!

Print copies and hand them out to students to use for writing assignments, vocabulary practice, and more! Just click the button below to access your Thanksgiving word list. If you’re already logged in to your We Are Teachers account, you can download them right away. If not, just log in first.