Halloween is the one week of the year when a spelling list sells itself. The words are words children actually want to write, which is most of the battle, and the season gives you a reason to practice patterns you would otherwise have to talk them into — the -tch in witch, the silent gh in ghost, the -tion in superstition.
Below are six lists, one for each grade from kindergarten through fifth. Each one is chosen for the spelling patterns at that level, not just for sounding spooky, and each links straight to our spelling worksheet maker with the words already typed in. You pick the worksheet type and print. Nothing to sign up for.
Kindergarten Halloween spelling words
Ten short words, mostly consonant–vowel–consonant, with a few high-interest ones children will recognize from decorations before they can read them.
bat, cat, hat, web, owl, bag, moon, mask, fang, boo
Open this list in the worksheet maker →
1st grade Halloween spelling words
Blends (tr-, bl-, br-), the -tch ending, and a first taste of two-syllable words. Ghost is here on purpose: it is worth learning as a whole word early, because it will come up every October for the next twelve years.
trick, treat, black, witch, ghost, candy, spooky, broom, cape, bones, night, pumpkin
Open this list in the worksheet maker →
2nd grade Halloween spelling words
Two and three syllables, compound words (cobweb, midnight), and the -ed and -ing endings.
haunted, goblin, costume, monster, shadow, cobweb, lantern, vampire, midnight, spider, skeleton, howling, wicked, shiver
Open this list in the worksheet maker →
3rd grade Halloween spelling words
Longer words with silent letters and vowel teams, plus the kind of vocabulary that shows up in the spooky chapter books children pick up this time of year.
creature, graveyard, whisper, phantom, disguise, bewitched, invisible, flicker, lurking, tombstone, shrieking, enchanted, haunting, frightful
Open this list in the worksheet maker →
4th grade Halloween spelling words
Suffixes that change the word’s job (-ous, -ly, -tion) and a few famous misspellings. Cemetery is all e’s and almost nobody gets it right the first time, which makes it the most useful word on this list.
mysterious, cemetery, ghastly, gruesome, sinister, ominous, eerie, petrified, menacing, hallowed, ghoulish, vanishing, shadowy, superstition
Open this list in the worksheet maker →
5th grade Halloween spelling words
Words built from parts worth knowing: supernatural, nocturnal, malevolent, incantation. Teach the root once and it pays off well past October.
apparition, supernatural, macabre, grotesque, malevolent, nocturnal, silhouette, translucent, foreboding, treacherous, mesmerizing, bewildered, catacombs, incantation
Open this list in the worksheet maker →
Turning a list into a worksheet
Every link above opens our spelling worksheet maker with that grade’s words already in the boxes. From there you choose a worksheet type and the page builds it instantly:
- Look, Cover, Write — the standard study routine, with a check column
- 3x’s Each or Tracing — repetition practice, with traceable letters for younger writers
- Word Scramble — unscramble each word; the one children ask for
- ABC Order — alphabetizing practice off the same list
- Sentences — write each word in a sentence of their own
- Definitions — look it up and write what it means
- Write a Letter — use the words in a piece of writing
- Read It, Make It, Write It — cut-and-build practice for the earliest spellers
- Read It, Make It — the same, without the writing step
Each type brings its own supports: a word bank on the scramble, an alphabet strip on ABC order, an editing checklist on the sentence and definition sheets. You can also switch the writing lines to handwriting lines for younger students, or assign any of these digitally to a class instead of printing.
Make the list your own
These are starting points, not a curriculum. The lists are fully editable once they open — delete a word your class already owns, add the ones from your reading, or cut fourteen words down to eight for a short week. You can also drop in names from whatever you are reading together, which is usually what makes a list stick.
If you would rather build from a spelling pattern than a theme, the same page will pull words for you by pattern — short vowel word families, initial and final blends, digraphs, vowel teams, r-controlled vowels, silent letter combinations and compound words — so you can run a digraph list in October and keep the same routine in November.
A few ways to use them
Word scramble as a party activity. If your Halloween party needs a five-minute quiet task, a scramble of the week’s list does it, and it is still spelling practice. Here is a second-grade scramble ready to print.
Split the list. Give everyone the first eight words and add the harder six only for the students who want them. Same list, same test day, no separate worksheet to manage.
Keep it after October. Mysterious, invisible, enchanted and superstition are not Halloween words — they are words that happen to fit Halloween. Bring them back in December and see who still has them.
Pick the grade that matches your class, open the list, and print. If the words aren’t quite right, change them — that is the whole point of building the sheet rather than downloading one.
