The shapes of the land
The Earth's surface is a patchwork of shapes, and this word search gathers the main ones. You'll track down the highs and lows — the MOUNTAIN and HILL, the deep VALLEY and CANYON, the flat PLAIN and PLATEAU — and the steep CLIFF and GORGE.
Each puzzle pulls a fresh selection from the list, so the terrain changes every time you play — gentle on Easy, and a Hard-mode expedition once the diagonals and backwards words appear.
Coast, ice and everything between
Landforms come in every shape and size. Trace the coast with a jutting CAPE, a PENINSULA and a narrow ISTHMUS, climb a flat-topped MESA or BUTTE, peer over a BLUFF or down into a CRATER, and reach the SUMMIT at the top. There's the cold TUNDRA, a deep BASIN, a steep RIDGE, a hidden CAVE, an icy FJORD and a frozen GLACIER.
Shaped over millions of years
A landform is any natural feature of the Earth's surface, and most are sculpted slowly by three great forces. Moving water carves a CANYON or GORGE over thousands of years (the Grand Canyon was cut by a river). Ice does the heavy lifting too — a creeping GLACIER gouges out a U-shaped VALLEY, and a flooded one becomes a steep-sided FJORD. And the slow shoving of tectonic plates pushes up a MOUNTAIN or RIDGE.
Weathering then nibbles away at the rock, leaving lonely towers like a MESA or BUTTE standing on a flat PLAIN. It's a brilliant way to see that the landscape isn't fixed — it's always, very slowly, changing.
Great for physical geography
It pairs perfectly with a lesson on physical landscapes, erosion and the forces that shape the Earth — Easy mode keeps the grid small with no diagonals or reverse words. Play online, print a PDF pack, or use our Make Your Own tool to build a grid from the landforms you're studying.