A Graveyard Joke Hidden in a Cemetery Word Search

Take a walk through a foggy cemetery at midnight. Behind the iron gate you will find tombstones, a crypt, a grand mausoleum and a gravedigger with his shovel and lantern, while a raven watches from above.

Circle all twelve words and the letters nobody used tell a graveyard joke. An epitaph is the short text carved on a tombstone, from the Greek for over the tomb. The word mausoleum comes from Mausolus, a ruler whose huge tomb at Halicarnassus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

How the hidden message works

In this puzzle, every letter that is not part of a word belongs to a secret message of 44 letters. Find all 12 words first. Then read the letters that are left over, starting at the top left and going row by row from left to right, and write them down in order. Online, the message lights up on the grid the moment you find the last word. On the printable PDF there is a blank space for each letter, and the answer key shows the full message.

Graveyard Joke Vocabulary: 12 Words to Find

Words run across, up and down, and diagonally; 6 of the 12 read backwards. The longest word is Gravedigger, with 11 letters.

Tombstone: The carved stone marking a grave, with the person's name and dates.
Mausoleum: A stone building in a cemetery that holds tombs above the ground.
Epitaph: The short words carved on a gravestone in memory of the person buried there.
Crypt: An underground room, often beneath a church, where the dead are buried.
Shovel: A tool with a wide blade for digging, like a gravedigger's.
Lantern: A case that holds a light, such as a candle, so it can be carried.
Iron Gate: A tall gate of iron bars, the kind at the entrance of an old cemetery.
Gravedigger: A person whose job is to dig graves.
Wreath: A ring of leaves or flowers hung on a door, or laid on a grave.
Raven: A large black bird, a symbol of mystery made famous by Poe's poem.
Fog: A thick cloud close to the ground that makes it hard to see.
Midnight: 12 o'clock at night, the "witching hour" of ghost stories.

How to Solve the Graveyard Joke Hidden Message Word Search

"Gravedigger" is the longest word, eleven letters, with a double G. "Fog" is only three letters. "Iron gate" is hidden without its space. Three words run diagonally from bottom left to top right.

Graveyard Pun Activities for Class

Ask students to explain the pun in the joke (coffin / coughing).
Use it with the Tombstone Shaped puzzle as a graveyard set.
Have kids write an epitaph for a pumpkin that was carved on Halloween.