Apostrophes Word Search, Scramble and Crossword Puzzle

Grammar puzzles on apostrophes: students work out terms such as contraction, singular possessive, plural possessive and joint possession from crossword and scramble clues, then find them in a word search.
Year levels
Years 3–5
Pages
6
File type
PDF
Answer key
Included

Updated Oct 26, 2026

Subject
Vocabulary, Holiday & Seasonal, Reading, Language Development, English
Topic
Word Search, Word Scramble
Resource types
Crosswords Puzzles, Word Searches
Answer key
Included

From the author

About this resource

I made this apostrophes puzzle set for my Year 3 and 4 students during our writing unit. The kids kept putting apostrophes in plurals like "apple's" and forgetting them in contractions like "dont." So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using words like possession, contraction, singular possessive, plural possessive, joint possession, it's, its, you're, they're, who's, whose, let's, o'clock, letters, and years. Nothing fancy — just puzzles to help the two main apostrophe uses finally stick.

The download is six pages. Three puzzles plus an answer key page for each. The word search works well for quiet time after recess. The scramble gets them talking because they argue about the difference between "it's" and "its." The crossword I use for partners. I added a couple simple apostrophe and arrow pointing to missing letters but nothing too busy.

Works for Years 3 through 5. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers write a contraction and a possessive using an apostrophe on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

  • Define terms for apostrophe use, including singular and plural possessive

  • Distinguish apostrophes for possession from apostrophes in contractions

Skills covered

  • Grammar vocabulary — solving crossword clues about possession and contractions

  • Spelling — unscrambling apostrophe-related terms from their definitions

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