Music word search word list

54 words, hand-picked to fit a 15×15 grid. Free to use in any puzzle you make, including ones you sell.

The button opens the free generator with this theme selected. It draws 15 words per puzzle and can make hundreds of different puzzles from this list without repeating a set — a 100-puzzle book comes to 124 pages at 6 × 9.

The list

• Accordion
• Acoustic
• Album
• Anthem
• Ballad
• Banjo
• Baritone
• Bass
• Beat
• Cello
• Chord
• Chorus
• Clarinet
• Composer
• Concert
• Conductor
• Drums
• Duet
• Encore
• Flute
• Guitar
• Harmony
• Harp
• Jazz
• Keyboard
• Lyrics
• Melody
• Microphone
• Note
• Oboe
• Octave
• Opera
• Orchestra
• Percussion
• Piano
• Pitch
• Quartet
• Rhythm
• Saxophone
• Scale
• Singer
• Solo
• Soprano
• Symphony
• Tempo
• Tenor
• Trombone
• Trumpet
• Tuba
• Ukulele
• Verse
• Violin
• Vocal
• Xylophone

Copy freely. One per line or comma-separated pastes straight into the generator's "Your own list" box if you want to add or remove words.

Crossword clues for every word

The same list with a plain-language clue for each word — written for the crossword type, and free to use in a grid you build yourself. Copy the lines as they are (word — clue) into the generator's own-list box and it makes the crossword for you.

• Accordion — Squeezebox with keys
• Acoustic — Unplugged, of a guitar
• Album — Collection of recorded songs
• Anthem — Song of a nation or a team
• Ballad — Slow, storytelling song
• Banjo — Twangy round-bodied string instrument
• Baritone — Male voice between tenor and bass
• Bass — Deepest voice or guitar; also a freshwater fish
• Beat — The pulse you tap your foot to
• Cello — Large string instrument played seated
• Chord — Several notes sounded together
• Chorus — The part of a song that repeats
• Clarinet — Black woodwind with a single reed
• Composer — Writer of music
• Concert — Live performance for an audience
• Conductor — Leader with a baton
• Drums — Kit struck with sticks
• Duet — Piece for two performers
• Encore — Extra song after the applause
• Flute — Silver woodwind held sideways
• Guitar — Six-stringed instrument
• Harmony — Notes that agree with the melody
• Harp — Tall plucked instrument of many strings
• Jazz — Improvised music born in New Orleans
• Keyboard — Piano's electronic cousin
• Lyrics — The words of a song
• Melody — The tune
• Microphone — What a singer holds
• Note — Single musical sound
• Oboe — Double-reed woodwind that tunes the orchestra
• Octave — Interval of eight notes
• Opera — Drama that is sung throughout
• Orchestra — Large ensemble of strings, winds and brass
• Percussion — Instruments you hit
• Piano — Keyboard instrument of eighty-eight keys
• Pitch — How high or low a note is
• Quartet — Group of four players
• Rhythm — Pattern of beats
• Saxophone — Brass-bodied reed instrument of jazz
• Scale — Notes in ascending order, or a kitchen weigher
• Singer — Vocalist
• Solo — Performance by one
• Soprano — Highest female voice
• Symphony — Large orchestral work in movements
• Tempo — Speed of the music
• Tenor — High male voice
• Trombone — Brass instrument with a slide
• Trumpet — Bright brass with three valves
• Tuba — Deepest brass instrument
• Ukulele — Small four-string Hawaiian guitar
• Verse — Song section before the chorus
• Violin — Fiddle
• Vocal — Of the voice
• Xylophone — Wooden bars struck with mallets

A puzzle made from it

Medium difficulty: across, down and diagonals, nothing backwards. Every word appears exactly once — the generator checks the finished grid rather than assuming. Solutions are in the book, not on this page.