Music crossword puzzle
Twelve clues you can almost hear: strings, brass, a beat to tap your foot to and the tune you hum without noticing.
Curated by 
Esme Rook
·
Updated October 2026
Play it right here
12 clues to solve: 4 across and 8 down. Tap a square and type; tap it again to switch between across and down. Solved words lock in green.
Across
- 2. A live show where musicians perform for an audience (7)
- 4. Large group of musicians led by a conductor (9)
- 8. The tune of a song, the part you hum (6)
- 11. String instrument with six strings and frets (6)
Down
- 1. Keyboard instrument with 88 keys (5)
- 2. A group of singers performing together (5)
- 3. Brass instrument with three valves (7)
- 5. The person whose instrument is their own voice (6)
- 6. The smallest string instrument in the orchestra, played with a bow (6)
- 7. The pattern of beats you tap your foot to (6)
- 9. You hit it with sticks to keep the beat (4)
- 10. Do, re and mi are each one (4)
What is playing?
Five instruments, the people who sing and play them, the group that needs a conductor, and the building blocks every song shares. The clues describe each instrument by how it is built or played, its strings, valves or keys, so you can reason your way to answers you did not know you knew.
No sheet music required
Nothing here needs musical training: if you have ever clapped a rhythm or hummed a melody, you own every answer in this grid. The instrument names carry unusual letter patterns, which makes their crossings especially useful. Solve the nine-letter group first and half the grid opens up.
RHYTHM and the other odd spellings
That group is the ORCHESTRA, led by a conductor, and it crosses CHOIR, SINGER and TRUMPET. TRUMPET passes a letter on to MELODY. RHYTHM is the strangest word on the sheet, six letters and no ordinary vowel, so let MELODY place its letter before you try to spell it. DRUM and NOTE, the four-letter answers, both hang off GUITAR, the instrument with six strings and frets. The clue about 88 keys leaves no doubt about PIANO.
For band kids and music lessons
The free PDF puts the numbered grid and all twelve clues on one sheet; the completed grid waits in the separate answer key PDF. Print both, hand out one. It suits children learning an instrument, a music class or a break in choir rehearsal. The music word search stays in the same world of sound, and the Christmas crossword has a carol in it for a seasonal follow-up.
Same theme, different puzzle: Music word search
