Te reo Māori word search
Kia ora, whānau, kai and mahi: twenty te reo Māori words that turn up every day in New Zealand English. For the classroom, Te Wiki o te Reo Māori or anyone learning.
- Aroha
- Awa
- Haka
- Ka pai
- Kai
- Kia ora
- Kōrero
- Kura
- Mahi
- Marae
- Maunga
- Moana
- Mōrena
- Pukapuka
- Tamariki
- Wai
- Waka
- Whānau
- Whare
- Whenua
This is the same puzzle as on the printable sheet. Every word you find turns green and is crossed off the list.
Make your own versionTe reo Māori words
Name
| K | A | I | W | C | K | U | R | A | N | E | S | I | I |
| V | M | R | N | H | X | G | G | H | L | B | I | E | U |
| E | P | A | N | N | A | N | E | O | A | I | T | P | P |
| S | I | B | R | T | U | N | U | W | P | K | M | U | G |
| O | S | K | I | A | O | R | A | A | C | I | A | K | A |
| W | Y | M | M | M | E | W | N | U | E | F | E | A | E |
| H | K | A | P | A | I | N | H | E | N | M | O | P | A |
| E | S | H | M | R | H | A | U | A | K | S | K | U | M |
| N | T | I | O | I | E | L | T | D | R | A | N | K | O |
| U | O | X | A | K | O | R | E | R | O | E | N | A | R |
| A | M | E | N | I | W | U | E | V | E | V | I | D | E |
| W | A | K | A | E | O | L | X | B | E | A | R | T | N |
| N | A | R | O | H | A | O | A | C | W | R | O | R | A |
| S | R | N | H | U | E | E | I | H | I | A | R | H | S |
Find these words
- Aroha
- Awa
- Haka
- Ka pai
- Kai
- Kia ora
- Kōrero
- Kura
- Mahi
- Marae
- Maunga
- Moana
- Mōrena
- Pukapuka
- Tamariki
- Wai
- Waka
- Whānau
- Whare
- Whenua
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Te reo Māori words
Give it a try: drag a line across the letters.
All words found!
About this word search
Te reo Māori has been an official language of New Zealand since 1987, and many of its words are part of everyday Kiwi English. People say kia ora as a greeting, talk about their whānau, go to the marae and share kai. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, Māori Language Week, is held every September.
The grid is fourteen by fourteen, with words across, down and diagonally, never backwards. Tamariki and pukapuka are the longest at eight letters each. Kai, wai and awa have only three letters and are easy to miss among the longer words. Macrons do not appear in the grid, so whānau becomes WHANAU and kōrero KORERO. Kia ora and ka pai run together without a space.
Say each word aloud as you find it and give its meaning. Kai is food, wai is water, awa is a river and kura is a school.
Ways to use this word search
In the classroom
Print it as a task for early finishers, or to open a lesson on this topic. With the QR code on the sheet, students check their own answers.
At home and on the go
Pack a few printed sheets for the car, the ferry or the bach. A pen is all you need, no screen required.
Play together
Print the sheet twice and race each other. Whoever finds all the words first wins. Or play it online and see who is fastest.
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