Literature & Authors
Test your knowledge of Shakespeare's Plays and Characters with a free trivia word search from thewordfind.com. Read each clue, work out the answer, then find it hidden in the letter grid — every puzzle is freshly generated, so no two plays are ever quite the same. Don't know an answer? Tap the hint button in-game to reveal the first letter, or just scan the grid — every answer is hiding in there somewhere. Between the clues and the full answer key below, this topic doubles as a quick study guide — good for a trivia night, a classroom quiz, or just picking up something new about Shakespeare's Plays and Characters along the way.
Play This Puzzle →A few sample clues
This abandoned princess is raised by shepherds before her royal identity is finally revealed.
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This fairy queen is magically enchanted into falling in love with a man wearing a donkey's head.
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This lovesick duke pines for a countess while employing a disguised young 'man' as his messenger.
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This wise Roman senator tries and fails to talk a proud general out of destroying his own city.
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This melancholy philosopher delivers the famous 'all the world's a stage' speech.
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All 106 questions in this topic, with answers — use it to study, or just browse. Every actual play of the puzzle only pulls a random handful of these into one game, so knowing them all here won't spoil which ones show up or where they're hidden in the grid. Play it here.
This Scottish general is driven to murder a king by his wife and a trio of prophesying witches.
MACBETHThis fiery young rebel earns his nickname for his impulsive, hot-tempered pursuit of glory in battle.
HOTSPURShakespeare wrote 154 of these 14-line poems, in addition to his plays.
SONNETSThis Italian city is the setting for a feud between two families that dooms a pair of young lovers.
VERONAThis king's jester speaks uncomfortable truths through riddles and songs throughout the storm scenes.
FOOLThis lean, hungry-looking conspirator convinces his friend that a great man has grown too dangerous.
CASSIUSThis novice nun must decide whether to trade her virtue for her condemned brother's life.
ISABELLAThis general's devoted wife is smothered after being falsely accused of betrayal.
DESDEMONAThis aging British king divides his kingdom based on his daughters' flattery, then loses everything.
LEARThis French peasant girl leads her country's army and is later branded a witch and executed.
JOANThis matchmaking uncle helps arrange a doomed romance, lending his name to a common English verb.
PANDARUSThis quick-witted friend of the hero is fatally wounded in a duel and curses both feuding houses.
MERCUTIOThis determined suitor starves and humiliates a strong-willed bride into submission.
PETRUCHIOThe witches' famous chant completes with 'fire burn and cauldron _ _ _ _ _ _' in a Scottish tragedy.
BUBBLEThis shipwrecked prince falls in love with a duke's daughter after being enslaved and tested.
FERDINANDShakespeare's wife carried this maiden surname before their marriage in 1582.
HATHAWAYThis jealous husband disguises himself to test his wife's fidelity in a play featuring Falstaff again.
FORDThis prince of Tyre survives shipwrecks and years of loss before reuniting with his wife and daughter.
PERICLESThis daughter of an exiled duke is raised on an island by her father and falls for the first young man she sees.
MIRANDAThis murdered nobleman's ghost haunts a banquet, visible only to the guilty man who had him killed.
BANQUOThis cousin and knight falls in love with the same woman his fellow prisoner adores.
PALAMONThis scheming king marries his brother's widow shortly after murdering him to seize the throne.
CLAUDIUSThis young nobleman is tricked into marrying a woman he scorns, who later wins him over through cleverness.
BERTRAMThis young nobleman is tricked into publicly shaming his own bride on their wedding day.
CLAUDIOThis rebel leads a popular uprising against the crown, promising all manner of impossible reforms.
CADEIn this comedy of mistaken identity, two sets of identical twin servants share the same name.
DROMIOThis Moorish general of Venice is driven to jealous rage by a trusted ensign's lies.
OTHELLOThis loyal Roman mother persuades her proud warrior son not to lead an army against his own city.
VOLUMNIAThis rival Elizabethan playwright, author of 'Doctor Faustus,' died in a tavern brawl at age 29.
MARLOWEThis younger, more agreeable sister has multiple suitors competing for her hand.
BIANCAThis Venetian moneylender demands a literal pound of flesh when a loan goes unpaid.
SHYLOCKThis conspirator strikes the first blow against the Roman general in the Capitol.
CASCAThis goddess of witchcraft appears to direct the three witches in a Scottish tragedy.
HECATEThis blunt, loyal soldier abandons the general he serves, then dies of a broken heart from shame.
ENOBARBUSThis captured Gothic queen marries the Roman emperor and secretly plots bloody revenge.
TAMORAThis Roman general avenges his sons' deaths by serving his enemy a truly gruesome meal.
TITUSThis witty lord trades barbed wordplay with a princess of France while avoiding romance, and fails.
BEROWNEShakespeare's acting troupe took this name after King James I became its royal patron in 1603.
KINGSMENThis countess mourns her brother and rejects suitors until she falls for a shipwrecked disguised woman.
OLIVIAThis ambitious cardinal falls from the king's favor after being accused of treason and corruption.
WOLSEYThis young noblewoman descends into madness and drowns after her lover rejects and kills her father.
OPHELIAThis sharp-tongued heroine trades witty insults with a soldier before falling for him.
BEATRICEThis scheming daughter turns against her own father after receiving her share of his kingdom.
REGANThis boisterous knight drinks and carouses late into the night, annoying the household steward.
TOBYThis decisive English victory over the French, won against staggering odds, is the centerpiece of a history play.
AGINCOURTThis loyal cousin follows the exiled heroine into the forest rather than stay behind at court.
CELIAThis Venetian merchant risks his life by guaranteeing a loan for a friend seeking to woo an heiress.
ANTONIOThis power-hungry daughter competes with her sister for a nobleman's affection and her father's lands.
GONERILOne of two friends from Verona, he betrays his best friend to pursue the woman his friend loves.
PROTEUSThis meddling royal advisor is killed while eavesdropping behind a tapestry.
POLONIUSThis Roman senator leads a conspiracy against his friend, believing the murder serves Rome's freedom.
BRUTUSThis trusting king is murdered in his sleep by a host desperate to fulfill a prophecy.
DUNCANThis hot-tempered cousin of the heroine kills a friend of the hero and is slain in revenge.
TYBALTThis jealous king wrongly accuses his pregnant wife of infidelity, setting off years of tragedy.
LEONTESSet during the Trojan War, this tragedy follows two ill-fated lovers on opposite sides of the siege.
CRESSIDAThis nobleman defeats a hunchbacked king at Bosworth Field and founds a new royal dynasty.
RICHMONDThis 1623 posthumous collection gathered most of Shakespeare's plays into a single printed volume for the first time.
FOLIOThis airy spirit longs for freedom while serving the sorcerer who rescued it from a tree.
ARIELThis wealthy heiress disguises herself as a lawyer to save her husband's friend from a gruesome bargain.
PORTIAThis wealthy Athenian lavishes gifts on false friends, then curses humanity after going broke.
TIMONThis young nephew of the king is held captive and dies under suspicious circumstances.
ARTHURThis banished earl disguises himself as a servant so he can keep protecting the king who exiled him.
KENTThis young Athenian woman is pursued by two men after a love potion goes hilariously wrong.
HELENAThis spirited heroine disguises herself as a man named Ganymede while hiding in the Forest of Arden.
ROSALINDThis romantic hero wins a wrestling match and pins love poems to trees throughout a forest.
ORLANDOThis villainous Moor orchestrates a campaign of murder and mutilation with open, gleeful malice.
AARONShakespeare was born and later buried in this English market town on the River Avon.
STRATFORDThis falsely accused wife in ancient Britain is believed dead after a villain frames her for infidelity.
IMOGENThis Roman general's daughter has her hands and tongue cut off by her attackers to silence her.
LAVINIAThis aging nobleman delivers the famous 'this sceptred isle' speech praising England before dying.
GAUNTThis bumbling constable's malapropisms accidentally help uncover a villain's plot.
DOGBERRYThis strong-willed woman is wooed and 'tamed' by a suitor determined to win her fortune and her hand.
KATHERINAThis pompous steward is tricked into wearing yellow stockings and smiling absurdly to win his lady's love.
MALVOLIOThis suitor borrows heavily from his merchant friend to court a wealthy heiress in Belmont.
BASSANIOThis Danish prince delays avenging his father's murder while famously asking 'to be or not to be.'
HAMLETThis amateur actor's head is transformed into a donkey's by a mischievous sprite's spell.
BOTTOMThis wayward prince spends his youth carousing before transforming into a heroic king.
HALThis noblewoman of Salisbury resists the advances of a king who besieges her castle and her honor.
COUNTESSThis noblewoman disguises herself as a young man named Cesario after washing ashore in Illyria.
VIOLAThis young nobleman is magically made to fall for the wrong woman before order is restored.
DEMETRIUSThis exiled sorcerer duke commands a spirit and a monstrous servant on his enchanted island.
PROSPEROThis river runs through Shakespeare's hometown, giving the town its full hyphenated name.
AVONThis Egyptian queen forms a legendary romance with a Roman general and dies from an asp's bite.
CLEOPATRAThis king of the fairies quarrels with his queen over a stolen changeling boy.
OBERONThis illegitimate son forges a letter to turn his father against his legitimate half-brother.
EDMUNDThis nobleman is executed after refusing to support Richard's claim to the throne.
HASTINGSThis powerful earl helps place and depose kings so often he earns the nickname 'the Kingmaker.'
WARWICKThis Roman general is assassinated by a group of senators, including a man he considered a friend.
CAESARThis bride is falsely accused of infidelity at the altar and pretends to be dead to clear her name.
HEROThis king's youngest daughter refuses to flatter him and is banished, though she alone truly loves him.
CORDELIAThis mighty Trojan prince and warrior is Troy's greatest champion until his fatal duel with Achilles.
HECTORThis shipwrecked twin brother is mistaken for his disguised sister throughout a comedy of errors.
SEBASTIANThis leading actor and business partner of Shakespeare's company originated many of the great tragic roles.
BURBAGEThis scheming ensign manipulates his general into believing his wife has been unfaithful.
IAGOThis falsely accused queen collapses upon hearing of her son's death and is presumed dead for years.
HERMIONEThis witty bachelor swears he'll never marry, then falls hard for his favorite sparring partner.
BENEDICKThis loyal noblewoman hides a wronged queen for sixteen years before revealing she still lives.
PAULINAThis rival to a Roman general later becomes the first emperor of Rome after their power struggle ends.
OCTAVIUSThis young man loves one woman while being pursued by another, thanks to fairy mischief.
LYSANDERThis London playhouse, associated with Shakespeare's company, was rebuilt after burning down in 1613.
GLOBEThis mischievous fairy sprite mistakenly enchants the wrong Athenian and turns a weaver's head into a donkey's.
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