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HALLOWEEN VOCABULARY & SPELLING: A QUICK GUIDE FOR PARENTS (KS2 & KS3)

What is Halloween?

Halloween is celebrated in many countries every year on 31 October. Nowadays, it is mostly a day for dressing up in costumes (often spooky ones), trick-or-treating for sweets, carving pumpkins, and enjoying eerie fun – for both children and adults.

However, Halloween has not always been about costumes and scary movies. Historically, Halloween (which comes from "All Hallows' Eve") has its roots in ancient Celtic harvest festivals and traditions about remembering the dead.

Halloween Vocabulary: What Are Some Good Words for Halloween?

With its central themes of spookiness, fear, and the supernatural, Halloween is associated with many evocative nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. These are all great for vocabulary building and expanding your child's knowledge of words that are synonyms (words that have similar meanings) and antonyms (words that have opposite meanings).

Nouns (Things & People):

pumpkin
Jack-o'-lantern
ghost
ghoul
zombie
vampire
witch
werewolf
skeleton
mummy
monster
trick-or-treat
costume
disguise
sweets
candy
chocolate
spider
bat
owl
black cat
haunted house
graveyard
cemetery
cobweb
cauldron
broomstick
moon

Verbs (Actions):

haunt
scare
frighten
spook
trick
treat
dress up
carve
cackle
howl
creep

Adjectives (Describing Words):

spooky
creepy
eerie
ghoulish
macabre
scary
frightening
terrifying
horrifying
haunted
mystical
mysterious
dark
gloomy
shadowy
wicked
glow-in-the-dark

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Halloween Vocabulary: Synonyms and Antonyms

Before you get stuck into Halloween words, a quick recap of what synonyms and antonyms are might be useful:

Synonyms: These are words that have a similar meaning.

Example: A synonym for 'big' could be 'large' or 'huge'.
Halloween example: Synonyms for 'scary' could be 'frightening' or 'terrifying'.

Antonyms: These are words that have an opposite meaning.

Example: The antonym of 'hot' is 'cold'.
Halloween example: An antonym for 'dark' could be 'bright'.

Note: in the pairs listed below, the symbol = means that the words are synonyms, while the symbol ≠ means that the words are antonyms.

10 Halloween Synonym Pairs

spooky = eerie
terrifying = petrifying
haunted = cursed
disguise = costume
phantom = spectre
potion = brew
gravestone = tombstone
groan = moan
threaten = menace
enchant = spellbind

10 Halloween Antonym Pairs

enchant ≠ repel
mourn ≠ rejoice
scare ≠ soothe
cursed ≠ blessed
disguise ≠ reveal
terror ≠ courage
gloom ≠ glare
compassionate ≠ malicious
unseen ≠ visible
disgusting ≠ delightful

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What is the Correct Spelling of 'Halloween'?

The correct spelling of the holiday is Halloween.

Where is the apostrophe placed in "Halloween"?

This is a common question, but, in fact, the word Halloween does not have an apostrophe in its modern, commonly accepted spelling.

People often wonder whether Halloween should have an apostrophe because the word comes from All Hallows' Eve: the evening before All Hallows' Day (also known as All Saints' Day). In older usage, the apostrophe showed it was the eve of All Hallows.

Over time, however, the name developed into a single word and lost the apostrophe in modern usage, so it is simply Halloween.

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Word Puzzles: Making Words from "Halloween" or "Happy Halloween"

This can be a fun way to practise spelling and build vocabulary. It's not about finding a set number of words. Instead, it's about how many distinct words your child can create using only the letters in Halloween or Happy Halloween.

From "Halloween": You can make words like we, all, low, hello, alone, own, allow, wheel, hole, lean, hallow, and so on.
From "Happy Halloween": You have more letters to work with. Think happy, hello, how, pay, we, all, open, pole, allow, wheel, hole, lean, hallow, apple, nap, hen, pea, and many more.

Encourage your child to look for smaller words hidden within the bigger ones – it's like a treasure hunt for letters!

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