Halloween Words That Start With D
13 Halloween words start with the letter D: Dark, Dusk, Dracula, Dungeon, Disguise, Dragon, Dreadful, Dress Up, Doorbell, Doorstep, Decorations, Doughnut and Dance. Halloween falls on October 31, and these are the words a preschooler actually meets on the night. Each one below has a short meaning, how many syllables it has, how to say it and a sentence to use it in, plus two free printables.
All 13 Halloween words that start with D
Spooky D words
- Dark
- Dusk
- Dracula
- Dungeon
- Disguise
- Dragon
- Dreadful
Other D words you will hear at Halloween
These are not spooky words, but a child hears every one of them on Halloween night.
- Dress Up
- Doorbell
- Doorstep
- Decorations
- Doughnut
- Dance
| Word | What it means | Syllables | Say it like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark | When there is no light to see by. | 1 | dark |
| Dusk | The time just after the sun goes down. | 1 | dusk |
| Dracula | A make-believe vampire from an old story. | 3 | DRAK-yoo-lah |
| Dungeon | A dark prison room under a castle. | 2 | DUN-jun |
| Disguise | Something you wear so nobody knows who you are. | 2 | dis-GYZE |
| Dragon | A make-believe animal that breathes fire. | 2 | DRAG-un |
| Dreadful | Very bad or frightening. | 2 | DRED-ful |
| Dress Up | To put on clothes that make you look like someone else. | 2 | dres up |
| Doorbell | A button you press that rings inside a house. | 2 | DOR-bel |
| Doorstep | The step just outside a front door. | 2 | DOR-step |
| Decorations | Things you put up to make a place look special. | 4 | dek-uh-RAY-shunz |
| Doughnut | A round sweet cake with a hole in the middle. | 2 | DOH-nut |
| Dance | To move your body in time with music. | 1 | danss |
What each word means
Dark
Nearly every other word on this page depends on this one, so it is the right place to start. In a sentence: “It was already dark when we set off.”
Dusk
This is the exact time trick or treating starts, so the word has a real moment attached to it. In a sentence: “We left the house at dusk.”
Dracula
He is a character with a name, not a type of creature, in the same way Frankenstein is. In a sentence: “Dracula wore a black cape with a red lining.”
Dungeon
Only ever found in stories and castles now, which is worth saying to a child who asks. In a sentence: “The stairs went down to a cold dungeon.”
Disguise
Different from a costume: a costume shows off who you are being, a disguise hides who you are. In a sentence: “His disguise worked until he laughed.”
Dragon
A favorite costume for children who want something powerful rather than something scary. In a sentence: “The dragon costume had a long green tail.”
Dreadful
An old-fashioned word children mostly meet in books, which is a good reason to explain it here. In a sentence: “A dreadful noise came from upstairs.”
Dress Up
Two words doing the job of one, which is why children often write it as a single word. In a sentence: “We dress up every year on Halloween.”
Doorbell
Worth practicing before the night, because ringing it is the part small children hesitate over. In a sentence: “He pressed the doorbell and stepped back.”
Doorstep
This is where the whole night happens, which makes it a useful word to name in advance. In a sentence: “A bowl of candy sat on the doorstep.”
Decorations
The longest word on this page, and one children usually say before they can read it. In a sentence: “The decorations went up a week early.”
Doughnut
Hung on strings to eat without hands at parties, which is a game as much as a snack. In a sentence: “We ate doughnuts hanging from strings.”
Dance
The Monster Mash is most children's first Halloween song, and it comes with actions. In a sentence: “Everyone danced in their costumes.”
Which D words are hardest for a preschooler to say?
Dark, Dusk, Dungeon, Disguise, Dress Up, Doorbell, Doorstep, Doughnut and Dance each start with a single /d/ sound, so a three year old can usually copy them straight back. Dracula, Dragon and Dreadful open with an “dr” blend. A blend is two consonants run together with no vowel between them, and speech development guides such as the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association put clusters like these later than single sounds. If your child is at the copying-back stage, start with Dark.
Decorations is hard for a different reason. There is no blend to trip over: at four syllables it is simply a mouthful, and most children shorten it long before they say it in full.
How to use these D words with preschoolers
Say it, then find it
Say the word out loud and stretch the first sound: dark. Then ask your child to find something in the room that starts the same way. Hearing the sound and then finding it on something real ties the letter to something your child can already picture.
Sort the scary from the silly
Read the list together and let your child put each word in one of two piles: silly or spooky. There is no right answer, and the sorting is what makes them think about what the word actually means. It also gives you a gentle way to talk about being a little bit scared on purpose.
Trace it, then draw it
Use the tracing sheet below to write the seven spooky words, then ask your child to draw one of them on the back. Writing the word and picturing it at the same time is what makes it stick.
Free printables: the Halloween D word list and tracing sheet
Two pages, A4, free to print with no sign-up. The word list has all 13 words in large type with a tick box beside each one, so a child can mark off the words they can read. The tracing sheet has the seven spooky words, Dark, Dusk, Dracula, Dungeon, Disguise, Dragon and Dreadful, on handwriting rules to write over.
Word list
Tracing sheet
More on the letter D
This page is one letter of Halloween words A to Z. For letter formation and tracing practice, see letter D activities for preschoolers. For animal names beginning with the same letter, see animals that start with D, and for the winter equivalent see Christmas words that start with D.
Halloween words A to Z: A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z
← Halloween words that start with C | Halloween words that start with E →
Frequently asked questions
What Halloween words start with D?
Dark, Dusk, Dracula, Dungeon, Disguise, Dragon, Dreadful, Dress Up, Doorbell, Doorstep, Decorations, Doughnut and Dance. All 13 are listed above with a short meaning for each.
Which Halloween D word is easiest for a preschooler?
Dark. It is one syllable, the first sound is easy to stretch out, and most children have already seen one, which fixes the word far faster than a definition does.
How many syllables are in these D words?
They run from one to four. Dark, Dusk and Dance are single syllables, which is where to start.
How do I teach Halloween words without frightening my child?
Start with the silly ones and leave the spooky ones until they ask. A costume, a pumpkin and a bucket of candy are Halloween to a four year old. If a word does worry them, let them draw it and give it a friendly face, which takes the fear out of it faster than telling them not to worry.
What age are these words for?
Three to six. Younger children will recognize the words when you say them long before they can read them, which is the point of tracing rather than copying.
