Halloween Words That Start With E
seven Halloween words start with the letter E: Eerie, Eyeball, Escape, Enchanted, Eek, Evening and Eyes. 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 seven Halloween words that start with E
Spooky E words
- Eerie
- Eyeball
- Escape
- Enchanted
- Eek
Other E words you will hear at Halloween
These are not spooky words, but a child hears every one of them on Halloween night.
- Evening
- Eyes
| Word | What it means | Syllables | Say it like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eerie | Strange and a little frightening. | 2 | EER-ee |
| Eyeball | The round part of your eye. | 2 | EYE-bawl |
| Escape | To get away from somewhere. | 2 | es-KAYP |
| Enchanted | Put under a magic spell. | 3 | en-CHAN-tid |
| Eek | A short high sound you make when startled. | 1 | eek |
| Evening | The part of the day after the sun goes down. | 2 | EEV-ning |
| Eyes | The parts of your face you see with. | 1 | eyez |
What each word means
Eerie
Describes a feeling rather than a thing, which is why it turns up in stories more than in speech. In a sentence: “An eerie light came from the window.”
Eyeball
Peeled grapes in a bowl are the classic party version, and children love and hate it in equal measure. In a sentence: “The bowl was full of jelly eyeballs.”
Escape
The end of nearly every spooky story, which makes it a reassuring word to know. In a sentence: “They escaped through the back door.”
Enchanted
Usually a good kind of magic, unlike most words on this page. In a sentence: “The enchanted forest glowed at night.”
Eek
More often seen in a comic than heard out loud, which makes it fun to read together. In a sentence: “Eek! A spider on the wall.”
Evening
Written with three vowels but said in two beats, which catches children out. In a sentence: “We go out in the evening on Halloween.”
Eyes
Cut two of these in a sheet and you have the oldest ghost costume there is. In a sentence: “Two eyes glowed in the dark window.”
Which E words are hardest for a preschooler to say?
Eerie, Eyeball, Escape, Enchanted, Eek, Evening and Eyes each start with a single /e/ sound, so a three year old can usually copy them straight back. If your child is at the copying-back stage, start with Eerie.
How to use these E words with preschoolers
Say it, then find it
Say the word out loud and stretch the first sound: eerie. 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 five 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 E word list and tracing sheet
Two pages, A4, free to print with no sign-up. The word list has all seven 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 five spooky words, Eerie, Eyeball, Escape, Enchanted and Eek, on handwriting rules to write over.
Word list
Tracing sheet
More on the letter E
This page is one letter of Halloween words A to Z. For letter formation and tracing practice, see letter E activities for preschoolers. For animal names beginning with the same letter, see animals that start with E, and for the winter equivalent see Christmas words that start with E.
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 D | Halloween words that start with F →
Frequently asked questions
What Halloween words start with E?
Eerie, Eyeball, Escape, Enchanted, Eek, Evening and Eyes. All seven are listed above with a short meaning for each.
Which Halloween E word is easiest for a preschooler?
Eerie. 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 E words?
They run from one to three. Eek and Eyes 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.
