Halloween Words That Start With P
13 Halloween words start with the letter P: Pumpkin, Potion, Phantom, Prank, Pounce, Poof, Pirate, Princess, Party, Porch, Pumpkin Patch, Popcorn Ball and Pillowcase. 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 P
Spooky P words
- Pumpkin
- Potion
- Phantom
- Prank
- Pounce
- Poof
Other P words you will hear at Halloween
These are not spooky words, but a child hears every one of them on Halloween night.
- Pirate
- Princess
- Party
- Porch
- Pumpkin Patch
- Popcorn Ball
- Pillowcase
| Word | What it means | Syllables | Say it like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pumpkin | A large orange vegetable used to make a jack-o-lantern. | 2 | PUMP-kin |
| Potion | A magic drink made in a story. | 2 | POH-shun |
| Phantom | A ghost. | 2 | FAN-tum |
| Prank | A trick played on someone for fun. | 1 | prank |
| Pounce | To jump on something suddenly. | 1 | pownss |
| Poof | The sound of something vanishing in a story. | 1 | poof |
| Pirate | A sailor from stories who robs ships. | 2 | PY-rut |
| Princess | The daughter of a king or queen. | 2 | PRIN-sess |
| Party | A gathering where people celebrate. | 2 | PAR-tee |
| Porch | The covered area outside a front door. | 1 | porch |
| Pumpkin Patch | A field where pumpkins grow and are sold. | 3 | PUMP-kin patch |
| Popcorn Ball | Popcorn stuck together into a ball with syrup. | 3 | POP-korn bawl |
| Pillowcase | The cloth cover that goes over a pillow. | 3 | PIL-oh-kayss |
What each word means
Pumpkin
It is the plain vegetable until a face is cut into it. After that it is a jack-o-lantern, which is a different word. In a sentence: “We picked the biggest pumpkin on the stall.”
Potion
The ti in the middle says sh, which is worth pointing out because it happens in a lot of words. In a sentence: “The witch poured a green potion.”
Phantom
Starts with p and h together making an f sound, which is the most surprising thing on this page. In a sentence: “A phantom drifted along the hallway.”
Prank
The trick half of trick or treat, and worth agreeing the limits of before the night. In a sentence: “His prank was a rubber spider on the table.”
Pounce
What a cat does, which makes it easy to show rather than explain. In a sentence: “The cat pounced on the paper mouse.”
Poof
Comes with a hand gesture more often than not, which is how children first learn it. In a sentence: “Poof! The magician was gone.”
Pirate
A costume that needs almost nothing: a scarf, a stripe and a drawn-on beard. In a sentence: “He wore a pirate hat and an eye patch.”
Princess
Reliably one of the two or three most-chosen costumes every single year. In a sentence: “She dressed as a princess with a paper crown.”
Party
For many preschoolers the daytime party is the whole of Halloween, without any trick or treating at all. In a sentence: “There was a party at school on Friday.”
Porch
A lit porch usually means candy. A dark one usually means nobody is home. In a sentence: “Pumpkins lined the whole porch.”
Pumpkin Patch
A daytime October outing, and where most children choose their own pumpkin. In a sentence: “We drove out to the pumpkin patch.”
Popcorn Ball
An older treat that turns up at parties more than at doors now. In a sentence: “Each popcorn ball was wrapped in orange paper.”
Pillowcase
Holds far more than a bucket, which older children work out and younger ones copy. In a sentence: “He used a pillowcase to collect his candy.”
Which P words are hardest for a preschooler to say?
Pumpkin, Potion, Phantom, Pounce, Poof, Pirate, Party, Porch, Pumpkin Patch, Popcorn Ball and Pillowcase each start with a single /p/ sound, so a three year old can usually copy them straight back. Prank and Princess open with an “pr” 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 Pumpkin.
How to use these P words with preschoolers
Say it, then find it
Say the word out loud and stretch the first sound: pumpkin. 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 six 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 P 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 six spooky words, Pumpkin, Potion, Phantom, Prank, Pounce and Poof, on handwriting rules to write over.
Word list
Tracing sheet
More on the letter P
This page is one letter of Halloween words A to Z. For letter formation and tracing practice, see letter P activities for preschoolers. For animal names beginning with the same letter, see animals that start with P, and for the winter equivalent see Christmas words that start with P.
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 O | Halloween words that start with Q →
Frequently asked questions
What Halloween words start with P?
Pumpkin, Potion, Phantom, Prank, Pounce, Poof, Pirate, Princess, Party, Porch, Pumpkin Patch, Popcorn Ball and Pillowcase. All 13 are listed above with a short meaning for each.
Which Halloween P word is easiest for a preschooler?
Pumpkin. 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 P words?
They run from one to three. Prank, Pounce, Poof and Porch 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.
