Halloween Words That Start With S
18 Halloween words start with the letter S: Spider, Skeleton, Skull, Spooky, Scary, Scream, Shadow, Scarecrow, Slime, Spell, Sneak, Shiver, Startle, Snack, Sidewalk, Sheet, Star and Sticker. 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 18 Halloween words that start with S
Spooky S words
- Spider
- Skeleton
- Skull
- Spooky
- Scary
- Scream
- Shadow
- Scarecrow
- Slime
- Spell
- Sneak
- Shiver
- Startle
Other S words you will hear at Halloween
These are not spooky words, but a child hears every one of them on Halloween night.
- Snack
- Sidewalk
- Sheet
- Star
- Sticker
| Word | What it means | Syllables | Say it like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spider | A small animal with eight legs that spins webs. | 2 | SPY-der |
| Skeleton | All the bones of a body together. | 3 | SKEL-uh-tun |
| Skull | The bone that holds the shape of your head. | 1 | skul |
| Spooky | Strange in a way that makes you shiver. | 2 | SPOO-kee |
| Scary | Something that frightens you. | 2 | SKAIR-ee |
| Scream | A loud high cry. | 1 | skreem |
| Shadow | The dark shape you make when you block a light. | 2 | SHA-doh |
| Scarecrow | A figure of straw put in a field to scare birds. | 2 | SKAIR-kroh |
| Slime | Thick sticky goo. | 1 | slyme |
| Spell | Magic words said in a story. | 1 | spel |
| Sneak | To move quietly so nobody notices. | 1 | sneek |
| Shiver | To shake because you are cold or scared. | 2 | SHIV-er |
| Startle | To surprise someone suddenly. | 2 | STAR-tul |
| Snack | A small amount of food between meals. | 1 | snak |
| Sidewalk | The path beside a road for walking on. | 2 | SYDE-wawk |
| Sheet | A large flat piece of cloth for a bed. | 1 | sheet |
| Star | A point of light in the night sky. | 1 | star |
| Sticker | A small picture with glue on the back. | 2 | STIK-er |
What each word means
Spider
Eight legs and no wings, which is what makes it not an insect however much it looks like one. In a sentence: “A spider sat in the middle of its web.”
Skeleton
Everyone has one inside them right now, which is either reassuring or not depending on the child. In a sentence: “The skeleton was taped to the front door.”
Skull
The one bone from a skeleton children can draw from memory. In a sentence: “A plastic skull sat on the step.”
Spooky
The word children reach for before they have any of the others on this page. In a sentence: “The music sounded spooky.”
Scary
Stronger than spooky. Spooky is enjoyable, scary usually is not. In a sentence: “That mask is too scary for me.”
Scream
Three consonants at the front, which makes it the hardest word here to say properly. In a sentence: “Someone let out a scream in the dark.”
Shadow
Make one on a wall with a flashlight. A shadow a child controls stops being frightening. In a sentence: “His shadow stretched right up the wall.”
Scarecrow
Built to frighten birds, not people, which is worth saying to a child who finds them unsettling. In a sentence: “The scarecrow wore an old checked shirt.”
Slime
Easy to make at home, and the making is more fun than the finished thing. In a sentence: “Green slime dripped off his hands.”
Spell
The same word as spelling out letters, which is a coincidence children enjoy. In a sentence: “She read the spell from a big book.”
Sneak
Pairs with quiet and hide, and all three are the same game. In a sentence: “We sneaked past the sleeping cat.”
Shiver
The body doing something on its own, which is a useful thing for a child to notice about fear. In a sentence: “The cold made me shiver.”
Startle
What boo does. Being startled lasts a second, which is what makes it different from being scared. In a sentence: “The loud bang startled everyone.”
Snack
Worth having one before going out, because a hungry child and a full candy bucket end badly. In a sentence: “We had a snack before we left.”
Sidewalk
Where the whole night is spent, and the rule that matters most after dark. In a sentence: “Stay on the sidewalk, not the road.”
Sheet
One sheet and two cut holes is the oldest costume there is, and still one of the best. In a sentence: “He wore a white sheet with two eye holes.”
Star
Easier to see on Halloween than most nights, because children are outside after dark. In a sentence: “We counted stars on the way home.”
Sticker
What a lot of doors hand out instead of candy, and a welcome change by the tenth house. In a sentence: “She got a pumpkin sticker at the last house.”
Which S words are hardest for a preschooler to say?
Shadow, Shiver, Sidewalk and Sheet each start with a single /s/ sound, so a three year old can usually copy them straight back. Spider, Spooky and Spell open with an “sp” blend, and Skeleton and Skull open with an “sk” blend, and Scary, Scream and Scarecrow open with an “sc” blend, and Sneak and Snack open with an “sn” blend, and Startle, Star and Sticker open with an “st” 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 Shadow.
How to use these S words with preschoolers
Say it, then find it
Say the word out loud and stretch the first sound: shadow. 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 13 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 S word list and tracing sheet
Two pages, A4, free to print with no sign-up. The word list has all 18 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 13 spooky words, Spider, Skeleton, Skull, Spooky, Scary, Scream, Shadow, Scarecrow, Slime, Spell, Sneak, Shiver and Startle, on handwriting rules to write over.
Word list
Tracing sheet
More on the letter S
This page is one letter of Halloween words A to Z. For letter formation and tracing practice, see letter S activities for preschoolers. For animal names beginning with the same letter, see animals that start with S, and for the winter equivalent see Christmas words that start with S.
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 R | Halloween words that start with T →
Frequently asked questions
What Halloween words start with S?
Spider, Skeleton, Skull, Spooky, Scary, Scream, Shadow, Scarecrow, Slime, Spell, Sneak, Shiver, Startle, Snack, Sidewalk, Sheet, Star and Sticker. All 18 are listed above with a short meaning for each.
Which Halloween S word is easiest for a preschooler?
Shadow. 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 S words?
They run from one to three. Skull, Scream, Slime, Spell, Sneak, Snack, Sheet and Star 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.
