Halloween Words That Start With Y
seven Halloween words start with the letter Y: Yell, Yikes, Yowl, Yelp, Yellow Moon, Yard and Yarn. 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 Y
Spooky Y words
- Yell
- Yikes
- Yowl
- Yelp
Other Y words you will hear at Halloween
These are not spooky words, but a child hears every one of them on Halloween night.
- Yellow Moon
- Yard
- Yarn
| Word | What it means | Syllables | Say it like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yell | To shout loudly. | 1 | yel |
| Yikes | What you say when something surprises you. | 1 | yykes |
| Yowl | The long loud cry a cat makes. | 1 | yowl |
| Yelp | A short sharp cry. | 1 | yelp |
| Yellow Moon | The moon when it looks yellow low in the sky. | 3 | YEL-oh moon |
| Yard | The ground around a house. | 1 | yard |
| Yarn | Thick thread used for knitting. | 1 | yarn |
What each word means
Yell
Louder than a shout and shorter than a scream, which is a useful three-way difference. In a sentence: “He gave a yell when the lights went out.”
Yikes
Read far more often than it is said, which makes it a good one to try out loud together. In a sentence: “Yikes! That spider is huge.”
Yowl
A cat sound rather than a dog one. Dogs howl and cats yowl. In a sentence: “A cat gave a yowl in the alley.”
Yelp
One quick sound, unlike a yowl which goes on, so the two are worth saying back to back. In a sentence: “She let out a yelp and jumped back.”
Yellow Moon
It really does look yellower near the horizon, so this is one to go outside and check. In a sentence: “A big yellow moon hung over the roofs.”
Yard
Where the decorations go, and the part of the night a child sees before the doorstep. In a sentence: “The whole yard was full of tombstones.”
Yarn
Stretched between chairs it makes a spider web big enough to walk through. In a sentence: “We made a web out of white yarn.”
Which Y words are hardest for a preschooler to say?
Yell, Yikes, Yowl, Yelp, Yellow Moon, Yard and Yarn each start with a single /y/ sound, so a three year old can usually copy them straight back. If your child is at the copying-back stage, start with Yell.
How to use these Y words with preschoolers
Say it, then find it
Say the word out loud and stretch the first sound: yell. 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 four 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 Y 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 four spooky words, Yell, Yikes, Yowl and Yelp, on handwriting rules to write over.
Word list
Tracing sheet
More on the letter Y
This page is one letter of Halloween words A to Z. For letter formation and tracing practice, see letter Y activities for preschoolers. For animal names beginning with the same letter, see animals that start with Y, and for the winter equivalent see Christmas words that start with Y.
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 X | Halloween words that start with Z →
Frequently asked questions
What Halloween words start with Y?
Yell, Yikes, Yowl, Yelp, Yellow Moon, Yard and Yarn. All seven are listed above with a short meaning for each.
Which Halloween Y word is easiest for a preschooler?
Yell. 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 Y words?
They run from one to three. Yell, Yikes, Yowl, Yelp, Yard and Yarn 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.
