Thanksgiving Fill-in-the-Blank Stories

If you are searching for Thanksgiving mad libs, these are our own fill-in-the-blank stories: 10 short Thanksgiving tales we wrote, from a pumpkin pie that rolls away to a toast for the grown-ups’ table. One person asks for each word, a noun, a verb, an adjective, an animal, without reading the story out. When every blank is filled, read the story aloud and hear how your words turned it upside down. Play right here on a phone or a laptop, with a button that fills any blank you are stuck on with a random word, or print the word list and the story with numbered blanks for the table or the classroom. When you have a favorite, print it filled in as a keepsake with your words in bold. You can also write your own story: type it with blanks in square brackets, like [noun] or [verb ending in -ing], then fill it in and print it the same way. US Letter or A4, colour or black and white, with our own fall borders. Free, with no sign-up and no watermark.

Nothing to upload. Stories are filled in your browser.

How to play a Thanksgiving fill-in-the-blank story

1. Pick a story. The list says which ones suit kids, everyone, or grown-ups.
2. Without reading the story, ask the players for each word on the list: a noun, a verb, a color and so on. Type the answers in the boxes.
3. Stuck? Press Fill the empty ones for me, and the empty blanks get random words.
4. Press Read my story, and read it out loud with everyone’s words in it.
5. To play on paper, download the blank PDF: page 1 is the word list, page 2 the story with numbered blanks. To keep a favorite, download the filled-in story.
6. To write your own, choose Write your own story, type it with blanks like [noun] or [adjective], and play or print it like the others.

What you can use it for

• A game at the table while the turkey rests
• A road-trip game on the way to the family dinner
• A grammar warm-up on nouns, verbs and adjectives before the November break
• A keepsake page with the whole family’s words on it
• A party game for grown-ups with the toast, the first-time host or the group chat
• A story of your own about your family, with blanks for the guests to fill

The 10 stories

Story	For	Blanks	Word types	Words in the story
The Runaway Pie	Kids	12	8	100
The Great Leaf Pile	Kids	11	9	96
Thank-You Notes	Kids	12	8	88
The Parade Balloon	Everyone	15	13	102
The Dinner Table Mix-Up	Everyone	16	13	105
The Thanksgiving Toast	Grown-ups	17	12	101
Grandma’s Secret Recipe	Kids	14	11	101
The Road Trip to Grandpa’s	Everyone	16	12	102
The First-Time Host	Grown-ups	13	11	113
The Family Group Chat	Grown-ups	15	13	109

All 10 written by us for this page, 141 blanks in all. Counted by the tool. The blanks are numbered in the order they appear in the story.

Write your own story

Type this in your story	Blank on the word list
[noun]	Noun
[plural noun]	Plural noun
[verb]	Verb
[verb ending in -ing]	Verb ending in -ing
[past tense verb]	Verb, past tense
[adjective]	Adjective
[adverb]	Adverb
[number]	Number
[color]	Color
[food]	Food
[animal]	Animal
[body part]	Body part
[place]	Place
[exclamation]	Exclamation
[name]	Name of someone in the room
[silly word]	Silly word
Any other words in brackets, like [famous person]	A blank labelled Famous person (no random words)

Capitals and a or an in front do not matter: [Adjective] and [an adjective] both work. The random-word button fills the word types in the table and leaves your own labels to the players. Up to 60 blanks. Your story stays on your device and is not saved, so copy it somewhere if you want to keep it.

Word types, with examples

Word type	What it means	Examples	Random words ready
Noun	A person, place or thing	hat, spoon, tractor	12
Plural noun	More than one thing	socks, pancakes, buckets	12
Verb	An action word	jump, wiggle, sing	12
Verb ending in -ing	An action word ending in -ing	dancing, sneezing, juggling	12
Verb, past tense	An action that already happened	tripped, giggled, painted	12
Adjective	A describing word	fluffy, sparkly, grumpy	15
Adverb	How something is done, often ending in -ly	quickly, loudly, gently	10
Number	Any number	7, 42, 100	10
Color	Any color	purple, green, gold	10
Food	Something to eat	spaghetti, waffle, broccoli	10
Animal	Any animal	llama, goose, hedgehog	10
Body part	A part of the body	elbow, nose, knee	10
Place	A place or building	library, bakery, fire station	10
Exclamation	Something you shout	Wow, Yikes, Hooray	10
Name of someone in the room	A person playing or sitting nearby	Grandma, Leo, Aunt Rosa	8
Silly word	A made-up word	zibble, flumph, snorkelpop	8

The examples print beside each blank on the word list, so players can check what kind of word to give. The random-word button picks from the words counted in the last column, and does not repeat a word within one story while others are left.

What you can print

Page	What is on it
Word list	One numbered line per blank, with the word type, a hint and examples, and a Player line
Story with blanks	The story with a numbered line for each blank, labelled with its word type
Filled-in story	The story with your words in bold and underlined, an optional Words by line and, when the story leaves room, a box to draw your favorite part

Each page is US Letter or A4, in colour or black and white, with one of our own fall borders: leaves and acorns, pumpkins, corn and wheat, pies and cranberries, a plain frame or none.

More Thanksgiving games and printables

Need more words for a game? The Random Word Generator picks nouns, verbs and adjectives. For puzzles, try the Crossword Maker or the Word Search Maker.

• Turn a story into a comic: Comic Strip Maker.
• Name cards for each seat: Place Card Template.
• A prize for the funniest story: Certificate Maker.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free?

Yes. There is no sign-up, no email and no watermark, and you can play and print as often as you like.

How do you play a fill-in-the-blank story?

One person holds the word list and asks each player in turn for a word of the type shown, such as an adjective or an animal, without saying anything about the story. When every blank has a word, that person reads the story out loud with the words in place.

What is a noun, a verb, an adjective and an adverb?

A noun is a person, place or thing, like hat. A verb is an action word, like jump. An adjective describes something, like fluffy. An adverb says how something is done, and often ends in -ly, like loudly. The word list prints a hint and three examples beside every blank.

Which story is best for young children?

The 4 kids’ stories use simple word types: names, animals, colors, numbers and describing words. Every story has between 11 and 17 blanks.

Which stories suit grown-ups?

The Thanksgiving Toast, The First-Time Host and The Family Group Chat are written for a grown-up table: the jokes are about toasts, hosting and family plans, and they stay family-friendly. The Everyone stories work for mixed ages.

Can I write my own story?

Yes. Choose Write your own story and type it, putting each blank in square brackets, like [noun], [plural noun] or [verb ending in -ing]. Any other words in brackets, like [famous person], make a blank with that label. Up to 60 blanks and 3,000 characters; a blank line starts a new paragraph. Then fill it in, read it, or print the word list, the story and the keepsake.

Can we play on a phone?

Yes. Type the words in the boxes under Play on this page and press Read my story. The story appears with your words highlighted, and you can change a word and read it again.

What does Fill the empty ones for me do?

It puts a random word of the right type in every blank that is still empty, and leaves the words you typed alone. Use it when a player is stuck, or for a quick laugh.

Can I print the story already filled in?

Yes. Fill in the words, then press Filled-in story PDF. Your words print in bold and underlined, with an optional Words by line at the bottom. Blanks you left empty print as lines.

Can I print every story at once?

Yes. Choose All stories, Kids, Everyone or Grown-ups under Every story in one PDF and press Stories PDF. Each of our 10 stories prints as its word list followed by the story with numbered blanks.

When is Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving Day in the United States is the fourth Thursday of November: Thursday, November 26, 2026, and Thursday, November 25, 2027, as the U.S. Office of Personnel Management lists them.

Can I use the stories in class or sell them?

Yes. The designs are our own drawings: you may use them and anything you make with them, including things you sell, with no credit needed.

Are our words uploaded?

No. The stories are filled in and the PDFs are made in your browser, and nothing is saved.