How to make a word search

Give the puzzle a title and type your words, one per line or separated by commas. Pick the grid size, and choose which directions the words may run. Across and Down give an easy puzzle for young solvers, adding Diagonal makes it harder, and Backwards too makes it hard. Press New puzzle for a different arrangement of the same words. When you are happy, press Print: the page that prints has the title, the grid and the word list, and, if you leave the box ticked, a second page with the answers highlighted. Use “Show answers” to check the puzzle on screen first.

Tips for good puzzles

Choose words that share a theme, such as a school subject, a holiday, an animal group or the names of people at a party. A 10 × 10 grid fits about eight short words, 15 × 15 suits 15 to 20 words, and long words need a bigger grid than their length suggests, because they are placed first and the shorter ones work around them. Words that are longer than the grid can’t fit and are listed as skipped. Use the plain letters A to Z: the tool removes spaces, hyphens and other punctuation, so “ice cream” becomes ICECREAM in the grid and on the list, and accented letters aren’t supported.

Questions

Is my word list saved? Only on this device, so you can come back to it. Nothing is uploaded. Can I use it in class or for a party? Yes; print as many copies as you need. Why do I see a warning about words that didn’t fit? The grid was too small or crowded for that word in the chosen directions. Pick a larger grid, allow more directions, or press New puzzle to try again.