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CornerTools

Word Search Maker

Make a printable word search from your own words: grid size, directions, an answer key, and play it online.

  • TIGER
  • ZEBRA
  • PANDA
  • KOALA
  • OTTER
  • CAMEL
  • HORSE
  • EAGLE
  • SHARK
  • WHALE
  • GIRAFFE
  • PENGUIN

Print, download and share

Paper
Download

The link holds the words and the layout, and opens the puzzle ready to play. They sit after the # in the link, which browsers never send to a server.

12 words, up to 60, each 2 to 25 letters. Spaces and hyphens are left out of the grid.

Difficulty
Other squares

No word of 3 letters or more appears twice by chance.

Letters

Type a list of words and the maker hides them in a grid of letters, ready to print with an answer key, save as an image, play on the page, or send as a link. It works for a spelling list, a class topic, a party or a puzzle in Hindi, French or any other language.

How to use it

  • Words — one per line or separated by commas, up to 60, each 2 to 25 letters. Spaces, hyphens and punctuation are left out of the grid and kept in the word list, so ice cream is hidden as ICECREAM. A word typed twice is used once. Sample words fills in a themed list and its title, to try the maker without typing.
  • Title and Instructions — printed above the grid.
  • Difficulty — Easy hides words across and down, Medium adds both diagonals, and Hard adds every direction read backwards. The four direction boxes set any other mix.
  • Grid size — from 8 × 8 to 30 × 30. Automatic picks the smallest grid all the words fit in.
  • Words can cross — on by default: two words may share a square where they have the same letter.
  • Other squares — random letters, or letters drawn from your words in the proportions they use them, which makes the words harder to spot.
  • Letters — capitals or small letters.

New layout hides the same words in a new arrangement. Show answers marks every word on the grid. Print prints the puzzle on one page and, unless you untick it, the answer key on the next, on A4 or Letter paper; the print dialog can also save them as a PDF. PNG and SVG download the puzzle or the answer key as an image.

Play turns the grid into a game: drag across a word, or tap its first and last letters, and it is crossed off the list. A timer starts with the first try and pauses while the tab is hidden. With a keyboard, move with the arrow keys and press Enter on a word's first and last letters.

Copy link gives a link that opens the same puzzle ready to play. The words travel after the # in the link, a part browsers never send to a server, so nothing is stored anywhere but in the link and on your device.

How the grid is built

The longest words go in first, since they are the hardest to fit. For each word the maker lists every position and direction where it fits, and picks one of them at random. An automatic grid starts at the size of the longest word, or larger when needed to keep the words to about 60% of the squares, and grows one row and column at a time until every word fits. A grid of a fixed size never drops a word silently: one that has no room is named under the grid.

Random letters can spell a listed word a second time, which leaves a player with two answers for one word. After filling, the maker searches the grid in the chosen directions for every word of 3 letters or more and redraws a filler letter inside each extra copy until none is left. When letters drawn from your words keep spelling them again, as with very short or repetitive words, the grid falls back to random letters and says so. A word that sits inside another, such as cat in catalog, is named under the grid, and either copy counts in play.

Each square holds one letter as a reader sees it, so a Hindi conjunct such as क्ष or an accented é takes one square. For words without Latin letters, random filler comes from the words' own letters, so the grid stays in one script.

Examples

Six animals, Easy

Words
Tiger, Zebra, Panda, Koala, Otter, Camel
Difficulty
Easy, other options as they start
Grid
A P A N D A Z K
O H U U R C C U
T V O I H A U J
T B T F D M Z Y
E X S I H E E P
R S L D X L B R
T T I G E R R R
K O A L A V A W

The 8 × 8 grid hides Tiger across, Zebra down, Panda across, Koala across, Otter down, Camel down. Open this puzzle to play it; New layout would hide the same words elsewhere.

Frequently asked questions

For young children, 8 to 10 words in a 10 × 10 grid on Easy, in capitals. Older pupils manage 15 to 20 words in a 15 × 15 grid on Medium or Hard. Every extra row and column makes the letters smaller on the printed page, so a grid over 20 × 20 suits adults and keen solvers.
Choose A4 or Letter to match your paper before printing. Each page is scaled to fit inside the margins, so the grid fills the width of the page whatever its size. Choose “Save as PDF” in the print dialog to keep a copy or print several later.
Yes. Type the words in any script and each letter takes one square, with matras and conjuncts kept whole. One caution for a shared link: browser versions have split some Hindi conjuncts into letters differently, so a link opened in another browser can show a different grid. Print or download the puzzle to be sure everyone gets the same one.

See also