Type 2 to 30 words, pick a square or rectangular grid and the difficulty, and print the puzzle with an answer key as a PDF.
A word search maker places your words in a grid of letters, square or rectangular,, fills every empty square with a random letter from A to Z and prints the puzzle with a list of the words to find. Words are placed longest first. For each word the tool lists every position and direction where it fits, then picks one at random. A word may cross another word only where both have the same letter in that square. If a word has no place left, the tool starts over with a new order, up to 12 times in all, and keeps the grid that holds the most words. The sample list has 8 fruit words with 41 letters in all. In a 12 by 12 grid of 144 squares at most 41 squares hold word letters, and the other 103 or more are filler.
Pick Square for one size from 8 to 25, or Rectangle to set rows and columns separately, each from 8 to 25. A word longer than the longest side cannot be placed, and the word list marks it as too long. In a rectangle, a word longer than the shorter side can only run along the longer side, because diagonals and the short direction are too short for it. Words are limited to 25 letters. Easy uses left to right and top to bottom. Medium adds the diagonal that runs down to the right. Hard uses all 8 directions, so words can also read backwards. Custom lets you switch horizontal, vertical, diagonal and backwards on and off. Backwards and diagonal words are harder to spot, so turn them off for young children. A crowded grid is harder to fill: 30 long words in an 8 by 8 grid will not all fit. For large print, use fewer, shorter words in a small grid: the letters get bigger as the grid gets smaller.
No word is dropped without telling you. If some words cannot be placed, a notice gives how many, and the word list marks each one as not placed. The PDF lists only the words that are in the grid, so the puzzle can always be solved, and its answer key page says how many words were left out. To fit them, use a bigger grid, switch on more directions, shorten the words or press New puzzle for another try. Words are cleaned before placing: spaces inside a word are removed, so ice cream becomes ICECREAM with 8 letters. Accents are removed, so CAFE replaces the accented spelling. Numbers, hyphens, symbols and letters from other alphabets are refused with a message, and a word that appears twice counts once.
Download PDF makes two pages on Letter or A4 paper, in portrait or landscape. Page 1 has your title, the letter grid and the word list. Page 2 repeats the grid with the placed words shaded and in bold letters, so you can check answers fast. Cells are always square and the grid is centred. The tool picks the biggest cell that fits the grid and the word list on the page, and shrinks the list font only when the cells would otherwise get small. The two Fits buttons set rows and columns that fill the chosen paper for your current number of words. The preview on screen draws a stroke through each word when you turn on the answers. The PDF uses the standard Helvetica font, which prints Latin letters, digits and common punctuation. If the title has other characters, such as Greek or Chinese letters, the download button is switched off and says so. The tool does not draw shapes other than rectangles, set a theme, add clues or make crosswords. Words and titles stay in this tab and are not uploaded.
Type 2 to 30 words, one per line, in the box. The puzzle appears at once, 12 by 12 squares by default. Choose Square or Rectangle, set the size from 8 to 25, pick Easy, Medium or Hard, add a title and press Download PDF for the puzzle and the answer key.
They did not fit. A word longer than the longest side of the grid cannot be placed and is marked too long. A crowded grid can also run out of room for the last words. Try a 15 by 15 grid instead of 10 by 10, switch on more directions or press New puzzle.
Yes. Under Shape choose Rectangle and set rows and columns, each from 8 to 25, for example 15 columns by 20 rows. The Fits portrait page and Fits landscape page buttons pick a size that fills the paper. A word longer than the shorter side can only run along the longer side.
The PDF always has it on page 2: the same grid with each placed word shaded and in bold letters. On screen, turn on Show the answers on screen to see the words shaded in the grid.
US Letter (8.5 by 11 inches) or A4 (210 by 297 mm), in portrait or landscape. The cells are square and sized to fit the grid and the word list on the page, so a 25 by 25 grid has smaller letters than a 10 by 10 grid.
No. The text is processed in your browser and not uploaded. The PDF is built on your device. Only the options, such as shape, grid size, difficulty, title and page, are saved in this browser, never your words.