Word Search Generator
Create printable word search puzzles. Enter up to 15 words, choose grid size and directions, and get a checklist of every word it managed to hide.
Click Generate to create your puzzle
About the Word Search Generator
Word search puzzles hide words in a grid of letters — the words can be placed horizontally, vertically, or diagonally depending on the difficulty setting. This generator places the longest words first to minimise placement failures, then fills the remaining cells with random letters. Choose a larger grid or fewer directions for easier puzzles; smaller grids with all 8 directions are more challenging. The puzzle is generated entirely in your browser.
Built and maintained by Meet Shah · Last updated
What this tool is used for
- Making a printable puzzle for a class, a party or a newsletter.
- Producing a themed puzzle from a vocabulary list.
- Generating a puzzle with a solution checklist to verify every word placed.
- Creating a grid at a size that suits the age group.
- Producing a quick activity sheet without design software.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What do the direction settings actually allow?
- Horizontal only places words left-to-right and right-to-left. The four-direction setting adds the vertical axis in both directions, and all eight adds the diagonals. Each setting takes the first N entries of one ordered list, so the pairs are grouped by axis — the first two used to be one horizontal and one vertical.
- Why did a word vanish without appearing as skipped?
- Words longer than the grid are dropped while the list is cleaned, before placement is ever attempted, so a 15-letter word on a 12×12 grid never reaches the skipped list. Only words that were tried and failed appear there. Non-letters are stripped too, so CAFÉ becomes CAF rather than being transliterated.
- How does placement work?
- Longest words first, then up to 200 random attempts each: choose a direction and a starting cell, check the run fits inside the grid, then check every cell is empty or already holds the matching letter. That last test is what lets words cross and share letters the way a printed puzzle does.
- Why is the grid different every time I press Generate?
- Placement is random and unseeded, so the same inputs produce a new arrangement each run. The word list, grid size and direction setting all travel in the URL; the arrangement does not, so a shared link reproduces the ingredients rather than the puzzle. Download the text version to keep a specific one.
- Does Show Answers mark the grid?
- No — it highlights the word list only, so it is a checklist of what was successfully hidden rather than a solution key with positions. The copied and downloaded text carries the grid and the placed words for the same reason: enough to print and solve, not enough to solve from.
Common errors and gotchas
- Supplying words longer than the grid, which then cannot be placed at all.
- Ignoring the placement checklist, so the puzzle ships missing a word.
- Choosing a grid too small for the word count, which forces heavy overlap and unreadable filler.
- Allowing diagonals and reversals for young solvers, which makes it far harder than intended.
- Printing at a scale where the letters become too small to read.
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