Word search solver

How to use the word search solver

1. Type or paste the letter grid, one row per line. Spaces, commas and row numbers are ignored, so a grid copied from a PDF or a web page works as it is.
2. Add the words to find, one per line or split by commas. Phrases like ICE CREAM are fine: the solver drops the space, the same way the puzzle does.
3. Press Find words. Every word it finds turns green on the grid.
4. Tap a word to light it up on its own and see the row and column where it starts.

Not sure how it looks? Press Try an example to load our own 12 by 12 puzzle with 28 words. The page address keeps your grid and list, so you can send the link to a friend stuck on the same puzzle.

Every direction, diagonals and backwards

Words in a word search run in a straight line, in any of eight directions: across, down, the two diagonals, and each of those read backwards. The solver checks all eight from every letter, so a word hidden bottom to top or on a backward diagonal is found as easily as one that reads across.

Easy puzzles for kids often use only across and down. Untick Diagonals or Backwards words to match the rules of your puzzle, and the solver skips those directions. Words never wrap from the end of one row to the start of the next.

No word list? Find every word in the grid

Some puzzles hide words without listing them, and sometimes the list is simply lost. Leave the words box empty and the solver reads every straight line in the grid against a large English word list. You get every word of four letters or more, longest first, with everyday words ahead of rare ones. Pick 3+ to see short words too, or a higher number to cut the list down. Tap any word to find it on the grid.

The hidden message in the leftover letters

Many printed puzzles hide a bonus answer. Once every word on the list is circled, the letters nobody used, read row by row, spell a message. When the solver finds all your words, it shows those leftover letters below the grid. In our example they spell HAPPY HUNTING. Open the example to see it.

How to solve a word search by hand

• Start with the rare letters. Q, Z, X and J show up only a few times in a grid, so a word with one of them is quick to pin down.
• Look for double letters. The LL in SPELLING or the ZZ in PUZZLE stands out when you scan a row.
• Hunt the first two letters together. Find each first letter, then check the eight letters around it for the second one. Only follow the lines that match.
• Scan one direction at a time. Read every row, then every column, then the diagonals, rather than jumping around the grid.
• Cross words off as you go. A shorter list makes the last few words easier to spot.

More grid puzzles

In a word search the letters sit in straight lines. In swipe and dice games they bend from tile to tile, and those need a different solver: the Word Hunt solver, the Boggle solver and the Squaredle solver trace every path. For a single jumbled word, use the anagram solver.