Word Search Maker (Printable Puzzle)

Turn any word list into a word search puzzle for a classroom, party or newsletter. The longest words are placed first, overlapping where letters match, and the empty squares are filled with random letters. You choose the grid size, the directions (horizontal, vertical, diagonal and backwards) and capital or small letters; the puzzle and its answer key download as a printable PDF, or as PNG images for Korean and other scripts.

How to use this tool

1. Enter a title and your words, one per line.
2. Set the grid size and tick the directions; backwards words make it harder.
3. Press Calculate; any word that did not fit is listed.
4. Download the PDF (puzzle and answer key) and print it at 100%.

Formula

For each word (longest first): list every start square and direction where it fits (empty squares or matching letters), pick one at random, then fill the remaining squares with random letters

A seeded random generator makes the layout repeatable: the same seed, words and settings always give the same puzzle. For Latin text the filler letters are A–Z; for other scripts they are taken from the letters of your own words, so the hidden words do not stand out.

Example

The default list of 10 animals in a 15 × 15 grid with horizontal, vertical and diagonal words places all 10 words. The PDF has 2 pages: the puzzle with the word list, and the answer key with each word highlighted. A 6 × 6 grid cannot hold "hippopotamus", which is reported instead of being cut off.