Word Search Solver

How to use the word search solver

1. Type or paste the grid into the Letter grid box, one row per line. Spaces between letters are fine, and capitals or lower case both work.
2. Add the words to find in the second box, separated by commas or new lines. Words with spaces, like MAPLE LEAF, are searched as one run of letters, the way puzzles print them.
3. Press Solve. Found words are drawn on the grid and listed with their starting row, column and direction.
4. Tap a word in the list to make it stand out on the grid. Tap it again to show all words.

Every row needs the same number of letters. If one row is short or long, the solver tells you which row to fix, which usually catches a missed letter when copying a puzzle from a book.

Find hidden words without a list

Tick Also find every dictionary word of 5+ letters to scan the grid for any word of five letters or more, in all eight directions. This is handy when the word list is missing, when a puzzle has a hidden message, or when you want to know which extra words turned up by chance. Common words appear in bold and rarer ones in lighter text.

Worked example

The Example puzzle button loads a 12 by 12 grid with twelve Canadian words hidden in it: POUTINE, HOCKEY, BEAVER, PRAIRIE, TUNDRA, MAPLE, LOONIE, CANOE, TOQUE, MOOSE, YUKON and CURLING. The solver found all 12 of 12, and the directions show how varied a fair puzzle is:

• CANOE, TUNDRA, MOOSE, BEAVER and HOCKEY run across, left to right.
• POUTINE (row 4) and YUKON (row 7) run backwards.
• CURLING runs down the last column and LOONIE runs up.
• PRAIRIE runs diagonally down to the right, while MAPLE and TOQUE both run diagonally up to the left from row 10.

With the dictionary scan switched on, the solver also turned up 2 extra words of five letters or more that were not on the list: SPENT and PLEBE. Both formed by chance from the filler letters.

We then changed the list to MAPLE, TOQUE, BANFF and CURLING. The result was 3 of 4 found, with BANFF listed under Not found, which is right because it was never placed in the grid.

Tips for solving word searches by hand

• Hunt for rare letters first. Q, Z, X, J and K show up far less often than vowels, so scanning for them finds their words quickly. In the example, the only Q leads straight to TOQUE.
• Look for double letters. Pairs like OO or EE stand out. MOOSE and LOONIE are easy to spot once you look for the OO.
• Scan one direction at a time. Go through every row left to right, then right to left, then the columns, then the diagonals. It is slower at first but you stop missing backwards words.
• Cross off as you go. Marking found words shrinks the grid, and the leftover letters sometimes spell a bonus message.
• Use a finger or a ruler on diagonals. Diagonals are where most people lose their place, especially in big grids.

Common reasons a word is not found

• A letter was mistyped in the grid, often an O and a Q, or an I and an L.
• The puzzle uses a different spelling, such as COLOR for COLOUR.
• The word bends. Most word searches use straight lines only, but some children's puzzles allow turns. For bending paths, the Squaredle solver follows letters that touch in any direction.

Make or play more puzzles

Need words for a classroom puzzle? The random word generator and random animal generator give you a list in seconds. For other kinds of puzzles, the Boggle solver handles letter boards with paths, and the cryptogram solver works on coded quotes. Or try today's Canuckle, a daily five letter puzzle with Canadian answers.