Word Search Maker

What this tool does

Word Search Maker builds a custom word-search puzzle from a comma-separated word list, placing each word in one of 8 directions (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, optionally backwards) on an adjustable grid size, with an answer-highlight toggle and a downloadable plain-text version.

Making a custom word search by hand, fitting words into a grid without overlapping conflicts, filling the rest with random letters, is fiddly and time-consuming to do manually for anything beyond a tiny puzzle.

This generator automates the whole process: give it a comma-separated word list and a grid size, and it places each word in one of 8 directions, filling the remaining cells with random letters, with a downloadable plain-text version.

How to use Word Search Maker

1. Enter your words, separated by commas.
2. Set the grid size and whether backwards/diagonal placement is allowed.
3. Toggle "Show answers" to preview the highlighted solution, or leave it off for a blank puzzle.
4. Download the puzzle as a plain-text file, or regenerate for a new random layout.

Tips for better results

• If a word can’t be fit after many placement attempts (shown in a warning), try increasing the grid size, longer words relative to a small grid are harder to place without conflicts.
• Allowing backwards and diagonal placement (the default) makes puzzles meaningfully harder to solve, since words aren’t only readable left-to-right or top-to-bottom.
• "Regenerate layout" keeps the same word list but produces a completely fresh random placement and letter fill, useful if you want a different puzzle without retyping your words.
• The downloaded text file includes both the puzzle grid and the answer word list, convenient for printing or sharing, though you may want to trim the answer list before handing out a blank puzzle to solvers.

Common use cases

• Creating a custom word search for a classroom, party, or family activity.
• Building a themed puzzle around vocabulary words, names, or a specific topic.
• Generating a printable puzzle to hand out without needing design software.
• Making multiple puzzle variations quickly from the same or different word lists.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Entering a word longer than the chosen grid size, it will be automatically skipped since it physically can’t fit, check the "couldn’t fit" warning and increase the grid size if needed.
• Downloading the text file without removing the answer list first if handing it out as an unsolved puzzle, the downloaded file includes both the grid and the answer words by default.
• Expecting identical placement every time, each regeneration produces a fresh random layout, if you need the exact same puzzle again, you’d need to save the specific downloaded file rather than regenerating.