Word Search
Find every hidden word in the letter grid, in any of eight directions.
FAQ
Which directions are the words hidden in?
How do I select a word?
Where do the words come from?
Where is my best time kept?
How to use
- Pick a grid and a word count
Choose a 10×10, 12×12 or 15×15 grid, then pick six, eight or ten hidden words. Changing either option deals a fresh puzzle straight away.
- Drag across a word
Press on the first letter, drag to the last letter and release. On a touch screen, swipe across the word. A hit stays highlighted and is crossed off the list.
- Scan all eight directions
Words run horizontally, vertically and diagonally, forwards or backwards. Clear one direction at a time and save the short words for last.
- Beat your best time
The timer starts on your first drag and stops when the last word is found. The best time for each grid and word count pair is kept in this browser.
- Pause and keyboard
Pause stops the clock at any time, and the game pauses itself when the tab is hidden. Move the cursor with the arrow keys, set the start and end with Enter, and press N for a new round.
About this tool
Word search is the classic letter-grid puzzle that almost everyone meets on a worksheet first. A square full of letters hides a short list of words along rows, columns and diagonals, and each word reads either forwards or backwards. The rules take one sentence to learn. Finishing quickly takes a scanning habit: sweep in straight lines, watch shared letters, and trust the word list over your memory. This version keeps that feel. The English page draws on themed banks for animals, food, colours and school, and the Chinese page uses matching Chinese words.
Everything runs in the browser. The generator places every word in one of eight directions and allows crossings on shared letters. When a word cannot fit, the board starts over, so every finished grid is fully solvable. Leftover cells get random letters drawn from the alphabet or from a pool of common Chinese characters. Pick a 10 by 10, 12 by 12 or 15 by 15 grid and six, eight or ten words. The timer and the found counter track the round. Your best time for each pair is stored locally, and nothing leaves the page.
How it works
Building a fair grid is the interesting part. Words are placed longest first, each with a random direction and a random start position that keeps every letter inside the grid. A spot is legal when every cell along the path is empty or already holds the same letter, which is exactly how crossings appear. Short words go last because they fit in the leftovers. When a word cannot find a legal spot after many tries, the whole board is regenerated. No puzzle ever ships with an unfindable word. Filler letters reuse letters from the hidden words to make the decoys more convincing.
Selection is strict about geometry. A valid answer is one straight line. Every step must continue in the same one of the eight directions, so a bent path can never match. On a hit the letters along the line are compared with the word list forwards and backwards. The word is highlighted, crossed off and counted once. Re-selecting a finished word does not inflate the counter, and the round ends the moment the list is clear. The same rules cover mouse drags, touch swipes and the keyboard cursor, which keeps practice consistent across devices.
When to use it
- A warm-up before class
Project a themed round at the start of a lesson and let the class call out what they find. Eight words take about three minutes, the vocabulary is concrete, and the grid works on a shared screen or on printed sheets. It is an easy way to turn spelling revision into a small contest.
- Two minutes in a queue
A round fits into the gap before a meeting, a bus or an order number. There is nothing to install, the board opens instantly, and the pause button stops the clock the moment you look away. Because a lost round costs nothing, it is an easy way to reset your attention without falling into a feed.
- Reading practice for kids
On the Chinese page the hidden words are the animals, foods and colours children meet first. A parent reads a word from the list, the child hunts for its characters and crosses it off. The found counter gives the round a clear finish, and the larger grids keep stronger readers busy.
Tips & tricks
- Hunt the longest words first; the short ones usually hide near the crossings.
- Sweep row by row instead of staring at the whole grid.
- Stuck words are usually backwards or diagonal, so change direction before you change words.
Things to watch
- Scanning one direction only
Most misses come from reading the grid in one direction only. Reverse and diagonal words are invisible to a left-to-right habit. Finish one direction, then deliberately re-scan for backwards words, and the word list empties much faster with far less second-guessing.
- Ignoring shared letters
Words cross and borrow letters from each other all the time. If a word refuses to appear, look again at the words you already found and follow the letters around their crossings. A crossing point is often the start of the word you are missing.
- Dragging a bent path
Only a straight line can match, so a path that bends never hits, no matter how carefully it follows the letters. Fix the first and last letters before you press, and commit to one direction instead of dragging around to test shapes on the fly.