A word-search puzzle hides a set of meaningful words inside a square grid of apparently random letters. Your task is to locate each word reading horizontally, vertically or diagonally, forwards or backwards. Teachers and hobbyists favour the format because it reinforces spelling, fosters pattern recognition, and delivers a quick, low-pressure cognitive challenge.
The generator automates that creative process. Enter one word per line, adjust grid size or allow diagonal and reverse placement, and a lightweight reactive engine arranges every letter deterministically using pseudo-random seeding. Remaining cells are filled with distraction letters, colour themes are applied instantly, and you can reveal or hide the solution layer without altering the underlying puzzle.
Print the finished grid for a language lesson, birthday party, or rainy-day family activity, or share the PDF electronically with students learning remotely. Because difficulty scales with grid size and word choice, you can tailor challenges to any age. Check your word list carefully—misspellings propagate into the grid and may confuse players.
Word-search construction is a discrete optimisation exercise that balances word length, orientation, and overlap within a finite two-dimensional lattice. It treats each word as an ordered vector and attempts placement along eight compass directions. The goal is to maximise successful insertions while minimising letter conflicts, producing an engaging density of legitimate intersections. A seeded linear-congruential generator supplies reproducible pseudo-random coordinates, so identical inputs always yield identical puzzles—an essential feature for lesson planning and answer-sheet creation.
| Fill % | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| ≤ 40 | Sparse, easy |
| 41 – 70 | Moderate |
| ≥ 71 | Dense, challenging |
Ten-by-ten grid, seed “SCHOOL”, word “MALAYSIA”:
The optimisation approach mirrors heuristic placement strategies discussed in recreational-mathematics journals and leverages the Lehmer linear-congruential generator defined by Park & Miller (1988) for pseudo-random sequences.
No personal data is processed; all operations execute entirely in the browser and therefore fall outside GDPR or HIPAA scope.
Follow these steps to craft and share your custom puzzle.
Only letters A–Z are allowed. Spaces, numbers, and punctuation are removed automatically.
No. Everything runs locally in your browser; nothing is sent to a server.
Yes. Provide the same word list, grid options, and seed to generate an identical grid and answer key.
If a word cannot fit after 500 attempts it is skipped. Increase the grid size or shorten the list.
Raise the cellSize slider before exporting, or scale the PDF in your printer dialog.