How to Play Word Search
A word search is one of the friendliest puzzles there is. You get a square full of letters and a list of words, and somewhere in that jumble every word on the list is spelled out in a straight line. Find them all and the puzzle is done. You do not need to know any trivia, and there is nothing to add up. If you have ever circled words in the back pages of a newspaper or a puzzle book from the grocery store checkout, you already know the idea. This page explains the rules our free game uses, shows the directions words can run, and walks through a few examples.
The Goal
Find every word on the list. That is all. There is no score to beat and no clock running. A puzzle takes anywhere from two minutes to twenty, depending on its size and level and on how the letters happen to fall.
What You See on the Screen
- The grid is a square of capital letters. Small puzzles are 8 letters wide and 8 tall, Medium ones are 10 by 10, and Large ones are 14 by 14.
- The word list shows the words hidden in this grid, in alphabetical order. It sits beside the grid on a computer or tablet, and below it on a phone.
- The message box tells you what just happened and what to do next, in plain words.
- The theme and puzzle number are shown above the grid, for example "Theme: Garden Flowers" and "Puzzle #48213".
- The buttons are Hint, New Puzzle, Daily Puzzle and Settings.
How Words Hide in the Grid
Four simple rules cover every puzzle:
- Every word is in one straight line. A word never turns a corner, and it never skips over a letter.
- Every word on the list is in the grid exactly once. If you spot a word, that is the one. You will not find a second copy to confuse you.
- Words may cross. Two words can share a letter where they meet, the way words do in a crossword. A letter can belong to two or even three words.
- The other letters are filler. Once the words are placed, the empty squares are filled with extra letters. They do not mean anything.
Words made of two parts, such as NEW YORK or BLUE JAY, are written in the grid without the space: NEWYORK, BLUEJAY. The list still shows them the normal way.
The Directions a Word Can Run
A straight line of letters can be read eight ways: left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top, and the same four on the two diagonals. How many of those the puzzle uses is up to you. It depends on the level you choose.
| Level | Directions used | How it feels |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | Across (left to right) and down (top to bottom) | Words read the way you read a page. A good place to start. |
| Normal | Across, down, and both slants, always moving left to right | The classic newspaper puzzle. Slanted words take a little more looking. |
| Hard | All eight, including words spelled backwards and upwards | The same words, but your eye has to be ready for ESOR as well as ROSE. |
On Normal, a slanted word either goes down and to the right, like walking down a staircase, or up and to the right, like walking up one. Either way its first letter is at the left end.
How to Mark a Word
When you have found a word, tell the game. There are two ways, and you can mix them as you please.
Drag across it
Put your finger (or the mouse pointer, holding the button down) on one end of the word and slide to the other end. A light band follows your finger and snaps to a straight line, so you do not need a steady hand. Let go on the last letter.
Tap the first letter, then the last
If dragging is awkward, tap one end of the word. That letter gets a dark circle, and the message box says which letter you marked. Now tap the other end of the word. You never have to touch the letters in between. To take the mark off, tap the marked letter again.
With a keyboard
Press Tab until a letter in the grid is outlined. Move around with the arrow keys. Press Enter on the first letter of a word, move to its last letter, and press Enter again. Escape takes the mark off.
Either end is fine. You can mark a word from its first letter to its last or from its last to its first. The game accepts both, on every level.
What Happens When You Find a Word
- The word gets a colored band with a dark edge in the grid, like the loop you would draw with a pencil.
- On the list, the word is crossed off and gets a check mark, so you can tell what is left at a glance.
- The message box says "You found ROSE!" and tells you how many words are still to go.
- Your puzzle is saved. You can close the page and come back later.
If the letters you marked are not a word on the list, nothing bad happens. The message box tells you so, and you try again. There are no penalties and no limit on tries.
A Worked Example
Here is a tiny grid with three hidden words: OAK, PINE and ELM.
| P | I | N | E |
| T | O | R | L |
| S | A | D | M |
| B | K | U | W |
- PINE is the whole top row, read across. Tap the P, then the E.
- ELM starts at the E in the top right corner and reads down the last column: E, L, M. Notice that this E is also the last letter of PINE. The two words cross there and share it.
- OAK starts at the O in the second row and reads straight down: O, A, K.
All three run across or down, so this would be an Easy puzzle. The letters T, R, S, D, B, U and W are filler.
Now picture the same puzzle on the Hard level. OAK might be written upward instead: the O in the bottom row, the A above it and the K above that. You would spot the O and then read up the column. On the same level PINE could run from right to left, so the row would show ENIP. That small switch is all "backwards" means.
The Hint Button
Press Hint and the game picks the first word on the list you have not found. It puts a thick ring around that word's first letter in the grid and names the word in the message box, with the row and column to look at. The rest is still yours to find: which way does the word run from there? Tap the ringed letter, then the word's last letter, and it is marked.
Hints are free. The game counts how many you used and mentions it quietly at the end, only so you can try for fewer next time if you like.
Finishing, and What Comes Next
When the last word is crossed off, a small box says the puzzle is complete. From there you can choose Next Puzzle for a fresh grid with the theme, size and level you last chose, or Replay This Puzzle to do the same one again from the start.
New Puzzle on the toolbar lets you change the theme, the size or the level at any time. Daily Puzzle opens the one puzzle chosen for today's date, which is the same for everybody.
Common Questions About the Rules
- Can a word bend around a corner? Never. Every word is one straight line.
- Can one letter be part of two words? Yes. Words cross and share letters.
- What if I see a real word that is not on the list? It is an accident of the filler letters and does not count. Only the listed words are marked.
- Is there ever a word on the list that is missing from the grid? No. The words are placed first, and the game checks that each one is there exactly once before it shows you the puzzle.
- Can I get stuck? No. There are no wrong moves to undo, and Hint will always point at the next word.
- Where can I learn to spot words faster? Our strategy guide has a dozen practical tips. If you like quiet one-player puzzles, try Mahjong Solitaire or a jigsaw puzzle too.