Word Search Sizes, Levels, Themes and Variations
The heart of a word search never changes: a grid of letters, a list of words, find them all. What changes is how big the grid is, which directions the words may run, and what the words are about. This page explains the choices in our game and then looks at other kinds of word search you may have met in puzzle books and newspapers.
The Three Sizes
Choose a size with New Puzzle. The size sets how many letters are in the grid and how many words are hidden.
| Size | Grid | Words | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | 8 by 8 | 8 | The biggest letters. A quick puzzle of a few minutes. The best choice on a phone. |
| Medium | 10 by 10 | 12 | The everyday size. Fits a phone held upright with letters that are still large. |
| Large | 14 by 14 | 18 | A longer sit-down puzzle with longer words. For tablets and computers. |
Why Large is not offered on a small phone: fourteen letters across a narrow screen would have to be tiny, and we would rather not make anyone squint. Large appears as a choice when the screen is wide enough for comfortable letters: on a tablet, a computer, or most phones turned sideways. If you open a Large puzzle on a narrow screen anyway (from a saved game, say), the grid keeps its full-size letters and scrolls sideways inside its own box. In that case you mark words by tapping the first and last letter.
The Three Levels
The level decides which directions words may run. The words themselves are no harder.
- Easy: across from left to right, and down from top to bottom. Two directions.
- Normal: adds the two slants, read from left to right. Four directions.
- Hard: adds every direction in reverse, so words can be spelled backwards, upwards, or backwards on a slant. Eight directions.
Whatever the level, you may mark a word starting from either end. On every level each listed word appears in the grid exactly once, in any direction, so a word never turns up a second time backwards to trip you up.
Size and level are separate choices. A Small puzzle on Hard is a nice way to practice backwards words without a big grid to search. A Large puzzle on Easy is a long, restful one.
The Themes
Every puzzle draws its words from one theme. Our word lists were written for this site, with common words you will recognize and no brand names:
- Outdoors and nature: Garden Flowers, Backyard Birds, Trees, Weather, Woodland Animals, Working in the Garden
- Food: Fruit Bowl, Vegetable Patch, Baking Day, Herbs and Spices, Breakfast Table
- Home and hobbies: In the Kitchen, Around the House, Quilting and Sewing, In the Toolbox, Musical Instruments
- Out and about: Gone Fishing, At the Beach, Camping Trip, Road Trip, On the Farm
- And more: US States, Dogs, Colors, Holidays and Celebrations
Each theme has more than thirty words, and each puzzle picks a different handful, so the same theme gives many different puzzles. If you do not mind which theme you get, choose Surprise me and the puzzle number will pick one.
One more thing happens behind the scenes. After the words are placed, the leftover squares are filled with random letters, and random letters can spell things by accident. The game checks every row, column and diagonal, in both directions, and changes letters until nothing rude is spelled anywhere.
Puzzle Numbers and the Daily Puzzle
Every puzzle has a number, shown above the grid (for example, Puzzle #48213). The number, together with the theme, size and level, decides exactly where every letter goes. That has two handy uses:
- Play a puzzle again. Type its number into Settings and you get the same grid.
- Share a puzzle. Tell a friend the number, theme, size and level, and you will both be looking at the same letters.
The Daily Puzzle button uses today's date to choose the number, and the number chooses the theme. Everyone who presses it on the same day gets the same puzzle at the size and level they have chosen. A new one arrives at midnight by your own clock.
The Optional Timer
Most online word searches put a clock front and center. Ours does not. A word search is meant to be restful, and a ticking clock is the opposite of restful. If you like to time yourself, turn on Show a timer in Settings. It counts up quietly, pauses when you leave the page, and never runs out.
Other Kinds of Word Search
Puzzle books have dreamed up many twists on the basic idea. Here are the ones you are most likely to meet.
Hidden message puzzles
When all the words are circled, the letters left over spell a saying or the answer to a riddle, read row by row. It is a clever touch, though it means every leftover letter is planned and the grid must be packed tight with words. Our puzzles use random filler instead, which is what lets them be made fresh without end.
No word list
Some puzzles give only a theme ("find 15 vegetables") and no list. You have to think of the words as well as find them. These are a good deal harder, and you can never be quite sure you are finished.
Clue puzzles
Instead of the words themselves, the list gives clues, as in a crossword: "yellow spring flower" for DAFFODIL. You solve the clue first, then find the answer in the grid.
Snaking words
In a few puzzles the words bend, turning corners like a path through a maze. These are a different sort of challenge, and not what most people mean by a word search. In ours, every word is a straight line.
Shaped and giant grids
Printed puzzles sometimes come in the shape of a heart, a tree or a star, or as giant grids of 30 by 30 with a hundred words. They are fun on a big sheet of paper. On a screen, a square grid with large letters is kinder to the eyes, so that is what we use.
Number searches
The same game with digits: the list has numbers like 48213 and 90210, and the grid is all digits. Without the familiar shapes of words to help, it is surprisingly tricky.
Which Setting Should I Start With?
If you are new, or playing on a phone, start with Small or Medium on Easy. When that feels comfortable, move to Normal. Our strategy guide has tips for spotting slanted and backwards words, and the rules page shows each direction with an example.