Build a crossword from your own words
Put one answer on each line with its clue after an equals sign. The grid interlocks the words as you type, numbers the squares and sorts the clues into Across and Down. Everything runs in your browser, so your class list never leaves this device.
Write the answer, then an equals sign or a colon, then the clue. A line with no clue still goes in the grid: leave every clue off and the sheet prints a word bank instead.
Class set: a different layout for every child
Paste your class list, up to 60 names, and Download PDF builds one crossword per child from the same words and clues in a different arrangement. Each layout is generated from the child's name, so a reprint later produces the identical sheet. Download PNG saves the single crossword shown in the preview.
Runs entirely in your browser, so nothing is uploaded. Every clue is read back out of the finished grid before it prints, so a number never points at squares that spell something else.
Clues if you have them, a word bank if you do not
- Clues optional A list with no clues prints an alphabetical word bank above the grid, which is the standard format for a spelling list that has no definitions attached.
- One list, many layouts Paste the roster once. The words and clues stay identical across the class, so marking needs one key, while every arrangement differs.
- Reprints match Each layout comes from the child's name, so a replacement sheet weeks later is the same puzzle and your answer key still works.
- Nothing unclued A crossword can accidentally spell a word nobody asked for where two answers sit side by side. The builder refuses those placements, so every run of squares on the sheet is a word from your list.
A crossword needs its answers to share letters, so a list of words with nothing in common will leave some of them out. Anything that cannot cross an answer already on the grid is named under the preview rather than dropped quietly. If your list is short on shared letters, the word search maker hides any list at all, and the word scramble maker works one word at a time. For the same list as handwriting practice, use the sight word tracing sheets.
Crossword Maker FAQ
Type one answer per line, then an equals sign or a colon, then its clue. The grid interlocks the answers as you type, numbers each starting square and sorts the clues into Across and Down. Press Download PDF or Download PNG when it looks right. Nothing is uploaded and there is no sign-up.
No. A line with just a word still goes into the grid. If you leave every clue off, the sheet prints an alphabetical word bank above the crossword instead, which is how a spelling list is usually set when it has no definitions attached. Mixing clued and unclued lines is fine too: the unclued ones print a reminder to write your own.
Yes, and this is the reason the page exists. Open the class-set box, paste your roster one name per line, and the tool builds a separate layout for every child from the identical words and clues. The answers are the same, the arrangement is not, so a child copying from the desk beside them gets nothing. Up to 60 names in one job.
Yes. Each layout is generated from the child's name, so reprinting a lost sheet in week three produces the identical puzzle, not a new one. That also means the answer key you kept still matches.
A crossword answer has to cross a word that is already on the grid, so it needs at least one letter in common with them. A word that shares no letter with anything placed, or one longer than the 24 squares the grid allows, is named under the preview instead of being silently dropped. Every word that does fit is still placed, and the clue list only ever names answers that are genuinely in the grid.
Tick Include answer key and the print job adds a filled grid after the puzzles. On a class set the keys are grouped at the end rather than behind each child's sheet, so you can keep the stack and hand out only the puzzles.
Yes. Spanish, Polish, French, German and any other Latin-script list keep their own letters, and each one takes a single square. German ss stays one square rather than splitting into two, which would shift every square after it.
Completely free, with no account, no watermark and no limit on how many you make. Everything runs in your browser.