Build a word search from your list
Type the words you are teaching this week, one per line. The grid builds as you type and sizes itself to your longest word. Everything runs in your browser, so your class list never leaves this device.
Start from a ready word list
A list replaces what is in the box.
Dolch sight words
Fry sight words
Days, months and numbers
Word families
Easy runs words across and down. Medium adds forward diagonals. Hard adds reversals.
Bigger, bolder letters and word list. The grid stays at 12 squares or fewer, so pair it with Hard for a puzzle that is difficult and easy to read.
Class set: a different grid for every child
Paste your class list, up to 60 names, and Download PDF builds one puzzle per child from the same words in a different arrangement. Each child’s grid is generated from their name, so a reprint later produces the identical sheet. Download PNG saves the single grid shown in the preview.
Runs entirely in your browser, so nothing is uploaded. Every word in the printed list is checked against the finished grid, and a word that cannot fit is named here instead of being left out quietly.
Using one list across a whole class
- One list, many grids Paste the roster once. The words stay identical across the class, so marking needs one key, while every arrangement differs.
- Reprints match Each grid comes from the child’s name, so a replacement sheet weeks later is the same puzzle and your answer key still works.
- Keys at the back Answer keys print after the puzzles rather than behind each one, so the stack can be handed out without sorting.
- Four to a page Set sheets per page to 4 and a class of 30 costs 8 sheets of paper instead of 30.
Need the same list as handwriting practice instead of a puzzle? The sight word tracing sheets take a word list too, and the handwriting worksheet generator sets the tracing difficulty per child. For a single name as a cut-apart puzzle, use the name puzzle maker. When the list is this week's spelling words, the spelling worksheet generator turns it into look-say-cover-write-check, missing letters or ABC order for the test itself.
Word Search Maker FAQ
Paste or type your words into the box, one per line. Commas work too. The grid rebuilds as you type, sizes itself to fit the longest word, and lists every word underneath it. Pick a difficulty, then press Download PDF or Download PNG. Nothing is uploaded and there is no sign-up.
Yes, and this is the reason the page exists. Switch Who is this for? to Whole class, paste your roster one name per line, and the tool builds a separate grid for every child from the identical word list. The words 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 grid 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. For a single sheet, New layout hides the same words in a fresh arrangement, and Copy link carries the layout number so that puzzle can be opened again later.
Which directions words can run. Easy places words across and down only. Medium adds forward diagonals. Hard adds every reversal, so words can read backwards, upwards and up-diagonally. Grid size is a separate choice: Fit my list keeps a short list in a small grid, and picking a bigger grid hides the same words among more letters, which makes any level harder. Large print is separate again: it prints bigger, bolder letters and word list on a grid of 12 squares or fewer, so a hard puzzle can still be easy to read.
Tick Include answer key and the print job adds a key after the puzzles, with the hidden words solid and the filler letters faded. 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: niño, żółw and fenêtre all place correctly, and the filler letters are drawn from the letters your own words use rather than from plain A to Z, so an unusual character never gives a word away. German ss stays a single square.
It is named under the preview instead of being silently dropped. The grid caps at 22 squares across (12 with Large print), so a word longer than that cannot be hidden anywhere in it. When a long list is crowded, the maker tries other arrangements and then a bigger grid before giving up on a word, and the printed list only ever names words that are genuinely in the grid.
Completely free, with no account, no watermark and no limit on how many you make. Everything runs in your browser.