When you make your own word search puzzle, you get to decide just what words you want to have hidden in the puzzle and what you want the overall theme to be. You also get to decide the skill level and size of the puzzle you're creating.
This word search generator is really a great resource for teachers and parents alike. It's also a valuable tool for students, allowing them to enter vocabulary words from any subject to create a word search. They can then complete the puzzle themselves or trade with a classmate.
How to Make Your Own Word Search
Visit A to Z Teacher Stuff to get started making your word search puzzle. Type in the title of the word search puzzle or leave it blank if you prefer.
Type in the words that you want to be hidden inside the word search in the Word List text box. You can separate the words by commas, spaces, or just type one word in each line. If you want to include a phrase in your custom word search, then don't put spaces in between the words. You can set the number of words to be included in the puzzle or leave that field blank if you want all the words included.
Over to the right of this field, you can choose from a few word lists they already have. You can choose the placement of your word list (to the right or at the bottom), whether you want to hide the word list (this makes the game a bigger challenge), and/or if you want to sort the word list alphabetically or leave it the way you entered it. You can also choose from several different languages.
In the Settings section, you can choose how many rows and columns you want as well as the grid style, font style, font case, and font size. The different grid styles let you make a word search that is truly unique, creating anything from a normal square puzzle to a puzzle shaped like a car or a spiral.
You can also choose the word placement in your puzzle. You can choose to have forward words, backward words, diagonal words, up words, down words, and any combination of these. The more combinations you choose, the more challenging the puzzle will be.
Click Create puzzle when you're ready to make your own word search puzzle.
Tips for Making Your Own Word Search Puzzle
- Only letters are accepted, no numbers or symbols can be in your word list.
- Duplicate words will be removed.
- Words need to have 2-15 letters to be accepted.
- The puzzle maker will automatically skip words that won't fit in the grid.
- If you don't like the look of the puzzle you can refresh the puzzle to get another one with the same words.
- A place for a name and date will automatically be added to the top of the puzzle.
Printing Your Own Word Search Puzzle
You'll now see your final word search puzzle. You can click the link at the top of the page to print your word search puzzle without the advertisement on the top.
Use print preview in your browser to see what the word search puzzle will look like when it's printed. You may need to change your margins and page orientation to get the look you want.