Word Search: the complete wiki
A word search in English: find every word on the list in the grid, hidden across, down, diagonally and, on the higher levels, backwards too. Each grid is built on the spot, so it never repeats.
How to play
The words aren’t a translated list: they come from the same bank of everyday English words as Hangman. And every word appears exactly once in the grid; if you see the same sequence in two places, one of them isn’t complete.
Controls
- Select a word
- Drag with the mouse or your finger from the first letter to the last
- Select by tapping
- Tap the first letter, then the last
- Keyboard
- Arrow keys to move; Enter or Space marks the start and end; Escape cancels
- Hint
- Marks the first letter of a word you haven’t found yet (shortest first)
Modes and options
- Easy
- An 8×8 grid, 6 short words, only left to right and top to bottom. Great for kids or a short break.
- Normal
- A 10×10 grid and 8 words; diagonals appear, always read forwards.
- Hard
- A 12×12 grid, 10 longer words and all eight directions: right to left and bottom to top too.
- Expert
- A 14×14 grid and 12 long words, many crossing each other, with decoy letters that mimic the start of other words.
Rules
- The list shows the words to find. They run in a straight line, unbroken, in one of eight directions.
- To mark a word, select from its first letter to its last. If it matches a word on the list, it gets highlighted and crossed off.
- Letters can be shared: two words may cross on the same cell.
- In languages where accents don’t make a different letter (Spanish, French, Portuguese…) the grid drops them; where they do (Spanish Ñ, German Ä Ö Ü) they stay. The list always shows the word properly spelled.
- The game ends when you’ve found them all. Your time and hints used go into your stats.
Strategy
Sweep the grid row by row looking for a single letter (all the Zs, say) instead of a whole word. When you finish, you know exactly where words with that letter can start.
Letters already used help too: when a word crosses one you’ve found, the shared cell is often the quickest starting point.
Go deeper
Tips
- Look for rare letters first. A word with J, K, Q, X or Z stands out long before one full of vowels.
- Once you have the first letter, don’t read the whole word: look for the second letter among the eight neighbours. If it’s not there, that wasn’t it.
- Long words are easier than they look: there are few places they fit, especially diagonally.
- On Hard and Expert, remember to read backwards too: a word can start at the right edge and run left.
Common mistakes
- Reading whole rows left to right: that’s how vertical, diagonal and backwards words slip by.
- Hunting for the short words first. They fit in many places; long words fit in few, and finding them clears the grid.
- Marking as soon as you see the start: on Expert some decoy letters repeat the beginning of a listed word. Check through to the last letter.
- Forgetting that on Hard and Expert words also run backwards, right to left or bottom to top.
Mechanics
The tags that describe Word Search. Those with a page lead to similar games.
Glossary
- Decoy letters
- Filler letters in a word search that repeat the start of a listed word to mislead you. In Vexply they appear on the Expert level.
FAQ
- Are the words the same in every language?
- No. Each language has its own word bank, chosen for that language. In Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other writing systems, the grid uses that language’s own characters or syllables.
- Can a word appear twice?
- No. The generator checks the whole grid and rebuilds it until every word on the list appears exactly once, in a single direction.
- Where is my progress stored?
- In your browser: the game in progress, your times per level, the words you’ve found and your achievements.