Projects › Family › Word search maker

Free word search maker, and how to make your own

Type your words, press Make puzzle, then play it on screen or print it with an answer key. Spelling words, party guests, school topics: anything works. Nothing you type is uploaded.

Easy 40 to 60 minutes Free · nothing to install Prints on A4 or Letter

Word search

0 / 0 found

    Size
    Words go

    Your words never leave this browser. Print gives you the puzzle and an answer page.

    Watch it come together, start to finish
    What you'll build

    Your own puzzle maker, in under an hour

    You'll describe the maker to a free AI assistant, paste what it writes into a file, and open it in your browser. Then add themes, secret messages and anything else you can think of.

    • A word search generator that runs in your web browser
    • A box to type or paste your own list of words
    • Grid sizes from small (for 5-year-olds) to big and tricky
    • Difficulty settings: across and down only, add diagonals, or add backwards words
    • A playable version where you drag across letters to find words
    • A tidy printable sheet, plus an answer key
    • Your own title, colours and theme

    Good for: parents turning spelling homework into a game, party planners making puzzles with guests' names, teachers and home educators, and grandparents who love a puzzle book.

    Before you start

    What you need

    An AI chat assistantClaude, ChatGPT or Gemini. The free version is fine.
    A plain text editorNotepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac; choose Format then Make Plain Text first).
    A web browserAny one will do, plus a printer if you want paper copies.
    First time? Read How to save and open an HTML file. It takes two minutes.
    Names stay on your computer. The maker you build runs entirely in the browser, so a puzzle full of family or classmates' names is never uploaded anywhere. You don't need to type real names into the AI chat either: build the maker first, then type the names into your own copy.
    Step by step

    Build it in six steps

    1. Ask for the puzzle maker

      Copy this prompt into your AI assistant:

      Copy this prompt
      I don't know how to code. Please make me a word search maker that runs in a web browser.

Requirements:
- ONE single HTML file (HTML, CSS and JavaScript together), no external libraries, no internet needed. I will save it and double-click it.
- A text box where I type my words, one per line. Ignore spaces and punctuation inside a word, and make everything capitals.
- A "Make puzzle" button that hides every word in a square grid of letters (12 by 12 to start), going across or down, then fills the empty squares with random letters.
- If a word is too long for the grid, or can't be fitted, tell me which one in a friendly message instead of breaking.
- Show the grid in big, clear letters with the list of words to find underneath.
- A "Show answers" button that highlights where each word is.
- A "New layout" button that shuffles the same words into a different puzzle.

Please give me the complete file in one code block, then tell me in simple steps how to save and open it.

      Copy the code, paste it into your text editor, and save it as word-search.html. Double-click it, type a few words and press Make puzzle.

    2. Add difficulty and grid size

      Copy this prompt
      That works, thank you. Please add:
- A grid size choice: Small 8×8, Medium 12×12, Large 15×15.
- A difficulty choice: Easy (across and down only), Medium (adds diagonals), Hard (adds backwards in every direction).
- A title box at the top, e.g. "Maya's Spelling Words", shown above the grid.

Remember my last choices in localStorage. Send me the complete updated file.
      Always ask for the complete file. Replace everything in word-search.html, save, and refresh the tab (F5 or Cmd+R).

    3. Make it printable

      Copy this prompt
      Please add a "Print" button. When printing:
- Hide all the buttons and the text box, and show only the title, the grid and the word list, fitted neatly on one A4 page in black and white.
- Put a second page with the answer key (the same grid with the words highlighted or circled).
- Use a clear, rounded font that's easy for children to read.

Send me the complete updated file.
      Tip: in the print window, choose Save as PDF instead of your printer to keep a copy or send it to a teacher.

    4. Make it playable on screen

      Copy this prompt
      Please make the puzzle playable on screen too:
- Click or touch a letter and drag in a straight line to select letters (this must work with a mouse and with a finger on a tablet).
- If the letters spell one of the words, keep them highlighted in a colour and cross the word off the list.
- When every word is found, show a celebration and the time taken.

Send me the complete updated file.

    5. Add themes and pictures

      Copy this prompt
      Please add a theme picker with four themes: Space, Under the sea, Jungle and Party. Each theme changes the colours and adds a matching border of emoji around the puzzle (on screen and when printed). Also add a few ready-made word lists for each theme, so my child can make a puzzle with one click.

Send me the complete updated file.

    6. Hide a secret message

      This turns a word search into a proper treasure hunt.

      Copy this prompt
      Please add an optional "Secret message" box. If I type a short message, put its letters into the leftover empty squares in order (left to right, top to bottom) instead of random letters, and fill any squares after that randomly. When all words are found, the leftover letters spell out the message. Show a hint on the sheet: "Find every word, then read the leftover letters."

Send me the complete updated file.
    ADVERTISEMENT · IN-ARTICLE
    If it goes wrong

    Quick fixes

    Some words won't fit

    Make the grid bigger, use fewer or shorter words, or ask the AI: "If a word doesn't fit, try 500 different positions before giving up, and place the longest words first."

    Dragging doesn't work on the tablet

    Tell the AI:

    Copy this prompt
    Selecting letters by dragging works with a mouse but not with my finger on a tablet. The page scrolls instead. Please use pointer events and stop the page scrolling while I drag on the grid. Send me the complete file.
    The printout runs onto two pages

    Ask the AI to "shrink the grid to fit one A4 page when printing, with the word list in columns".

    It's too hard for my child

    Use Easy, a Small grid and five or six short words. Ask the AI to "fill empty squares only with letters that already appear in my words" for a gentler puzzle, or "use only random letters that don't appear in my words" to make the words stand out more.

    It opens as text

    Re-save as plain text with exactly .html at the end, not .txt.

    Make it your own

    Twist it into something else

    The same idea makes lots of other puzzles:

    Crossword maker

    type words and clues, and the AI builds a small crossword that prints

    Spelling bingo cards

    a different 4×4 card for every child at the party

    Word scramble

    jumble each word, with the answers upside down at the bottom

    Name puzzle place cards

    a tiny word search on each party place card, hiding the guest's name

    Foreign language practice

    French or Spanish vocab, with accents kept

    A puzzle book for Grandad

    ten puzzles of family names and memories, large print, ready to print and staple

    Why build it yourself?

    Clean printouts, and your lists stay private

    Most word search makers online are covered in adverts, add watermarks, or ask you to sign up before printing. Some save the words you type on their servers. Yours prints cleanly, works offline, and keeps your children's spelling lists and friends' names on your own computer. And once you've got it, a new puzzle takes ten seconds.

    Keep going

    What to build next