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Crossword a Day 2024
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Wordsearch

Wordsearch Instructions:
Here's how to play Wordsearch:
Find each of the listed words in the grid of letters. Words may be hidden horizontally, vertically or diagonally, and in either a forwards or backwards direction.

Wordsearch Puzzles

If you ask people to name a type of puzzle, then the chances are that if they don't say crossword or sudoku, then they will say wordsearch.

Wordsearches are an enduring favourite with children and adults alike. The simple nature of the puzzle is probably what is so appealing about it because, even with the very simple rule, there is undoubtedly something satisfying about finding all of the words in the grid and crossing out that last answer!

Wordsearch puzzles come in all shapes and sizes, and don't even need to be limited to rectangular grids, although they usually are.

Part of the fun of wordsearches is that you don't need to know what the words mean, you just need to be able to find them in the grid, and additionally you can learn about all sorts of topics through solving wordsearches - they can cover a very diverse range of topics and so you can brush up on anything from ballet terms to birds of prey while solving a puzzle at the same time.

If you look at the puzzle section of a shop that sells magazines, you'll see many wordsearch titles: a testament to how popular this puzzle type is.

Variants include puzzles whereby the remaining letters spell out a particular word or phrase, or perhaps puzzles whereby one word that is listed is a red herring that's not in the grid, and the solver has to work out which word that is.

There are a couple of simple solving tips with wordsearches. The first is to look for words with unusual letters such as 'Z' in them... there are probably relatively few of these in the letter grid, and therefore these words are often easiest to find.

Sometimes there'll be a stubborn word that you just can't find. In this instance a systematic approach can help: scan the grid from top left row-by-row looking for each occurrence of the first letter of that tricky word. Then see if the word comes off that letter, and if not move on and on until you find the instance of that letter which allows you to find that tricky word.

Related puzzles

Hidden Word Puzzle, Kriss Kross, Word Ladder, Word Wheels

Last updated: 15 Feb 2012

Back to A - Z of puzzles

Sample puzzle:
start Wordsearch image
Sample solution:
solution Wordsearch image

View a sample Wordsearch PDF

Play Wordsearch Puzzles:

To play wordsearch puzzles online, then take a look at the Wordsearch section of the puzzle club which has a few wordsearches to enjoy.

Undoubtedly the best way to enjoy wordsearches is the old-fashioned way with paper and pencil. So why not print off our PDF Wordsearch Magazine that's in large print format so it's easy to read.

Publish Wordsearch Puzzles:

If you would like to buy or licence Wordsearch puzzles for publication, then please Contact Us >>>