Rules · 1 player

How to play Word Search

Find every word from the list hidden in the grid of letters, in any of the eight directions.

The rules, step by step

1. 1

   Read the word list under the grid. Every word on it appears exactly once.

2. 2

   Words run in straight lines — across, down, or diagonally, and on the harder sizes backwards as well.

3. 3

   Tap the first letter of a word you have spotted, then tap its last letter.

4. 4

   A correct line locks in green and the word is struck off the list.

5. 5

   Words are allowed to cross one another, sharing a letter where they meet.

6. 6

   Find every word on the list to finish the grid.

Three tips that change how you play

• Hunt for one letter, not whole words. Pick the least common letter in a word — a J, X, Q or Z — and scan for that alone, then look at its eight neighbours.
• Sweep the grid in columns rather than reading it like a page. Reading left to right primes you to see only horizontal words, and it is the vertical and diagonal ones that hide best.
• Do the longest words first. They have the fewest possible positions and they carve up the grid, which makes everything left over easier to spot.

Finding a word the fast way

Say the list includes BLIZZARD and you have been reading the grid row by row without luck. Stop reading and hunt for the double Z instead — there are very few Zs in any grid, and two adjacent ones are almost certainly your word. Find them, then look at the letters on either side along the same line: if one side reads I and the other A, you have the middle of BLIZZARD and only need to check which direction the B lies in. The whole word falls out in seconds. The general method is the same every time: pick the rarest letter in the word, find it, then read outward along all eight lines through it.

Three mistakes that cost beginners the game

Reading the grid line by line as if it were text.

That finds horizontal words and almost nothing else. Scan for a distinctive letter and check outward from it in all eight directions instead — you will find diagonals in a fraction of the time.

Chasing the short words first because they feel easier.

Short words have far more places to hide and generate far more false matches. Clearing the long ones first removes most of the grid from consideration and makes the short ones fall out.

Assuming a letter belongs to only one word.

Words cross and share letters. A letter you have already used as part of a found word can easily be the middle of another one, so do not treat solved letters as dead space.

Common questions about Word Search