Know which grid you're playing
| Page | Grid | Words | Directions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily | 12×12 | 14 | All eight |
| Easy | 10×10 | 10 | Forwards only |
| Large print | 10×10 | 10 | All eight |
Every word comes from the day's theme, and two words may share a letter where they cross. The filler letters are random but weighted towards the common letters of English, so the grid is thick with E, T, A and O and full of near-misses. The methods below are how you cut through that.
Anchor on the rarest letter, not the first
Most people hunt for a word's first letter. That's usually the slowest way, because common letters appear all over the grid. Pick the least common letter in the word instead.
- J, K, Q, V, X and Z are scarce in the filler, so when you see one it very likely belongs to a word. Looking for WHISK? Find the K.
- W, Y, B, P, F and G are the next best anchors.
- Only anchor on E, T, A or S when the word has nothing better.
Found an anchor? Check all eight letters round it for the letter that comes next (or before) in the word, then follow that line. Found words stay highlighted, so a rare letter outside the highlights is a fresh lead.
Double letters stand out
Two identical letters side by side catch the eye in any direction. If a word has a double, search for the pair: the LL in TRELLIS or SKILLET, the EE in SEEDLING, the OO in SPOON or BLOOM, the TT in KETTLE. Then read outwards both ways to see whether the rest of the word is there. The filler makes doubles by chance as well, so check the whole word before you swipe.
Catch backwards and diagonal words
On the daily and large-print grids a word can run in any of eight directions, so half of them read backwards. Two ways to stop them hiding:
- The ring check. When you find an anchor, look at all eight neighbours, not just the letter to its right. A backwards or diagonal word then turns up exactly as fast as a forwards one.
- Reverse the word. SPOON backwards is NOOPS. Scan for the reversed start, NO, and follow it.
Diagonals are the easiest to miss. When a word is left late, run your eye along each diagonal once, corner to corner. When you swipe, just start and finish on the right letters: the line snaps to the nearest straight direction.
A routine for the last few words
- Take the longest word left. It has more letters to spot and fewer places it can fit.
- Anchor on its rarest letter or its double.
- Sweep each row both ways, then each column, then the diagonals.
- Still stuck? Hint picks a word you're missing and lights its first letter. Use the ring check to find which way it runs.
The easy and large-print pages
Easy Word Search only runs words forwards: left to right, top to bottom, and diagonally down to the right. That means you can skip backwards reading entirely. Read the rows left to right, the columns downwards and the diagonals down to the right, and you've covered every possible word.
Large Print Word Search uses the biggest letters your screen can fit, on a 10×10 grid with ten words, but its words still run every way, so the ring check matters there. Switch on Large text in Settings to make the word list bigger too.
If you only remember three things
- Anchor on the rarest letter or a double, not on E or T.
- Check all eight neighbours of an anchor, so backwards and diagonal words can't hide.
- Save a deliberate diagonal sweep for the last few words.
Try it on today's word search.
Questions
- Can two words share a letter?
- Yes. Words can cross and share a letter, but no word sits entirely inside another word's letters, so every word has at least one letter of its own.
- Which directions does the easy page use?
- Three: left to right, top to bottom, and diagonally down to the right. Nothing runs backwards or upwards.
- Why does the grid look full of almost-words?
- The filler letters follow how often letters are used in English, so common pairs such as TH, ER and AN turn up by chance. Anchoring on rare letters cuts through them.
- Is there a time limit?
- No. The timer only records how long you took, for your result and share card. Take as long as you like.
Play it now
Word Search is free on Suvi, on your phone or computer, no download. Also: Easy Word Search · Large Print Word Search · Halloween Word Search · Thanksgiving Word Search · Christmas Word Search · Winter Word Search · New Year Word Search · Valentine's Word Search · Easter Word Search · Summer Word Search.