Add word search puzzles to the list of games you can play with mere words and using nothing but a pen and paper. Oh, I forgot, you can play all sorts of puzzles and games on the web these days. Let's talk about word search puzzles here.

Unlike crosswords where you pencil in the missing words with the help of clues, word search puzzles are about finding the hidden words in a grid of letters. The word you are searching for may be placed horizontally, vertically, diagonally, or even arranged at a 90 degree angle. The challenge of word search is in the clues if provided.

Just like crossword or any word games, word search puzzles are fun educational tools. A teacher can use it as an aid to teach anything from a foreign language to scientific terminologies. If you have a theme for a word search puzzle, search out the best among these ten websites and make (and print) your own word search puzzles.

Wordsearch Fun

You can not only find loads of word search puzzles here, but also follow a four step process to make your own. Your custom word search puzzles can be included under the many categories gives or you can put it under "˜Miscellaneous' for any that doesn't fit. You can choose from 5 size choices (from 9x9 to 15x15). You can keep your puzzles private or open them to the public. When the puzzle is ready, you can choose to email it across or print it out. If you feel it's too easy, the option - Scramble this Game, reorganizes the grid.

Teacherly

At Teacherly, you can create a word search puzzle in seconds. There's a simple text box to enter the words and a slider that sets the difficulty level. The hardest is - up, down, left, right and diagonal words. You can also browse through other puzzles created by users.

Word Search Maker [No Longer Available]

Word Search Maker makes it even easier to create a puzzle. You can start off with a single word puzzle and copy the code (or send a link across) to your website. You can keep on adding words according to the complexity you want to set. The arrangement of the worlds is pretty much the standard - horizontal, vertical, and diagonal.

Word Turtle (Fun Brain)

To make your own puzzle and print it on paper, you need to start off by selecting the level of game play. For instance, Super Hard is - 18 words, 20 letters, with reverse and diagonal. You can also choose to play against yourself. While playing against yourself, click on the first letter of the word you find; Fun Brain highlights it in yellow.

Word Search Generator

Word Search Generator gives you more customization options to create your own word search puzzle worksheets. You can go for your own word list or choose from the ones already on the site. If it's a large list, you can choose the number of words you want to pick from the list. What's great about this puzzle generator is the number of grid options you have to play with including shapes like smile, diamond, and car. Set your font styles and word placement options before you click on create.

SuperKids Word Search Puzzle

You can make your own printable hidden word puzzles using the SuperKids Wordsearch Puzzle Creator. Input your words and set the grid size to create a puzzle page which you can then print out. This one is a really simple tool for some quick puzzles.

Discovery Education's Puzzlemaker

Puzzlemaker gives you three choices when you generate your puzzle. An HTML one if you want to print it out, a Text option to paste it in some other application, and a Lowercase option which is the same as the last option but with all the letters in lowercase. You can also go with a puzzle which allows letter sharing among the words. The maximum puzzle size is limited 40 words.

WordSearch

Make printable PDF word search puzzles on this site. Of course, you can also opt for the HTML version too. You can customize the layout and the color of the puzzle page. You can see the options you have in the screenshot. WordSearch lets you arrange the words in any direction. Along with the puzzle PDF, you can also generate the answer key as a separate PDF file.

Puzzle-Maker

The Instant Online Word Search Maker comes without any extras. Place your words in the text box, choose the number of rows and columns to define your grid and create your puzzle. You can print the puzzle from the browser.

Just Word Search

This online word search puzzle is based on Flash. While you cannot make your own puzzles, you can play around with the display size and color before printing out the puzzle.

A word search puzzle is only as good as the words you choose for it. Once you decide that, these websites help you to make a word search puzzle and print it out in a few easy steps. Which word search puzzle website would you go for? Let us know.

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