Word Search
Also known as Word Find, Word Seek and Wordsearch
Find every word from the list hidden in the grid of letters. Words run across, down and diagonally, and the harder boards hide them backwards too. It is one of the most relaxed puzzles in the app — and you can write your own and send it to someone.
How it works
- Find every word shown above the letter grid.
- Drag from the first letter to the last in one straight line.
- Words can run across, down, or diagonally.
- Harder boards can hide words backwards as well.
Good if you want…
- Something to do with your hands more than your head
- A word puzzle with no time pressure
- Making your own and sending it to someone
How to solve Word Search
Hunt for the rare letters
Scanning for a word's first letter works badly when that letter is an E or an S, because the grid is full of them. Look instead for the least common letter in the word — the Q in QUILT, the Z in PUZZLE, the X in OXYGEN. There will only be one or two in the grid, and the word is almost certainly running through one of them.
Double letters work the same way. Two identical letters side by side, in any direction, are rare enough to spot quickly: find the TT and you have probably found BUTTER.
Check all eight directions
Once you have a candidate letter, look outwards from it in all eight directions for the second letter of the word. Most false starts end at the second letter, so the check is quick. On the harder boards, remember that words can also read backwards — right to left, bottom to top, and along both diagonals the wrong way.
Sweep the grid in strips
When a word refuses to turn up, stop darting about. Read the grid one row at a time, then one column at a time, looking for the word's first two letters together. It is slower than spotting, but it is thorough, and the word you have missed three times is usually hiding in a diagonal near an edge.
Making your own
Word Search is one of the puzzles you can write yourself in Winters Puzzles and send as a link. A themed list — the names in a family, the places from a holiday, the in-jokes of a group chat — makes a far better puzzle than random words, because the person solving it gets to enjoy the list as well as the hunt.
Common mistakes
- Only looking left to right. Diagonal words, and backwards ones on the harder boards, are where the time goes.
- Searching for the first letter of a long word. The rarest letter in it is almost always a quicker way in.
- Rushing the drag. A word has to be traced from its first letter to its last in one straight line.
Word Search questions
Can words overlap?
Yes. Two words can share a letter where they cross, just as they do in a crossword.
Is there a time limit?
No, and wrong drags are not counted against you. Word Search is one of the most relaxed puzzles in the app.
Word Search in Winters Puzzles
Word Search is one of 40 puzzles in Winters Puzzles, so it sits alongside Silhouette, Word Dominoes, Word Ladder and everything else in the app rather than being a download of its own. It counts towards your stats and streak like any other puzzle. It also has a published board in Pip’s dailies, with earlier dates available in the archive.
Word Search is also one of the 5 puzzles you can write yourself. Put in your own words or questions, try it, then send a link so someone else can play exactly what you made — see create and share.
Play Word Search.
Free on iPhone and iPad, with 39 other puzzles alongside it. Or play it in your browser — no download, nothing to sign up for.
