Word Search Studio
Build a letter grid from words you enter, then find each word by marking its start and end cells. The generator places every word in an allowed direction, checks matching-letter crossing rules and scans all eight directions for accidental extra occurrences before releasing a puzzle. A reversed traversal of the same palindrome path counts as one physical path; a second location does not. Generation has finite search limits and may report words it could not safely place.
Key features
- NFC-normalized Korean syllables and case-insensitive English A–Z words
- Grid sizes 6–16, eight selectable directions, and optional matching-letter crossings
- Deterministic seed with bounded placement and filler search
- Whole-grid eight-direction scan that rejects unintended second target paths
- Keyboard-friendly endpoint selection with found-word highlighting and a separate reveal
- Separate puzzle JSON/SVG/print and explicit answer JSON/SVG/print
How to use
- Enter 2–18 words, choose a grid size, the allowed directions, whether matching letters can cross, and a seed.
- Generate a puzzle or load the original example. If placement or uniqueness fails within limits, read the named words and path details and adjust the settings.
- Choose the first and last cell of a hidden word by clicking, tapping or pressing Enter/Space on two cells. Arrow keys move focus around the grid.
- Follow the found-word list and highlighted paths. Reveal the full answer only when you choose the separate confirmation.
- Download or print the puzzle without answer highlights; after revealing, separately download or print the highlighted answer sheet.
Use cases
- Prepare a classroom vocabulary search with your own terms
- Make a Korean syllable grid without splitting composed Hangul syllables
- Print a clean puzzle and a separate teacher answer sheet
Frequently asked questions
How are Korean words handled?
Input is normalized to Unicode NFC. Each completed Hangul syllable occupies one cell; English letters are uppercased. Spaces, isolated jamo, punctuation and emoji are rejected.
Can a target word appear twice by accident?
The completed grid is scanned in all eight directions, even if only some directions were enabled for placement. A second physical cell path for a target word blocks generation and import, with the word and path locations reported. A palindrome read in reverse along the same cells is one physical path.
What does crossing allowed mean?
Two words may share a cell only when the letters match. The no-crossing setting requires every target path to use separate cells. The generator and imported puzzles are both checked.
Will every word list generate a puzzle?
No. Words longer than the grid are named immediately. Tightly constrained directions or crossing rules, or repeated target paths created by filler letters, can exhaust bounded placement attempts. The tool reports the failure instead of silently dropping words.
Does the puzzle file hide the answer securely?
Puzzle SVG and print output omit highlighted paths; answer files are separate and require reveal. Because a word-search solution can be recomputed from its visible letters and word list, puzzle JSON is not an access-control mechanism.
Are my words uploaded?
No. Placement, checks, play and export run in the browser tab. Files are created locally only when you select a download or print action.
Privacy
Your word list and puzzle stay in this browser tab. The tool does not submit them to a server; downloads and print windows occur only when requested.
Comments & questions