Word Search Tips: 9 Ways to Find Words Faster (Free)

The fastest way to solve a word search is to stop reading the grid and start hunting for one letter at a time. Pick the most unusual letter in the word you're looking for (a Z, K or double letter), find every copy of it in the grid, then check the squares around each one. Combine that with knowing which directions words can run, and you'll clear puzzles in a fraction of the time. Try these word search tips in the free Word Search, which makes a new puzzle every time.

1. Know which directions words can run

This is the single biggest time-saver, because it tells you where not to look. In our game it depends on the level:

Level	Grid	Words	Directions
Easy	10 × 10	8	Across (left to right) and down
Medium	12 × 12	10	Across, down, and diagonally rightward (down-right and up-right)
Hard	15 × 15	14	All eight directions, including backwards and upwards

So on Easy, once you find a first letter, you only need to check the square to its right and the square below it. On Medium, you check four. Only on Hard do you need to check all eight neighbours.

2. Hunt for the rarest letter in the word

Don't search for the first letter of "kangaroo"; search for the K. Letters like J, K, Q, V, X and Z tend to have fewer copies in a grid. The filler letters around the hidden words are picked at random (each letter turns up about equally often), but the hidden words themselves rarely use J, K, Q, V, X or Z, while E, A and R appear in many of them. So the common letters are everywhere, and the rare ones give you fewer places to check.

For each word, pick its least common letter, find every copy, and check the neighbours.

3. Look for double letters

Words with a double letter, such as giraffe, otter, raccoon or broccoli, give you a pattern that jumps out: two of the same letter side by side, or diagonally next to each other. Random filler does throw up a few doubles too, but there are only a handful in any grid, so checking each one is quick.

4. Find the long words first

Long words like gymnastics or firefighter cross a big chunk of the grid and are easier to spot by eye. Finding them early also uses up letters, so the rest of the grid has fewer distractions. Leave short words like judo or sofa for last; they hide easily among random letters.

5. Scan row by row for one letter

When the rare-letter trick doesn't help (say, every letter in the word is common), go back to basics: run your eye along each row looking for just the first letter. Then do the same for the last letter, especially on Hard where the word could be written backwards. A word's last letter is just as good a starting point as its first.

6. Use the shape of the word

Some words have a shape: "peacock" has two C's two squares apart, "banana" alternates A's. Once you've spotted a candidate start, check whether the shape continues before reading the whole word.

7. Use the topic

Every puzzle has a topic: animals, food, countries, sports, home, jobs or nature. Words are everyday words of four to eleven letters. Knowing the topic means you can often guess unlisted letters as you read along a line, which speeds up checking.

8. Select the smart way

In our game you can drag from a word's first letter to its last, or tap the first letter and then the last. You can select in either direction: dragging from the last letter to the first works too, which is handy for words you spotted from their end. On a phone, tapping the two ends is often quicker and more accurate than dragging.

Found words stay highlighted in their own colour and are crossed off the list, so you never lose track.

9. Race your own best time

The clock starts as soon as a puzzle appears. When you find the last word, your time is shown, and your best time for each level is saved in this browser. To improve:

• Play the same level several times in a row until the scanning becomes automatic.
• Try a topic you don't know well; it forces you to rely on letters, not guesses.
• Move up a level once your Easy time stops improving.

Word search tips: common slow-downs

• Reading every row from left to right. Search for a letter instead.
• Checking all eight directions on Easy. Only right and down are possible there.
• Starting with the shortest words. They're the hardest to see.
• Forgetting backwards words on Hard. Search for last letters too.

Practise the tips

Start on Medium with a familiar topic and use the rare-letter trick on every word. The free Word Search runs in your browser with no download. For another word game, try Hangman, and see our post on hard Hangman words and strategy. Teachers can find classroom ideas in word search for kids and classrooms.