How to Play Word Search Online

The Word Search App is a free online word search game. You find hidden words on a letter grid — no download or account required to start. The game runs in any modern browser on desktop, mobile, and tablet, and your progress is saved automatically as you play.

What is a word search?

Word search (also called word find) is a single-player puzzle where you scan a square grid of letters for words from a given list. The words can run horizontally (left-to-right or right-to-left), vertically, or diagonally in any direction. The list is shown next to the grid; the letters that aren't part of any word are filler. The challenge is to find them all — and the faster you finish, the bigger your time bonus.

How to play — step by step

1. Open Home, Daily, or any theme from the categories list. The Daily Challenge is the same puzzle for every player on a given day, so it's a fair way to compete with friends.
2. Read the word list on the right. The last 4 words are bonus words, worth more points. Their names are hidden behind a clue such as BONUS (J5): J is the first letter and 5 is the length.
3. To select a word, press and hold the first letter, then drag to the last letter in one straight line. On touch devices, tap the first and last letter. The line must be exactly horizontal, vertical, or at a 45° diagonal — no L-shaped selections.
4. When you complete a word it gets crossed off the list and a counter ticks up at the top. Bonus words are highlighted in a different color.
5. Find every word to bank the time bonus — the timer counts up and never ends the game, but the bonus shrinks every 30 seconds (see scoring for the formula). Abandoned puzzles still save your partial progress so you can come back.
6. Each level you fully clear earns stars (1-3 based on your total score) and XP toward the next level. 28,000 points (2★) unlocks the next difficulty in that theme.

Hints and the coin shop

New players start with 20 free hints, and more come from the coin shop. A hint marks the first letter of a word you haven't found yet on the grid; once no regular word is left to mark, hints reveal the next bonus word's name, then mark bonus words' first letters. You still have to select every word yourself. Earn coins by completing puzzles, then spend them in the coin shop for extra hints, level unlocks, or the ad-free upgrade.

Tips for faster clears

• Start with the longest words on the list — they stand out visually and constrain where the shorter words can go.
• Scan for rare letters (Q, X, Z, J). They're easier to spot in the grid and usually anchor one of the longer words.
• Save diagonals for last. The horizontal and vertical lines are easier to track with your finger, and finishing those first often reveals patterns in the remaining letters.
• If two words share a letter at a corner, mark the corner mentally — it tells you where the second word starts or ends.
• Faster full clears earn a larger time bonus — see scoring.

Accessibility

The game supports keyboard navigation (arrow keys to move, Enter to select), respects your device's reduced-motion preference, and uses a high-contrast color palette for the grid. Letters can be enlarged independently in the settings. The grid never auto-scrolls or shifts under your finger mid-selection.

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