Top 20 free word search makers for teachers (2026)

• Best for shaped puzzles that students solve online, with no ads
• Free plan, paid upgrades

A word search builder that is free to use. The page says there are no ads, no watermarks and no registration. You can pick a rectangle or a custom grid you draw by clicking cells, choose a shape such as a heart, pumpkin or star, or upload an illustration to use as the layout. Words can run in eight directions. A finished puzzle can be printed with or without answers, exported as PNG, SVG or text, solved online from a link, or embedded on your own website.

The free part: Making, printing, sharing and embedding a Public puzzle needs no account and no payment.

Hidden and Private puzzles are members only; the membership price is not shown on the page.

Watch for A free Public puzzle can be found by anyone and is visible in search engines, so keep student names out; Hidden and Private puzzles are for members. The page lists print, PNG, SVG and text but not PDF, and the answer key needs the passcode you set.

Visit Word Search Labs ↗

• Ours
• Best for playing on the projector, secret messages and private lists
• Free

Type up to 40 words or start from a ready list (Dolch sight words by grade, months, states, 40 topics), then pick a square or one of ten shapes such as a pumpkin, heart or star, a grid from 8 to 25 and three difficulties. Add a secret message that fills the leftover letters, look-alike words for a sort-and-find puzzle, or "word: clue" lines to print clues in the bank. It prints a sheet and an answer key and checks that each word appears exactly once. Play puts the same puzzle on the board: drag or tap to find words, each find plays a note, and the message flies into place at the end. Words stay in your browser.

Free, no sign-in and no ads; Peabody is free through the end of 2026 (as of 2026-10-29).

Watch for No drawing your own shape or uploading a picture, no embedding on a class site, and one capital-letter font (with a lowercase switch). There is no team scoreboard, and a play link carries the words in the address. It is our own tool, so weigh this ranking with that in mind.

Visit Peabody Teach word search maker ↗

• Best for a quick, clean PDF with a solution page
• Free

A free generator that makes a printable PDF word search with a solution page. Choose Basic, Intermediate or Advanced: Intermediate is an 18 by 12 grid with words across, down and diagonally for grades 2 to 4, and Advanced adds backwards words and larger grids. You can add a name and date header, a title, alphabetized words and upper or lower case, and the page recommends 20 words of 3 to 16 letters. A basic word filter guards against rude accidents.

The FAQ says no membership is required to make unlimited word searches; the membership price is not shown on the page.

Watch for No shapes, clues, hidden message or on-screen play are mentioned. The page does not say whether ads run, shows a cookie banner, and says you must be a logged-in member to save a worksheet.

Visit Super Teacher Worksheets ↗

• Best for a hidden message and a QR code for students
• Free plan, paid upgrades

Puzzel.org's word search is free to build and free to play, and its footer says there are no ads. You add words, choose from one to eight directions, and can hide a solution: the letters left over once every word is found spell a word or phrase. Share it by link or QR code with no player accounts, or print the blank puzzle or an answer key and save it as a PDF.

The free part: Build and play free with no account to try it; a free account saves puzzles. Hidden solution, link and QR code, print and PDF are free.

Premium adds shapes, clues, results, team play and timers; its price is not shown on the page.

Watch for Shaped grids, picture or sound clues, team play, countdown timers and embedding are Premium. A free account is needed to save a puzzle and covers 60 player sessions a month.

Visit Puzzel.org Word Seeker ↗

• Best for shaped grids, fonts and sight-word lists
• Free

A free maker with the longest list of options we found: 30 grid shapes such as a heart, star, tree and house, 15 fonts, upper or lower case, and 16 languages. It has word-list presets (Dolch lists, months, days, US states), an answer key, a bad-word filter, and a choice to put the word list at the right or bottom or hide it. The page says you can create unlimited word searches.

The page calls the maker free with unlimited word searches; no price is mentioned.

Watch for The page text does not mention ads, but its code loads Google ad scripts. Printing is from the browser and PDF is not stated; some shapes cannot hold long words.

Visit A to Z Teacher Stuff ↗

• Best for a private, shareable puzzle students play on screen
• Free

A word search maker that the page says is free, with no account, for making, playing, printing and sharing. Grids run from 8 to 25 squares with up to 40 words and any mix of directions, and filler letters can be random or taken only from your own words. Students can solve it on screen by dragging or tapping, and the share link holds the whole puzzle in the address. Saved puzzles stay in your browser.

The page says making, playing, printing and sharing puzzles is free, with no account.

Watch for Print output is two Letter-size PNG pages, not a PDF, and the page does not say whether ads appear. It comes from a small site, and we did not read its privacy page.

Visit Dinogame Word Search Maker ↗

• Best for a plain, ad-free word search with no sign-up
• Free

A worksheet site whose FAQ says worksheets are free for educational purposes, anyone can make and download them without signing up, and the site serves no ads. The word search form takes your words and lets you choose the grid font, upper or lower case, across-and-down only or with diagonals, forward only or forward and backward, and US Letter or A4. The page suggests 20 to 40 words.

The FAQ says worksheets are free for educational purposes; the premium membership price is not shown.

Watch for The word search page does not mention an answer key, shapes, clues or on-screen play, and phrases run together into one long word in the grid.

Visit WorksheetWorks ↗  Facts read on the maker’s page.

• Best for shaped and hidden-message puzzles if ads are fine
• Free plan, paid upgrades

A free, ad-supported maker with many options: grid shapes such as a star, heart or fish (or your own), several groups of fonts, upper or lower case, and each direction allowed, required or excluded. It offers premade lists and an AI list button, and can make a playable, shareable puzzle, a PDF or an image. Its help text points to a video on making a hidden-message puzzle.

The free part: Ad-supported use makes word searches, answer keys and shareable puzzles with 2 saved word lists.

Premium removes all ads and adds more lines and more saved lists; the price is not shown on the page.

Watch for The free version carries ads and asks you to turn off your ad blocker. Its help text puts the free limit near 30 lines (about 50 with Premium), and only 2 word lists can be saved without Premium.

Visit Teacher's Corner word search maker ↗

• Best for definition clues and a PDF with a solution page
• Free

A free maker that says no account is required. You choose horizontal, vertical, diagonal or all eight directions and capital letters, and download an instant PDF in A4 or Letter with a solution page that highlights the words. A companion clues maker lets students read a description first and then find the word, and puzzles can be played online from a link.

The page says free with no account required, and the site asks for donations.

Watch for The page code loads Google ad scripts, which the page text does not mention. Exporting to Excel is for members, though membership is free.

Visit Edu-Games.org word search maker ↗

• Best for control over the page layout and a Word file
• Free

A free generator that says no signup is required. Set rows and columns from 5 to 40, toggle horizontal, vertical, diagonal and backward words, cap the number of words, and set paper size, orientation, margins, title and letter case. The answer key prints on its own page. Output is browser print, a PDF, an editable Word file or copy to clipboard.

The page says you can make a word search for free without signing up.

Watch for No shapes, clues or on-screen play are mentioned, and the page does not say whether ads run. It advises leaving email addresses, school IDs and private records out of word lists.

Visit Word Puzzle World ↗

• Best for picture and definition clues for young or ESL readers
• Free

A free maker built around picture clues: instead of a word list, a picture appears below the grid for each word, from a library of 2,000+ images. Text hints can be the classic word list, definitions, translations or gap-fill sentences, or you can print with no hints and a separate answer key. The page says no account, no login and no watermarks.

The page says completely free, with no watermarks.

Watch for Grids come in three fixed sizes (12 by 12, 15 by 18 and 15 by 25), directions and shapes are not mentioned, the page code loads Google ad scripts, and its terms limit use to classroom and personal use.

Visit Tools for Educators word search ↗

• Best for a quick puzzle made in your own browser
• Free plan, paid upgrades

A maker the page says has no watermark, download limit or account. Choose a grid from 10 by 10 to 20 by 20 and Easy (across and down), Medium (adds diagonals) or Hard (all eight directions) with up to 20 words. The page says the puzzle is made in your browser so your word list is never uploaded. Print it or save it as a PDF from the print view, with an answer key page.

The free part: The maker is free with no watermark, download limit or account.

An ad-free membership is offered; its price is not shown on the page.

Watch for Ads appear (a notice says they pay for free lessons and offers an ad-free membership), and the maker is capped at 20 words.

Visit 7ESL word search maker ↗

• Best for sharing a themed puzzle students play online
• Free

You type a title, a description and 10 to 30 words on one theme, and the puzzle is published on the site, playable online and printable. The page says it is free to use with no registration required. The site also holds thousands of ready-made puzzles on topics from animals to science and vocabulary.

The page says free to use with no registration required.

Watch for Your puzzle goes on a public site and is deleted after 60 days of inactivity, and the page warns not to add personal information. Words must be letters a to z, up to 14 long, and the game shows a random selection of your words each time.

Visit TheWordSearch.com maker ↗

• Best for a familiar free tool with a wide choice of puzzles
• Free

Discovery Education's puzzle generator, described as being for teachers, students and parents. Its word search form takes a title, a grid up to 40 by 40, a choice of how much words share letters, upper or lower case, and up to 2,000 characters of words, and gives an image or HTML. The home page also lists criss-cross, mazes, cryptograms and a hidden message puzzle.

The home page says 'Create Your Own Puzzle for Free'.

Watch for The word search form has no answer key, direction or shape option. The page shows promotional banners and its code loads Google ad scripts, and to get a new layout you press Back and generate again.

Visit Discovery Education Puzzlemaker ↗  Facts read on the maker’s page.

• Best for sharing a puzzle to Google Classroom
• Free plan, paid upgrades

A maker that says no cost and no registration. Grids run from 5 by 5 to 30 by 30 with Easy, Medium and Hard levels, an answer key and PDF or PNG downloads. An AI button drafts topic words, and students can solve the puzzle in a browser through a share link, including through Google Classroom, without an account.

The free part: Free with no registration: answer key, PDF and PNG, AI topic words and a share link students can solve online.

Premium is described as ad-free; its price is not shown on the pages we read.

Watch for The free version carries ads (Premium is sold as ad-free), and the pages we read did not say where your word list is stored or how long a share link lasts.

Visit JigsawMake ↗

• Best for choosing exactly which directions words may run
• Price varies

A site of puzzle generators. The word search form offers eight formats, from all directions to forward only, diagonal only or reverse only, a choice of grid proportions, and a range of HTML and PDF fonts, with printable HTML and PDF output. The page says generated puzzles stay on the server for about two months and that some users list theirs publicly.

The page we read does not say whether the tools are free and shows no prices.

Watch for The page does not say whether it is free, its code loads Google ad scripts, and your puzzle is kept on its server for about two months.

Visit Armored Penguin word search ↗

• Best for a teacher who will pay a little for PDF and Word export
• Free plan, paid upgrades

A puzzle maker with word searches, crosswords and more, plus a library of ready-made puzzles. You can allow backward and diagonal words, choose fonts, add an image from 100,000+ clip-art images, and print blank student copies and answer keys. The answer key switches between blank and filled with one click.

The free part: Free plan: create word searches and crosswords with a limited set of features.

The paid plan is $5.99 a month or $47.90 a year (as of 2026-10-29).

Watch for On the free plan, printing and ready-made puzzles are limited and PDF and Word export are not included. The page sends you to a sign-up page and does not say whether an account is required.

Visit WordMint ↗  Facts read on the maker’s page.

• Best for a hidden message built from preset word lists
• Price varies

A classroom word search widget. You type words or pick a preset word list, choose a board size, diagonal words yes or no, a school font and upper or lower case, and you can add a hidden message by writing it in the words box and mixing up the words. You download the puzzle from the top right and print it. The page shows an Upgrade to use button and Log In and Sign Up links.

The page shows an 'Upgrade to use' button; the plan and price are not shown on the page.

Watch for It sits behind an Upgrade to use button, the page does not say what a free account can do, and it does not mention an answer key.

Visit Teach Starter word search widget ↗

• Best for a good-looking word search you design by hand
• Free plan, paid upgrades

A design tool with a word search page offering templates in 9 by 9 and 15 by 15 grids. You change the font, size and colour, add graphics, share the design for colleagues to edit, and download or print it. The page headline calls it a free word search maker, and the FAQ says to customize the letters on the grid.

The free part: The page calls it a free word search maker; which elements need Canva Pro is not stated.

The Pro price is not shown on this page.

Watch for The page describes placing the letters yourself. It does not describe typing a word list to build the grid, or an answer key, and it asks you to sign up or log in.

Visit Canva word search maker ↗

• Best for a themed look inside a big worksheet site
• Free plan, paid upgrades

A worksheet generator with options for the number of letters across and down, a Use diagonals box, upper or lower case, a title and a theme image behind the grid. It has a Scramble button for a new layout and separate buttons to download the worksheet and the answer key. The layout allows a maximum of 17 words.

The free part: Free users can create a limited number of worksheets each month.

Premium makes unlimited worksheets; its price is not shown on the page.

Watch for Free users hit a monthly limit on worksheets, saving needs a sign-up, and only 17 words fit.

Visit Education.com word search generator ↗