Printable word search puzzles

Every puzzle on this site can be printed. Open a theme or a level and press the Print button in the top bar of the game. A small window lets you choose between the puzzle on the screen and a fresh one, pick the level, and decide whether to add an answer key. Then your browser's print dialog opens. The printed sheet contains only the puzzle: a title, the grid, the word list and a small word-search.org line at the bottom, with no menus and no ads.

The quickest way to start is the table below. Each link opens the theme you choose with the print window already open, so two clicks give you a sheet of paper. The "Random words" row prints a classic puzzle with everyday words instead of a theme.

Each link opens the puzzle with the print window open; you choose the answer key there.

A printed word search needs no screen and no battery, which makes it a good companion for car rides, flights, waiting rooms and rainy afternoons. Print a few different themes before a trip, or let children choose their own: animals and colors on the easy level for younger ones, sports or space on medium or hard for older kids and adults. Doing the same puzzle side by side is also a simple family game, where whoever finds a word first calls it out.

Teachers can print one puzzle and copy it for the whole class, or print a new puzzle for every group so that nobody can copy from the next table. Themes such as weather, the body, jobs and countries fit common lessons, and the full word list on each theme page makes it easy to prepare a vocabulary activity around the puzzle. If you need a puzzle with your own words, such as this week's spelling list, use the word search maker and print from there. You are welcome to print and copy our puzzles for your family, class or club free of charge; please do not sell them.

Choose the answer key option in the print window and a second page is added with the same grid and every word marked. Printing it separately means you can hand out the puzzle and keep the solutions, or staple the key to the back for self-checking. The key always matches the puzzle printed with it, so print both in the same go.

• A4 or US Letter. The sheet is laid out to fit both. Choose your paper size in the print dialog; if the grid looks cut off, select "Fit to page" or a scale below 100%.
• Turn off headers and footers. Most browsers add the date and page address to the edges. Switch them off under "More settings" for a cleaner sheet.
• Black and white is fine. The puzzle reads perfectly in grayscale, so you can save color ink.
• Save as PDF. Choose "Save as PDF" as the printer to keep a puzzle for later or send it to someone else to print.
• Bigger letters for young readers. The easy level has the fewest squares, so its letters print the largest.