Guide

How to play word search

A grid of letters, a list of words hidden in it. Find each word and mark it. Here are the rules, in a few lines.

A word search, also called word find or wordsearch, is a puzzle of letters set out in a square grid. A list of words is hidden in the grid. Your goal is to find every word of the list.

Where the words are hidden

Each word is written in a straight line, letter after letter, with no gap. In Scrutix, words read from left to right or from top to bottom. Two settings add harder directions: Diagonals and Backwards words. Both are off when you start.

Two words can share a letter where they cross.

How to mark a word

On paper, you circle the word. In Scrutix, drag your finger from the first letter to the last, or tap the first letter, then the last. The word is marked in the grid and crossed out in the list.

The other letters

The squares that hold no word are filled with other letters, to hide the words. In Scrutix, these filler letters never spell a real word, so you are never misled by a word that is not on the list.

The end of the grid

The grid is finished when every word on the list is found: Grid complete. There is no time limit and no score. Next grid starts another one.