How to make a crossword from your own words
- Type or paste your words, each with a clue, and choose a hidden solution word if you want one.
- Look at the grid as it updates, then change a word or press the button for another arrangement until it looks right.
- Print the puzzle and answer key, or save them as a PDF or as PNG images.
Start with a list. Each entry is a word and a clue: the word goes in the grid, the clue is what the solver reads. Type them in one row at a time, or paste a whole list with one entry per line, with the word and its clue split by a comma, a tab, a dash, a colon or a vertical bar. A puzzle holds between 2 and 60 words, each between 2 and 25 letters, and a clue can run to 200 characters.
The generator places the longest word first and then fits every other word across a letter it already shares, following the usual rules of a crossword: crossing letters must match, and words may not run side by side without crossing. The grid redraws a moment after each change, so you see the effect of every word you add or edit.
If a word shares no letter with the rest, it cannot cross and is listed below the grid as not placed. Reword it or add a word that gives it something to cross. When the layout is not to your liking, ask for another arrangement and the same words are laid out again in a different way. Edits are fitted into the current grid whenever they can be, so it does not reshuffle while you type. Across and down clues are numbered in standard crossword order and listed under the grid.
Making it for a particular occasion? These pages open the generator with example words for one, ready for you to change: a crossword for kids, a vocabulary crossword for your class, a wedding crossword about the couple, a graduation crossword for the party or the poster, a birthday crossword and a family names crossword for a reunion.
Add a hidden solution word
A hidden solution word turns the crossword into a two-step puzzle. Type a solution word of up to 20 letters, and the generator picks one letter cell in the grid for each of its letters, favouring cells that are not crossings and spreading them across the grid. Each picked cell carries a circled number, 1, 2, 3 and so on, in the order the solution is spelled.
Solvers fill in the grid, then copy the circled letters in number order into a row of empty boxes under it, and the row spells the answer. It suits a classroom prize word, a surprise in a birthday puzzle or the final reveal of a treasure hunt.
The solution word can only be built from letters that appear in your grid. If it contains a letter that none of your words has, the generator tells you which one is missing, so you can change a word or choose another solution.
Print it, save it as a PDF or download it as images
Every crossword comes as two pages: the puzzle first, then the answer key. The puzzle page has the title, a line for the solver's name and date, the empty numbered grid, the boxes for the hidden word and the across and down clues. The answer key has the same grid filled in, with the answers beside the clues, and always starts on a fresh page, so you can hand out the first sheet and keep the second.
Press print to use your browser's print dialog, or save a PDF to keep the file. You can also download the puzzle and the answer key as two PNG images in one zip file, handy for a slide or a worksheet. English puzzles default to US Letter paper and other languages to A4, and you can switch between the two.
The grid is never split across two pages and each square stays large enough to write in by hand. A long list of clues simply continues on the next page, and the page count is shown before you print.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a crossword in Word?
In Word you draw the grid as a table, shade the blank squares, number the squares by hand and write every across and down clue yourself, and any change to a word means redoing the layout. This generator does the layout for you. Enter your words and clues, then download the puzzle and the answer key as PNG images and paste them into your Word document, or print the pages straight from the generator.
What different kinds of crosswords are there?
The best known are the American style, a dense grid of black and white squares where every letter belongs to both an across and a down word, and the cryptic style, whose clues are wordplay. This generator makes the free-form kind, also called a criss-cross: your words cross where they share a letter, and the empty space around them stays blank. It is the easiest kind to write for a lesson, a party or a gift, because the words and clues are all yours.
Can I make a crossword in any language?
Yes. Each letter, accented letter, syllable block or kana character takes exactly one square, so words in Korean, Japanese, Russian, Polish, German, French and other languages fit the grid as you typed them. Letters are shown in capitals according to the rules of the language you write in.
How many words can a crossword have?
From 2 to 60 words, each between 2 and 25 letters long. The grid can grow up to 25 by 25 squares, which is about as much as one printed page can hold with squares big enough to write in. Spaces and hyphens inside a word are left out of the grid, so NEW YORK takes seven squares.
How does the hidden solution word work?
Enter a solution word and the generator marks one square in the grid for each of its letters with a circled number. When the puzzle is solved, the circled letters read in number order spell the solution word. Every letter of the solution must appear somewhere in your grid; if one does not, the generator says which.
Can I print the crossword or save it as a PDF?
Yes, both. Print opens your browser's print dialog, and the PDF button saves a file with the puzzle on the first page and the answer key on the second. A PNG download gives you the puzzle and the answer key as images in one zip file. The PDF is made of page images, so its text cannot be selected.
Is the crossword puzzle generator free?
Yes, it is free, with no account to create and no limit on how many crosswords you make. The crossword is built in your browser, so your words and clues are not sent anywhere.