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Classroom Word Search Maker
Use this online word search maker for teachers to make printable word searches for spelling, vocabulary, fast finisher tasks and more!
Customisable Word Search Maker
This find-a-word maker opens up a world of options for the classroom and saves you time, too! Choose from a pre-built word list or enter your own words to make printable word searches aligned to your lesson plan!
There are more than 100 pre-saved word lists available to use, including:
- Australian Federation vocabulary
- Dolch Sight Word Lists
- Fairytales Vocabulary
- Living and Non-Living Things Vocabulary
- Past and Present Vocabulary
- And many more!
Not only can you customise the word list included in your word search, but you can also choose the board size and school font and select lower or uppercase letters when you make your word search!
How Do I Create a Custom Word Search?
Ready to give the word search generator a go? Here’s all you need to know to make a word search that’s been customised for your classroom and lesson.
- Click the ‘Play’ button at the top of the page.
- Add the title of your word search.
- Enter your list of words or select a word list.
- Select your board size.
- Choose the school font required.
- Choose from upper or lower case letters.
- Select Yes or No for diagonals words to be included in the find a word.
- Now just click download on the top right corner to access your Word Search.
Ways to Use Your Custom Word Search in the Classroom
Your head is surely buzzing with ways to use the word searches you’ve just made, but perhaps you could use a few more? Here are some tips for using custom word searches from the teacher team here at Teach Starter.
Get to Know Your New Classmates Back to School Idea
Have you finally been given your class list for the new academic year? Get organised as soon as possible, and create a quick and easy word search using student names! A ‘Get to Know Your Classmates Word Search’ is a great way to help your students get to know their new peers.
Ask your students to find the hidden names in the word search and put faces to the names. Use this activity idea in conjunction with our other fun first-day-of-school activities.
Spelling List Word Search
A lot of smart teachers out there already use our Word Search Widget to help their students learn their weekly spelling list. A spelling list word search is a perfect activity to include in a spelling words activity grid.
Just copy and paste your spelling list into the word list box in this maker, and before you know it, you’ll have a spelling list activity ready to go for Monday morning.
Word Wall Activity
You can use our Word Search Widget to introduce any subject-specific vocabulary and reinforce the content of word walls.
Teach Starter Teacher Tip: Save time by choosing a Teach Starter word wall, copying the suggested word list from the word wall and pasting it into the word search generator widget.
Grammar Word Search
When you need to inject a little bit more fun into your grammar lesson, do it with a word search. Your class will love to hunt for parts of speech, especially if you set a time challenge. Extend the activity for more confident students by asking them to write a sentence using each of the verbs that they find in the word search.
Maths Vocabulary Word Search
Students need to build their mathematical vocabulary in order to decipher what the question is asking them to do. Who would have thought that one mathematical application such as addition would have so many names? You can help your students to become familiar with the different terms associated with mathematical symbols by displaying our Mathematics Vocabulary Posters. Next, reinforce your learning by creating a word search of all the important vocabulary.
Rhyming Words
For students in the early years, why not use our word search generator to make phonics and word knowledge even more fun? Your students will love to find words that rhyme with ‘cat’ or ‘blue’ hidden in a find-a-word. This super simple idea could be used as a homework activity or a literacy rotation activity to consolidate your students’ ability to recognise and generate rhyming words.
High Frequency or Sight Word Word Search
Are the students in your class struggling to retain the knowledge of high-frequency or sight words? You’ve guessed it… hide them in a word search. For more confident students, encourage them to extend their learning by constructing the words that they have found using our Giant Letter Tiles with Numbers (you can choose from upper or lower case letters) and asking them to add up their word score!
Onomatopoeia Hidden Sounds
Early years students will love to search for onomatopoeia words. For early years, remember to opt for a 10 x 10 board size, and limit the number of hidden words to around 8-10 words.
Lesson Hook Word Search
It turns out that a good old find-a-word can also be used as a brilliant introduction to a new area of learning or a lesson hook. Next time you introduce a new History or Geography topic, use our Word Search Widget to hide topic-specific words and encourage your students to guess the topic.
To make your life even easier, our word search widget includes a huge collection of custom word lists that range from ‘Ancient Egypt Vocabulary’ to ‘Weather and Erosion Vocabulary.’ All you have to do is hit the drop-down arrow next to ‘Select a Word List.’
Hidden Message Word Search
Hide a special message for your students in a word search. Write your personalised message in the ‘words’ box. Don’t forget to jumble the words up and separate the words with commas, or enter one word per line. For an extra challenge, cut the word list from the bottom of the printable before giving it to your students to solve.
Character Study Word Search
Next time you read a storybook with your class, choose a character from the story and create a word search of character traits. For an extra challenge, add some mystery and do not reveal the character’s name. Instead, encourage more confident students to refer to the text and the character traits hidden in the word search to guess the character.
For early years students, keep it simple on a 10×10 grid, and consider completing the word search as a whole class warm-up activity. Simply project the word search on an interactive whiteboard and ask your students to work in collaboration to find the hidden words.
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I love, love, love this resource! It’s great that I can choose upper or lower case and choose my preferred font.
Rebeeca Astley · Jul 24th, 2023
Hi there, I can’t seem to create a find a word, can you please advise if this function is no longer available
JOANNA URISNO · Aug 19th, 2022
Hi there, It appears I am unable to create a word search, can you please advised if this function is no longer available
JOANNA URISNO · Aug 19th, 2022
‘Play’ link not currently launching Word Search Widget??
Mitchell Yarrow · Jun 14th, 2022
What happened to all the super pre-saved lists that were already created? It’s a real shame that you seem to have got rid of those.
Julie Lawson · Mar 22nd, 2022
Apparently this problem has been occurring for the past month. I have used this program before without having to look at how to create a word search. Can it be fixed so that we can make a word search? Please.
Marjorie Window · Mar 15th, 2022
Hi Marjorie
Thank you for getting in touch with Customer Support directly. We trust that you’re happy with the outcome.
Janeen · Mar 18th, 2022
This does not work, you hit the play button and it logs you out, you cannot then log in as when you do it takes you back to your start up page, very frustrating for a paid subscription.
Tim Tattis · Feb 13th, 2022
Hi Glen,
Over the past few days, we have experienced a few website hiccups. If you had trouble downloading a resource or using the website during this time, we are very sorry. We know this is a very busy time for you.
Although our team is working tirelessly to resolve the issue, a small number of resources may be currently unavailable for download. If you receive an error message when attempting to download a resource, please submit let us know via the Report an Error tab above the comments section so we can restore the resources quickly for you.
Rest assured that we are here for you and ready to support you in all the ways you teach.
Paul (Teach Starter) · Feb 7th, 2022
Where is the create button???? I don’t need a demo
Tammy Offer · Jan 30th, 2022
Hi Tammy,
We’re sorry to hear you’re having trouble. Please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll help you work through the problem.
Paul (Teach Starter) · Jan 31st, 2022
The PLAY button under the main title (not the demo video)
Dayna Chu · Jan 29th, 2022
Thanks, Dayna!
Paul (Teach Starter) · Jan 31st, 2022
Not sure if this will help any of you, but when I hit the ‘PLAY’ button, it took me to the create page. Hot Tip: Download again for a different version of the same wordlist; I often download three or four versions so that the students don’t have too many ‘opportunities’ around them to solve the puzzle without some persistence.
Dayna Chu · Jan 29th, 2022
Thanks for sharing that tip, Dayna!
Paul (Teach Starter) · Jan 31st, 2022
I can input names but widget won’t let me create a wordsearch?
Emma Tothill · Jan 29th, 2022
Hi Emma,
We’re sorry to hear you’re having trouble. Please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll help you work through the problem.
Paul (Teach Starter) · Jan 31st, 2022
Sorry my find a word has names missing and is only displaying 16 of my 22 names. Help please.
Mandy Collard · Jan 29th, 2022
Hi Mandy,
We’re sorry to hear you’re having trouble. Please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll help you work through the problem.
Paul (Teach Starter) · Jan 31st, 2022
I can’t get this working, please help
Alison Hicks · Jan 28th, 2022
Hi Alison,
We’re sorry to hear you’re having trouble. Please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll help you work through the problem.
Paul (Teach Starter) · Jan 28th, 2022
Sorry, my find a word only had 16 of my 23 student’s names. It has left off some of the uncommon names
melissa gee · Jan 27th, 2022
Hi Melissa,
We’re sorry to hear you’re having trouble. Please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll help you work through the problem.
Paul (Teach Starter) · Jan 27th, 2022
sorry but the widget is still not operational.
Doris Carroll · Jan 27th, 2022
Hi Doris,
We’ve taken a look and the word search seems to be working for us. Please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll help you work through the problem.
Paul (Teach Starter) · Jan 27th, 2022
Hi Kaitlin,
Thank you for that feedback. We appreciate any suggestions that help make our resources even better! You can always submit a change suggestion to this resource using the Changes & Updates tab above the comments section. Thanks again!
Paul (Teach Starter) · Jan 27th, 2022
Sorry, I cannot create one either 🙁
Ashika Corera · Jan 26th, 2022
Hi Ashika,
We’re sorry to hear you’re having trouble. Please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll help you work through the problem.
Paul (Teach Starter) · Jan 27th, 2022
Hi, there seems to be no option on any of your widgets to create. It isn’t great timing considering how close we are to being back to school and the many teachers who are trying to prepare during their holidays.
Dana Johnston · Jan 26th, 2022
Hi Dana,
Thanks for letting us know. There should be ‘Download’ and ‘Save’ buttons in the top right-hand corner of the page. If you’re not seeing it, contact us at support@teachstarter
Paul (Teach Starter) · Jan 27th, 2022
I can’t create word searches.
Janice Stewart · Jan 26th, 2022
Hi Janice,
We’re sorry to hear you’re having trouble. Please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll help you work through the problem.
Paul (Teach Starter) · Jan 27th, 2022
Hi Melissa, Any word on whe this will be up and running again?
Alanah-Rei Castledine · Jan 24th, 2022
Hi Alanah-Rei, this should all be up and running now. If you are still having issues – please feel free to email us at [email protected] and we’d be more than happy to assist further.
Holly (Teach Starter) · Jan 24th, 2022
I cannot either – create my class word search
Fiona Goodlet · Jan 19th, 2022
Hi Fiona, looks like we are experiencing an error with this widget. Our team are hard at work on a fix now and we hope to have it back up and running very soon!
Melissa Teach Starter · Jan 20th, 2022
why can I not create my own word search.
Bronwyn Selfe · Jan 19th, 2022
Hi Bronwyn, looks like something has gone awry. Our team are hard at work on a fix now and we hope to have it back up and running shortly.
Melissa Teach Starter · Jan 20th, 2022
This is one of my favourite activities for first day back. New class, new students… it’s a great way to get to know who is who!
Lisa-Marie Peers · Jan 10th, 2022
So glad to hear that, Lisa-Marie!
Melissa Teach Starter · Jan 10th, 2022
awesome for kids to learn new words
Word Whiz · Nov 10th, 2020
Thank you for your positive feedback!
Stephanie (Teach Starter) · Nov 10th, 2020