Crossword Puzzle Generator
Type your vocabulary words and clues, and get a numbered, printable crossword with Across and Down clues, an optional word bank, and an answer key.
A crossword makes a student recall a word from its meaning, which is harder and more useful than recognizing it on a list. Laying one out by hand takes most of an hour. Paste the terms from this week's lesson, one per line with the clue after a bar, and the generator connects them into one grid, numbers it, and writes the clue lists. Don't like the shape? Press New layout.
Up to 20 letters per answer. Spaces and hyphens are dropped from the grid; letter counts like (6,7) tell students where they go. You can also paste two columns straight from a spreadsheet.
Tips for a crossword that works
- Write clues that make students think. "The gas plants release" is better than "O2", which just asks them to decode a symbol. Definitions, fill-in-the-blank sentences and examples all work.
- 8 to 15 words is the sweet spot. Fewer and the grid is sparse; more and a younger student loses the thread. Mix long and short words — short ones fill the gaps between long ones.
- If a word won't connect, it shares no usable letters with the rest. Press New layout, or add one more word that links it in.
- Separators:
word | clue,word - clue,word: clueor a tab all work. - Use it twice. Print with the word bank on for practice, then without it as a quick check a few days later.
- Printing: the grid resizes to fit the page. Choose "Save as PDF" in the print dialog to keep a copy or send it to a family.
Everything runs in your browser. Your word list is saved on this device only.