Crossword Maker

Make a crossword puzzle from your own words and clues

This crossword maker turns a list of words and clues into a proper numbered crossword: the words interlock, the grid is numbered the way newspaper crosswords are, and the clues are sorted into Across and Down lists. Solve it on screen with a mistake checker, or print the puzzle page and a separate answer key.

Teachers use it for vocabulary and revision sheets, families for party games and birthday cards, and trainers for onboarding quizzes. A seed makes the layout reproducible, and if a word cannot be crossed with the others the tool tells you rather than silently dropping it.

Layout, play and export all happen in your browser; the PDF is drawn as vector graphics with pdf-lib and the PNG from a canvas. Your word list is never uploaded.

How to use the Crossword Maker

1. Type one entry per line in Words and clues as WORD: clue (a comma, tab or dash after the word also works). Spaces and punctuation in the word are dropped; letters only, 2–20 of them.
2. Give the puzzle a title, keep or change the Seed, and choose a Max grid size.
3. Press Build crossword. The status line shows how many words fitted and the grid size; words that could not be placed are listed above the grid.
4. Play: click a cell or a clue and type. Letters advance along the word; click the same cell again, or press Space, to switch between across and down. Check marks wrong letters, Reveal all fills the grid.
5. Pick Paper and Orientation, then Print, Download PDF or save a page as PNG. The answer key is always the last page.

Crossword Maker features

Writing words that fit well

• Aim for 8–20 words with plenty of common letters (E, A, R, T, S, N). Words sharing no letters with the rest can never cross and are reported as unplaced.
• Mix lengths. One or two long words give the layout a spine; short words fill in the gaps.
• Keep clues short enough to print: about 60 characters is comfortable in the two-column layout.
• Multi-word answers are fine — “ICE CREAM” becomes ICECREAM in the grid, and the clue can say “two words”.
• If a layout looks lopsided, press the refresh button next to the seed for a new arrangement, or raise the maximum grid size.

How the generator places words

The first (longest) word is placed horizontally in the middle of a working area. Each remaining word is tried in both orientations at every cell where one of its letters matches a letter already on the grid. A placement is valid only if every cell it needs is empty or contains the same letter, the cells beside each new letter are empty, and the cells immediately before and after the word are empty. Valid placements are scored by crossings (more is better) and by how much they enlarge the grid (less is better), with a little seeded randomness to break ties. Words that fail get a second pass once more letters are on the grid, and the whole process is repeated with shuffled orders; the layout with the most words and the most compact grid is kept.

More puzzle makers

For younger solvers the Word Search Maker uses the same word list without clues. The Cryptogram Maker hides a quote behind a letter cipher, and the Trivia Quiz Maker prints a question sheet with an answer key.