Thus the word PEOPLE was moved to the “oops” list and not placed on the puzzle. But in entering P, E, O… it conflicted with another word at the second P. In the above example, the word “PEOPLE” tried to be placed on the puzzle at E2. Notice for each “oops” word that did not make the puzzle the oops is SOMEWHERE on the answer key. But it makes the answer key wrong… and that isn’t good.

This means there are a few words in the puzzle that are almost the word but not the word. I like the oops! It makes the puzzle more challenging. So you will see partial attempts at placing a word on the answer key. Notice on the answer key some words are not words! When the code tries to put a word on the answer key and runs into another word it does NOT delete the attempt. Highlight the words starting in column AA, copy and then paste somewhere of your choosing onto the answer grid. Manually find a spot on the answer key for where you want to add the words that did not make the list. Use the menu to “Test for Errors.” This will go through the word list and double check that all of the words on the list are accounted for in the puzzle or in the oops list. If it is not blank another word is using that spot! That word is then NOT added to the puzzle and added to a list in column AA. When placing letters on the puzzle my code checks to see if the spot is blank. One of the problems with placing words randomly is they will run into and “eat” other words.

The answer key is built before your eyes. Words are randomly placed horizontally or vertically. Choose “Create Puzzle.”Įach word is randomly placed on the Word Search grid. Locate the “Make Word Search” menu at the top.

Each letter from the word is automatically spaced out into individual cells. Use the menu to “Create Puzzle.” Copy and paste your puzzle into Docs, Drawings, Slides or Sheets or you can simply print.Ī/wordsearch Paste Your WordsĪfter making a copy of the template, replace the default list of words in column B with your own words. The Google Sheets template I created allows you to copy and paste your own list of words onto the spreadsheet. You can use my template to create your own Word Search. Just for fun, I coded a Word Search from a Google Sheets spreadsheet.

Template for word search puzzle