How to Create a Free Word Puzzle
Making a custom word-search or crossword puzzle is almost impossible and very time-consuming without modern technology. Thanks to a few free websites, teachers and parents can now create activity books or a lesson using vocabulary and spelling words with ease. These wonderful websites also enable you to make word scrambles, match-ups, fill-in-the-blank pages and cryptograms.
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Instructions
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Word Search Puzzles
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Choose one of the puzzle sites listed in the references section. This tutorial is for the Teacher's Corner Puzzle Maker but the other sites are similar and equally easy.
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Choose the word-search link from the page of puzzle types. A page will open with a list of premade puzzles. Browse the list to see if any fit your subject. If not, choose the "Make Your Own Word Search" link. This is where you add your own words.
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Choose your font size and shape. You can also choose whether words can be hidden horizontally, diagonally, up, down, forward and backward, or any combination. You can add a grid for students who need help with visual processing and choose whether or not to display the word list. Then check out the fun options. This button takes you where you can scramble the letters of each word on your list for an even bigger challenge or substitute clues for the word list to find the answers in the puzzle.
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Click on the "Create Puzzle" button. A new window will open with your completed puzzle and you can print it. Every time you click on the "Create Puzzle" button, you will get a new version of the puzzle.
Crossword Puzzles
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Click on a website from the references section. On the Teacher's Corner site, you will find a list of premade puzzles and also a link where you can use your own words and meanings.
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Add a title and instructions for your puzzle. You will be asked to input both the words and the clues for the puzzle.
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Choose from the options available on the Teacher's Corner site such as whether you want to generate a key, add a name line or a word box. The other sites do not have these options.
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Click to generate your puzzle. On Teacher's Corner, a screen will come up and ask if you are human as a security measure to avoid commercial computers using the site to make commercial products. Enter the code presented and your puzzle will be made immediately. Print your puzzle and hand out to your students or party guests.
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Tips & Warnings
Remember that if you enter two or more separate words such as "baseball bat," on the word search, it will show as two different entries, baseball and bat. Leave out the space if you want the words to remain together. The crossword puzzles will leave a blank box for spaces.
These sites do not have a spell-check feature, so be sure to double check the spelling of your words and your clues.
