Crossword Puzzle Maker

What is the Crossword Puzzle Maker?

This tool takes your own list of words and clues and automatically arranges them into a crossword grid — intersecting words wherever their letters match, the same basic structure as any newspaper crossword — so you can play it on screen or print it as a worksheet.

How to use it

1. Enter each word and its clue on its own line, in the format WORD: your clue here.
2. Click Generate Crossword.
3. Fill in the grid using the numbered Across and Down clues, click Check Answers to see what's wrong, or Reveal Answers if you're stuck.
4. Click Print / Save as PDF for a blank, printable version with the clue list.

How the layout works

The longest word is placed first, and each following word is placed intersecting an already-placed word wherever their letters line up, alternating between across and down. If a word genuinely shares no letters with anything already placed, it's added separately rather than left out. This is a straightforward, algorithmic layout — it won't rival a professional crossword constructor's hand-tuned symmetric grid, but it reliably turns any word list into a solvable puzzle.

This is useful for teachers building a vocabulary review, a themed party puzzle, or a custom quiz — nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.