How to Solve a Word Search Puzzle Online
Upload a photo or type your letters and find every hidden word in seconds. Here's exactly how it works.
Step 1: Upload a Photo or Type Your Grid
Take a photo of your word search puzzle and upload it, or type the letters from each row. Our OCR technology (powered by Amazon Textract) reads the letters directly from your image — no manual typing needed.
Tips
- •Crop tightly around just the letter grid for best results
- •Ensure good lighting and a flat surface when photographing
- •Use AI mode for tricky images with unusual fonts or low contrast
Step 2: Rotate and Crop if Needed
After uploading a photo, the crop tool opens automatically. If your puzzle is sideways or upside-down, use the rotate button to fix the orientation. Then crop tightly around the grid to exclude titles, word lists, and borders.
Tips
- •Rotate before cropping — rotation resets the crop area
- •Letters should read normally left-to-right when orientation is correct
- •Upload the grid and word list as separate photos for best accuracy
Step 3: Enter the Words to Find
Type the words you're looking for, separated by commas. You can also upload a photo of the word list. The solver accepts any number of words and searches for all of them at once.
Tips
- •Separate words with commas: APPLE, BANANA, CHERRY
- •Spelling must match exactly — double-check unusual words
- •You can add more words and re-solve at any time
Step 4: Solve and Find Every Word
Click 'Solve' and our algorithm instantly searches all 8 directions — horizontal, vertical, and diagonal, both forwards and backwards. Every found word gets a unique color highlight on the grid.
Tips
- •Click any word in the results to highlight it on the grid
- •Use the row/column controls to adjust the grid if OCR misaligned letters
- •Words not found may indicate a typo in the grid or word list
The Technology Behind It
Photo OCR
Amazon Textract extracts letters from uploaded photos with high accuracy. AI mode uses a vision model for tricky images.
Solving Algorithm
Client-side letter-indexed search checks all 8 directions instantly. 96% faster than brute force scanning.
Image Processing
Built-in crop and rotate tools optimize images before OCR. Automatic resizing keeps uploads fast.
Interactive Results
Click any found word to highlight its exact path on the grid. Color-coded results make checking easy.