Crossword puzzle maker with your own words and clues
One answer and its clue per line – the generator interlocks the words into a grid, numbers the clues across and down and makes the puzzle ready to print.
How it is calculated
How to make a crossword
- Enter one answer, a colon and its clue per line, e.g.
Moon: Earth’s natural satellite. - The grid appears instantly: words cross at shared letters, and the clues are numbered under "Across" and "Down".
- "New layout" gives a different arrangement of the same words. "Show answers" fills in the letters.
- "Print" outputs only the empty grid with the clues – optionally with an answer key on a second page.
How the generator places the words
It starts with a long word, because long words offer the most places to connect. Every further word has to cross at least one word already in the grid at a shared letter. Letters next to each other must not form unintended words, and the square before and after each word stays empty. Among all allowed positions the one with the most crossings and the most compact, nearly square grid wins. This runs several times with different word orders, and the best result is shown.
A word that shares no letter with the others, or cannot connect anywhere without a conflict, is not placed and listed below the puzzle. Fix: try "New layout" or add a few words with common letters (E, A, R, S, T) that act as bridges.
Numbering like a printed crossword
Squares are counted row by row from the top left. Every square where a word starts gets the next number. If an across and a down word start in the same square, they share the number – just as in newspaper crosswords. Each clue shows the number of letters in brackets.
Randomness you can repeat
Where several positions are equally good, a random generator seeded with the variant number decides. The same words with the same number therefore always give the same puzzle – also via a shared link. "New layout" draws new numbers with the browser's crypto.getRandomValues(). Everything is calculated on your device; words and clues are not sent to a server.
Example: Enter MOON: Earth’s natural satellite and NOON: 12 o’clock midday – both words share the letters O and N, so the generator can cross them, and each clue shows the word length (4). More word games: make a word search, play hangman online, or solve anagrams with the word unscrambler.
Frequently asked questions
Why was a word left out?
It shares no letter with the placed words at a free spot, or it would create unintended letter sequences next to other words. "New layout" tries a different order; adding a word with common letters as a bridge often helps too.
How many words make sense?
For a classroom or party puzzle, 10 to 20 words of 4 to 10 letters. Up to 60 words are possible; the grid stays within 30 × 30 squares so that it fits on one page.
Can I print the crossword?
Yes. "Print" shows only the empty numbered grid, the clues and a name line – no menu, no ads. Tick "answer key on a separate page" to add the filled grid on its own page. The print dialog also offers "Save as PDF".
Can clues contain a colon?
Yes. Only the first colon separates word and clue; the rest belongs to the clue ("Clock: shows e.g. 12:30"). A tab (pasted from a spreadsheet), "=" or " – " work as separators too.
Are accented letters supported?
Accents are removed in the grid (é → E), as in printed English crosswords. Spaces and hyphens in multi-word answers are dropped.
Sources and legal basis
- Crossword – grid conventions and numbering
- W3C Recommendation: W3C Web Cryptography API – getRandomValues()
As of:
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