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| If a word list is not provided, a good way to quickly find words is to go row-by-row. First, all of the horizontal rows should be read both backwards and forewards, and then the vertical, etc. | If a word list is not provided, a good way to quickly find words is to go row-by-row. First, all of the horizontal rows should be read both backwards and forewards, and then the vertical, etc. | ||
| == Secret messages == | |||
| Sometimes you can get a secret mnessage. All the words found backward form a message. | |||
| == External links == | == External links == | ||
Revision as of 07:32, 6 September 2006
A word search, word find, word seek or word sleuth puzzle is a generic word game that consists of seemingly random letters arranged in a grid, that usually has a rectangular shape. The object of the game is to find and mark all of the words hidden in the grid. The words may have been placed horizontally, vertically or diagonally. They may have been written backwards or not. Often a list of the hidden words is provided, but more challenging puzzles may let the player figure them out. Many word search puzzles have a theme to which all the hidden words are related.
Word searches are commonly found in daily newspapers and puzzle books. Some teachers use them as educational tools for children, the benefit being that young minds can learn new words and their spellings by intensively searching for them, letter by letter, in the puzzle.
The puzzle grid may be represented instead as a string of characters in versions of the game designed for text messaging, or SMS, on mobile devices, particularly cell phones. In this case, the object may be to only find one word or a few words hidden among the character string. The hidden word(s) may be presented backwards more frequently than in the traditional word search puzzle as it is impossible to arrange them diagonally or vertically. A clue to assist the player in finding the hidden word(s) may be provided, as well.
Strategies
The best strategy to find all of the words is to go through the puzzle left to right (or vice versa) and look for the first letter of the word (if a word list is provided). After one has found the letter, he should look at the eight surrounding letters to see if the next letter of the word is there. He then can continue this method until the entire word is found.
Another strategy is to look for 'outstanding' letters within the word one is searching for (if a word list is provided). Since most word searches use capital letters, it is easiest to spot the letters which stand out from others. These letters are: Q, O, U, X, and Z.
Lastly, the strategy of looking for double letters in the word you are searching for (if a word list is provided) proves to help, because it is easier to spot two identical side-by-side letters among a large grid of random letters.
If a word list is not provided, a good way to quickly find words is to go row-by-row. First, all of the horizontal rows should be read both backwards and forewards, and then the vertical, etc.
Secret messages
Sometimes you can get a secret mnessage. All the words found backward form a message.
External links
- Daily Interactive Word Search Puzzle - You can submit word lists of your own
- Word Search Puzzle generator - Custom words may be used.
- An online PDF word search generator that takes a custom word list as input