Crossword puzzle maker

Start with vocabulary from your current lesson and a clue for each answer. You supply the answer-and-clue pairs; the tool arranges the letters and numbers the starting squares.

1. Enter a heading in Puzzle title so you can identify the topic on the printed puzzle.
2. Paste your pairs into Answers and clues (one pair per line), with one answer and its clue per line. Separate them with a tab, a colon, or a dash or equals sign with spaces around it.
3. Select Make crossword to build the grid and clue list.
4. Review any answers left out and the reasons shown. Revise your pairs if needed, or select New layout to try a different arrangement.
5. Select Solve on screen for on-screen work, or Print for a paper puzzle.

Every placed answer belongs to one connected grid. The tool starts with the longest answers, then places each new answer across an existing answer at a shared letter; answers cannot touch side by side.

An answer with no shared letters cannot join the others. Replace it with a related term that shares a letter, or add another relevant answer that can connect it to the list.

A shared letter does not guarantee a free spot in a particular layout. The tool tries 40 layouts and keeps the one that fits the most answers, favoring the layout that prints with larger squares when the counts match. If the reason given is no free spot, select New layout; the same list otherwise produces the same grid.

Printing gives you an empty grid with the across and down clues. Each clue includes the answer length in brackets, so students can check how many letters belong in the grid.

Choose Letter or A4 using Paper. Enable Add answer key page if you want the completed grid on a separate page, then select Print to open the browser print window.

Use the browser's print destination settings to save a PDF instead of sending the puzzle to a printer. Keep the answer key separate from the student copies if you want to use it for checking afterward.

Match the clues to the material your class has already covered. Decide before the lesson whether students will work independently, compare answers with a partner, or solve together on the board.

• Warm-up: give students a printed vocabulary puzzle during the opening minutes of class, then discuss any unfinished clues.
• Partner review: use definitions from the current unit as clues during review time, with partners comparing proposed answers before writing them.
• Small-group center: leave a printed puzzle with the lesson materials for students to complete during their center rotation.
• Whole-class closing activity: select Solve on screen and Full screen for the projector, then enter the answers your class suggests before dismissal.