About WordSearchNest
WordSearchNest turns a vocabulary list into a word search and a matching answer key. It is designed for people preparing their own activities in English or Spanish.
How a puzzle is built
Words are normalized with Unicode NFC, checked against the selected alphabet and deduplicated. A seeded generator places longer words first, records their coordinates, and verifies every path before offering a finished puzzle. Easy uses right and down; medium adds diagonals to the right; hard uses all eight directions.
The current algorithm is wordgrid-1.0.0. It uses Mulberry32 with deterministic Fisher–Yates shuffling. Retry seeds add 0x9e3779b9 per attempt with unsigned 32-bit wraparound. Candidate starts are visited by row, then column, then the documented direction order. Empty cells are filled uniformly from the selected alphabet. Repeating a puzzle requires the same words in the same order, seed, spelling settings, dimensions, difficulty and algorithm version.
A puzzle is limited to 100 grid attempts, five million placement checks and 20 filler attempts. A finite local list checks for some unwanted sequences in all eight directions. That check is not exhaustive; review the whole sheet before using it with a class.
Print and accessibility
PDFs use vector text and an embedded Noto Sans font. Student sheets contain no solution marks. Answer keys outline saved paths and give coordinates counted from 1. A4 and US Letter exports reserve at least 12 mm on every side. Grid letters, word lists and answer coordinates must fit at 10 pt or more; large print raises this minimum to 16 pt. Small footer metadata is 8 pt.
The PDF has selectable Unicode text but is not a tagged PDF and does not claim PDF/UA conformance. The HTML table, word checklist and text export provide other ways to read the result. Classroom review, native-language review and field accessibility testing remain necessary before broader use.
Vocabulary and local storage
Examples are original short vocabulary lists, without personal names or age-level claims. Lists stay in memory unless you choose Save. Saved lists remain in this browser until you delete them or clear site data. Export produces a local JSON file containing the normalized list and settings.
Editorial responsibility
WordSearchNest is a free, publicly available tool for creating vocabulary activities. Review every generated worksheet before sharing it. Advertising is under review and no advertising, analytics or AI script is currently loaded.
Technical review date: September 22, 2026. This date does not imply teacher testing or independent certification.