Skip to main content

🔍 How to create a Wordsearch activity

Rex Sabuga-a
  • Updated

The Wordsearch template challenges students to find a targeted set of concealed words hidden deep within a structural grid of randomised letters. It is perfect for building core visual scanning skills, reinforcing vocabulary recognition, and developing spelling patterns.

IN THIS ARTICLE:

How the activity is played

The interface displays a complex grid of letters alongside an optional clue panel or word checklist.

  • The interaction: Students closely scan the character matrix, searching for continuous linear strings of letters. Depending on your configuration, they click, tap, or highlight tiles to uncover the hidden terms. Found items instantly light up with distinct background colours.

  • The challenge: If the puzzle is set up with clues, finding a word dynamically matches it against its corresponding hint prompt to cross it off the active target index tracker.

  • Completion: On the final screen, students can review their total score, look at the visual arrangement of any words they missed, post their names to the public Leader board, or complete the puzzle challenge again.

    Wordsearch.gif

Creating your Wordsearch activity

  1. Click Create Activity on your dashboard and choose Wordsearch.


     

  2. Add your content:

    • Mode selection: Choose whether you want the game to be With clues or Without clues.

    • Without Clues: Simply type the exact list of words you want to hide within the letter grid matrix.

    • With Clues: Type the hidden target word and then provide a corresponding text description or click the image icon to upload a picture clue that will prompt the student to find it.

  3. Click Add a new word or press Enter to add another vocabulary term.

  4. Click Done to save. Wordwall will automatically compile your data fields and generate your interactive letter grid puzzle.


     

  5. Scroll down to Visuals style to add a creative style to your activity, or tailor the difficulty in the Options panel below the activity:

    • Timer
      • None: No time limit is enforced on the total game duration, giving students an untimed environment to scan for words.
      • Count up: Displays an ascending stopwatch tracker to observe exactly how many minutes or seconds a student needs to finish the puzzle.
      • Count down: Sets a strict, descending time limit to challenge scanning speeds. In the screenshot, this is configured to 5 minutes and 0 seconds.
    • Lives
      • Use the slider or numerical picker to choose exactly how many incorrect tile taps or missed selections a student can make before encountering an early game cut-off. In the screenshot, this threshold is locked at 5.
    • Gameplay
      • Tap any letter: When selected, students can click or highlight any individual component letter of a hidden target word to automatically reveal the whole string (selected in the screenshot).
      • Tap the first letter: Increases complexity by forcing students to specifically locate and tap only the true starting letter of a hidden word.
    • Difficulty
      • Display words to find: Check this to provide a helpful shopping list index of vocabulary targets on the side panel (unchecked/disabled in the screenshot).
      • Allow diagonal words: Adds a layer of visual complexity by threading terms diagonally across the grid paths (checked/enabled in the screenshot).
      • Allow reverse words: When enabled, words can be hidden completely backwards (unchecked/disabled in the screenshot).
      • Lower case letters: Toggle the display layout between standard testing Uppercase (ABC) or primary reading Lowercase (abc) letter asset matrices (unchecked/disabled in the screenshot).
    • End of game
      • Show answers: When checked, this allows students to see the definitive coordinate maps and pathways of any hidden words they missed once the game is over.
    • Advanced settings
      • OPTIONS_INPUT_WORDSEARCHNEWDISPLAYWORDSLAYOUTS: Adjusts the advanced layout formatting settings for the displayed words index panel (set to 0 in the screenshot).
    • Saving options
      • Apply to this activity: Saves these specific matrix rules and layout configurations only for the single active game file you are currently editing.
      • More: Click this drop-down to find:
        • Set as default for template: Remembers these choices as your standard configuration profile for all future files you build using the Wordsearch template.
        • Revert to default: Clears temporary panel changes and reloads your saved custom default options profile.
        • Revert to author's setting: Restores the matrix settings back to the initial configurations locked in by the original community creator.

Creating Wordsearch with AI

You don't need to be a prompt expert to use our AI. It is designed to be intuitive and accessible directly from the activity creator.

  1. Click Create Activity and select Wordsearch.


     

  2. Look for the ✨ Generate with AI button at the top right of the content table.


     

  3. Enter your content:

    • Topic: Type a thematic focus like "Atmospheric Weather Terms" or "Characters in Shakespearean Plays.

    • Text / Notes: Paste an essay summary, definitions list, or informational text blocks. The AI will isolate key content nouns and automatically pair them into clean term and definition clue fields.

    • File: Upload a PDF or Word doc. Wordwall AI scans the text parameters, extracts technical keywords, and instantly compiles a word search bank structured entirely from your learning material.

  4. Click Generate. Review the populated hidden terms and clue matrices, adjust or remove rows manually if needed, and hit Done.

Need inspirations?

Some examples of Wordsearch quiz activities have been created by our users and shared with the Wordwall resource community.

Related articles

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.