How To Solve Word Search Puzzles
A Word Search puzzle is a word game consisting of a grid of letters and a list of words to find. Some difficult word search puzzles do not provide a word list.
The objective of the puzzle is to find and mark all the words from the list hidden within the grid.
The words may be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal in the grid. The direction of the words may be left to right, right to left, up, or down.
Many word search puzzles have a theme that unites the words, whereas others contain random words.
Puzzle
This word search contains 30 words under the theme of Olympic Host Cities. Each of the words is hidden in the letter grid above.
Solution
The solution to the puzzle is shown here. Notice that the words are horizontal, vertical, and diagonal, and the directions of the words are left to right, right to left, up, or down.
Some Common Strategies
Go through each line in the puzzle from left to right and right to left, looking for the word's first letter. When found, look at the surrounding letters to see if the second letter of the word is present. If so, see if the following letter in the same direction matches the third letter.
Look for words that have letters that stand out, such as J, Q, X, and Z, as these are often easiest to locate.
Please be sure to look for words that contain two repeating letters, such as OO or SS, as these are also easier to locate.
Some people like to go through the grid looking for words they can find and seeing if they are from the word list. Of course, this strategy is used when a word list is not provided.