How the Crossword Solver works
The length of your pattern picks the word file, and every word in it is tested square by square: a square with a letter must match exactly, an open square accepts anything. Then the two extra boxes are applied. Must contain keeps only words holding those letters somewhere, which is how a letter from a crossing down answer helps before you know where it lands. Must not contain removes any word holding a letter a crossing answer has ruled out.
Common words come first, in the order of how often they appear in published English, each with a one-line meaning from Princeton WordNet. The rest follow under More words, A to Z. The order is deliberate. A crossword list is only useful if the likely answer is near the top and its meaning is visible, because the clue, which this tool cannot read, is what separates the right fit from the seven other words of the same shape.
Everything runs in your browser, and only the one length file your pattern needs is downloaded. If a pattern is so open that thousands of words fit, the list is capped at 300 and the page says so. Adding one more known letter cuts a list like that by about two thirds on average: counted across this list's 24,873 nine-letter words, fixing a fourth letter after three shrinks the candidate list by 64% on average.
A worked example: the pattern ..O..WO..
Say a nine-letter answer has given you three letters from crossing words: O in position 3, W in position 6 and O in position 7. Typed as ..O..WO.., the pattern returns exactly seven words from the 24,873 nine-letter words in the list:
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| CROSSWORD | A puzzle in which words corresponding to numbered clues are to be found and written in to squares in the puzzle |
| BLOODWORM | A segmented marine worm with a bright red body, often used for bait |
| CLOCKWORK | A mechanism of geared wheels driven by a coiled spring, like the works of a mechanical clock |
| FROSTWORK | Patterns formed by frost on a surface |
| STONEWORK | Masonry done with stone |
| STONEWORT | A submerged water plant (an alga of the genus Chara) |
| TOOTHWORT | A North American herb with pungent, toothed roots |
Seven fits, and the clue picks one. A clue about puzzles settles on CROSSWORD at once. A clue about mechanisms points to CLOCKWORK. This is the honest shape of crossword solving with a pattern tool: the pattern does the narrowing, the clue does the choosing, and the meanings on this page are there to make the choosing quick.
What this solver cannot do
It cannot read clue text, as the first question below explains. It also cannot find names. The ENABLE list holds ordinary English words, so a person, a place, a brand or a foreign phrase set as an answer will not appear here, and no setting changes that. And it cannot rescue a wrong letter: one incorrect crossing letter removes the right answer silently, so if a pattern you trust returns nothing, recheck each known letter against its crossing word before blaming the list.
Questions
Can I paste my clue into the solver?
No, and it is worth being clear about why. This solver reads a pattern of letters, not the wording of a clue. Clue wording is a riddle written for a person, and matching it needs the meanings, which is why every common result carries its meaning here: the list narrows the shape, and you match the clue against the meanings yourself. The guide to crossword clue types shows how the wording of a clue usually points at its answer.
How do I mark an empty square?
Type a full stop, a question mark or an underscore for each square you do not know yet, or just leave a space. They all count as an open square. For example, C.O.S.O.D finds CROSSROAD and CROSSWORD.
Why is the answer I am sure about missing?
The usual cause is a name. This solver searches the ENABLE word list, which holds ordinary English words and not names of people, places or brands, and crossword answers are sometimes names. The other causes are a crossing letter entered wrongly, which is worth checking square by square, or the answer being a form the list holds differently, such as a plural where you expected the singular.
What do the Contains and Exclude boxes do?
They narrow the pattern from the crossing words. If a down answer has already given you a letter that must appear somewhere in this word but you do not know where, put it in Contains. If a crossing word has ruled a letter out completely, put it in Exclude and every word holding that letter disappears.
Is what I type stored or sent anywhere?
No. The solver runs in your browser. It downloads one word list file, the file for the length of your pattern, from this site, and your pattern never leaves your device.
More word tools
Sources
- Word list: ENABLE (public domain), the file the tools on this site load: github.com/brokensandals/wordlists
- Meanings: Princeton WordNet
- How the list and the meanings are checked: How We Verify