About Puzzle Maker Online
Last updated: October 1, 2026
Puzzle Maker Online turns your own words into printable puzzles. Type a word list, pick a puzzle type, and print a clean page with a matching answer key. It's free, and there's nothing to sign up for.
Who makes it
I'm Joan Ramos. I build small, free websites that each do one useful thing.
It started with Mary's Printables, a site of free printable sheets that I thought would stay small. Then people began writing to me. A teacher who found the exact worksheet her class needed. A parent using a chart with a child who was having a hard time. Someone printing a party game at the last minute.
They didn't write about how the site looked. They wrote because what they needed was there, it worked right away, and it didn't ask them for anything. I've tried to make every site since the same way.
Why I built a puzzle maker
Teachers, parents and party hosts all run into the same thing. You need a word search on this week's spelling words, or a crossword about the bride and groom, and the puzzles you find online are never quite about your words.
Making one by hand takes an hour. Most puzzle websites want an account, add a watermark, or hide the answer key behind a paywall. So I made one that does the whole job in a few seconds and gives you the answer key for free.
What makes a good printable puzzle
A good puzzle is easy to read on paper, fits on one page, and matches the person solving it. A first grader needs big letters and words that only run forward. A puzzle fan wants diagonal and backward words and a bigger grid.
That's why you can choose the difficulty, the grid size and the directions, switch on large print, and check exactly how the page will print before you print it.
What you get
- 7 puzzle types: word search, crossword, word scramble, sudoku, maze, cryptogram and fill-in
- Your own words, or one of more than 45 ready-made word lists for holidays, school subjects, parties and more
- An answer key with every puzzle
- Easy, medium and hard settings, plus grid sizes from 10 × 10 to 20 × 20 for word searches
- Large print for young kids and older eyes
- Sudoku checked to have exactly one solution, printed 1, 2, 4 or 6 to a page
- Themed mazes for Christmas, Halloween, Easter and other holidays
- A hidden message option for word searches, spelled out by the leftover letters
- Print, save as a PDF, or save as an image
- Nothing to install, no account, and your word lists stay in your browser
Tell me if something's off
If a puzzle prints wrong, a word list has a mistake, or you'd like a new puzzle type, email me at [email protected]. It comes straight to me.
Puzzle Maker Online is one of a family of free tools I run at FriendlyApps.