Free crossword puzzle maker from Tools for Educators: Make 100% customizable printable crossword puzzles with text clues or choose from thousands of images to use images as your clues. You also have the option of both text and images together.
For text prompts above the images, use the 'optional prompt' field with image hints. See below for more information on the application.
The puzzle boxes are too small: The maker will generate a puzzle and then shrink it to the available space on the page. If the puzzle is very long or very tall, it will shrink and become small. This happens with longer puzzle words or phrases. You can refresh your page and the maker will build the puzzle again. Repeat if needed until you get a puzzle that you can use. Alternatively, reduce the amount of words or shorten long phrases.
How to use the crossword maker
Using images as hints:
- You can use up to 15 entries, but less is fine. The maker will use whatever you provide.
- When you select an image, the maker will enter a sample puzzle word. You can edit that to whatever you'd like.
- Changing image categories will erase all of your current data.
Using Auto-fill:
- The application will randomly select 10, 12, or 15 images from your current image category.
- You can add to the selections and edit any of the options.
- This is a great way just to test out the maker and see how it works.
Using Optional Prompts:
You can add a hint or short sentence above the image:
Add a jumbled spelling as a hint.
rpuelp (purple)
Write a gap fill sentence for different verb forms.
'He ____ yesterday.' (ate)
'She is ____ now.' (sleeping)
Add a prompt question.
'What's this?'
'Where are they?
Include a Word Search: This is a great option for small words and shorter word lists. There is a limit to the word search size, 12x15. So if your word list contains a puzzle word longer than 15 letters, the maker will not let you use this option.
Compound words and phrases: Spaces and hyphens are fine. The maker will add a gray square to signify a space. Hyphens will be treated as a letter.
Text Only Mode: This works just like you'd expect. You can enter a puzzle word and a hint to match. You can enter up to 20 words for your puzzle.
Words are omitted: The crossword maker will attempt to make a crossword with all of your words. If it cannot, the omitted words will appear in red on the answer page (page 2.) You can refresh the browser and the maker will try again. If that doesn't work, you may need to make changes to your word list, increasing the amount of words you have or adding a couple longer words to help build the puzzle.
End User License Agreement: You are free to use any resource created from this site as an end user and MES grants you an End User License with the following restrictions: You may not redistribute, copy, modify, transfer, transmit, repackage, re-engineer, charge for, or sell any of the materials from this site. You may use photocopies or printouts for the purposes of distributing them for free to your students. MES reserves the right to terminate or make changes to this agreement for any reason and without notice.
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