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Full Version: 10 Strategies to Help You Solve Word Search Puzzles
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The majority of people have some familiarity with word search. The words may appear in the traditional reading sequence of left to right, backwards (right to left), vertically (either top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top), or on diagonals.

To account for the orientation, any of the directions may display the word either backward or running in the order that you would read it. For instance, a vertical word discovered from top to bottom would be seen as "normal," whereas one found from bottom to top might be regarded as "backward."


They are even distributed in elementary and middle schools to aid students in reading, word recognition, and word spelling. Of course, the puzzles are straightforward, small grids for the very young.

However, the majority of us who still enjoy word games as we age want a greater challenge. The list of words to discover gets longer, the grids get bigger, the unused, "in the way" letters appear more frequently, and multi-syllabic or difficult words are frequently employed.

One frustrating ploy used in increasingly difficult puzzles is to place at least one other instance of the first three or four letters of a word somewhere other than the actual word, making you believe you've found it only to discover you were duped.

I've found that these strategies and techniques work. I sincerely hope you also find them helpful!

Rule 1: Disregard the Word List
I start the puzzle without looking at the word list and just look for whatever words I can find, concentrating on the bigger words as those are the ones that are typically on the list.

Small words with only three or four letters appear less frequently and are occasionally unintended byproducts of the random letters thrown in to make the puzzle.

I go over the entire puzzle, looking first in one direction, then the other, both horizontally and vertically.

Despite the fact that you could wish to try it as well, I personally don't try the diagonals for this. I have astigmatism, which makes it challenging for me to follow straight lines because the diagonals seem to "move" on me.

Tip 2: Find Multiple Words at Once
Search for many words at once. This is especially useful if you are playing online or on a timer-controlled technological device.

You could or might not care about timers. Depending on the kind. Others simply offer a bonus for beating the timer, but the game still goes on and the timer keeps counting to record your greatest (and, tragically, your worst) times/scores. Some games may clock you out of the game entirely if you don't beat the timer.

The latter kind of timer is present on the version on my Kindle Fire. I view beating the timer, and doing it by as much time as I can, as a personal challenge. This achievement earns you bonus points and gets you closer to the next puzzle level.

Tip 3: Flip the puzzle over.
This trick only applies to puzzles that require paper and pencil, but strangely enough, occasionally, if you turn the entire puzzle book upside-down, a word that you hadn't seen or been able to spot previously may pop out at you.

If you're not already very confident in your ability to read things upside-down, it might be a long shot. (I believe most parents are skilled at pulling off this deception. Hahaha!)