Crossword Solver
Fill in the letters you already have from crossing answers, leave ? for the gaps, and get every word that fits. Stuck on the clue itself? Ask the clue solver.
How to crack a crossword clue
Find the definition. In both regular and cryptic crosswords the definition sits at the start or the end of the clue. "Packed tightly together (7)" is a straight definition; the answer must also fit the grid.
Match the part of speech and tense. A clue in the past tense wants a past-tense answer (often ending -ED); a plural clue usually wants a plural answer. Use that to fill a guessed ending into the pattern.
Work the crossings. Every answer you solve gives letters to others. Vowels in positions 2 and 4 narrow a five-letter pattern dramatically — see the explainer.
Watch for signals. A question mark at the end of a clue flags a pun. "Abbr." wants an abbreviation. In cryptics, words like "mixed" or "broken" flag an anagram — send those letters to the anagram solver.
Brush up on the setters' favourite topics. Moon clues turn up constantly (WANE, WAX, LUNAR, CRESCENT, GIBBOUS). Knowing why a crescent becomes gibbous makes them easy, and ahaboo walks you through it with narration while you turn the Earth–Moon model yourself.
Need words with letters in any position rather than a fixed grid? The word finder handles starts-with, ends-with and contains searches.
Why one crossing letter changes everything
Say the answer is a five-letter word. Tap squares to "solve" the crossing words and reveal their letters:
… words fit
Pattern ?????, counting everyday five-letter words. With nothing known there are 3,396. A C at the start cuts that to 274, C?A?? to 47 and C?A?E to just 7. Rare letters cut hardest: ?K??? leaves 18 words, while ?E??? still leaves 363.
Questions players ask
How do I find a word with missing letters?
Type the letters you know and a question mark for each gap, e.g. C?O??ED for a seven-letter word. The solver returns every dictionary word that fits, everyday words first.
Can it solve a crossword clue, not just a pattern?
Yes. Add the clue and press "Ask the clue solver". An AI model suggests answers for the clue, and PuzzleWhiz marks each suggestion that fits your pattern and is in the dictionary, so you only trust answers that actually fit the grid.
What if the answer is two or more words?
Crossword grids ignore spaces, so enter the total letter count as one pattern. ICE CREAM is ???????? (8 letters). Multi-word phrases are often missing from single-word dictionaries, which is where the AI clue solver helps.
How do I exclude letters I know are wrong?
Use the "Letters not in the answer" box. Every word containing any of those letters is dropped.
Does it work for cryptic crosswords?
The pattern search works for any grid. The AI clue solver also considers cryptic wordplay such as anagrams and hidden words, but cryptic answers are worth double-checking against the definition part of the clue. For anagram fodder, the anagram solver is exact.