Word Finder
The Word Finder lists every word that fits a pattern of known letters and blanks. It is perfect for crosswords, five-letter guessing games and spelling-pattern lessons.
Opens Unscramble Words 4U, our free word-puzzle site, in a new tab. Free, with no sign-up.
What it does
Fill in the letters you’re sure of at their positions and use a question mark for each empty space. An underscore or period also works. Your pattern’s length decides how long the results are, anywhere between 2 and 15 letters, and the most familiar words are listed first.
Extra fields let you add letters that must be somewhere in the word, letters that must be left out, and an optional set of letters you have, so gaps are only filled from your own tiles. That makes it useful for puzzle fans, word-game players and teachers exploring spelling patterns.
How to use it
- Enter your pattern in the Pattern box, for example ?a??e finds five-letter words whose second letter is A and last letter is E.
- In Must include, add letters that definitely appear somewhere, even if you’re unsure of their position.
- In Must not include, enter letters you have already eliminated.
- If your own tiles are the only things that can go in the gaps, enter them in Letters you have. A question mark there works as a blank tile.
- Pick a sort order (by commonness, alphabetically, or by points) and choose US, UK or Both spellings, or another language, under Dictionary.
- Click a word to check its meaning on Wiktionary, or press Clear to start a new search.
More tips
- Short patterns with just one known letter can return hundreds of matches; add crossing letters as you solve to narrow the list.
Ideas for the classroom and homeschool
- Grades K–2Search c?t or ?an and read the short list together, talking about how swapping one sound makes a new word.
- Grades 3–5Explore a spelling rule: search patterns like ????ing or ??igh? and sort the results A to Z so students can read, group and copy them into word study notebooks.
- Grades 6–8Play a whole-class guessing game: the teacher picks a five-letter word, students guess, and the Word Finder shows how each clue cuts down the options – a great link to logical reasoning in math.
- Grades 9–12Use patterns to compare tricky endings (such as -ance and -ence) and discuss why the most common words appear first.
Learning a language? Take the challenge
Studying another language? Set the Dictionary to that language and search for spelling patterns typical of it. The word site’s games and solvers use word lists in 21 languages, and its pages are available in 15. Try a pattern for a common ending in your target language, read through the results and write down five new words.
Questions
Which symbols stand for an unknown letter?
Any of ?, _ or . will do. Every symbol fills exactly one empty slot.
How long can a pattern be?
Anything between 2 and 15 letters. Results always match your pattern’s length.
Why fill in Letters you have?
So that gaps are only filled from those letters, showing just the words your tiles can really spell.
Is there a tool made just for five-letter guessing games?
Yes – the word site also offers a Wordle solver where you type in each guess along with the colors it got.
Opens Unscramble Words 4U, our free word-puzzle site, in a new tab. Free, with no sign-up.
Wordle is owned by The New York Times Company. Classfern and Unscramble Words 4U are not affiliated with or endorsed by it.