Accessibility
We want Online Word Search to be the easiest word search on the web to play, whether you use a mouse, a keyboard, a switch, a screen reader or a magnifier. This page lists what works today, what does not yet, and how to tell us when something gets in your way.
Your display settings
These are saved in this browser and apply to every puzzle. You can also change them from the Aa button at the top of any game.
Keyboard: arrow keys move, Enter or Space picks the first and last letter, Escape cancels.
Playing with a keyboard
Every game mode (Classic, Daily, Mini Sprint, Speed Run, One Word Search and Hidden Message) can be played without a mouse.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tab | Move onto the puzzle grid (one stop), then on to the rest of the page. |
| Arrow keys | Move one letter up, down, left or right. |
| Home / End | Jump to the start or end of the row. |
| Page Up / Page Down | Jump to the top or bottom of the column. |
| Enter or Space | Pick the first letter of a word, then the last letter to submit it. |
| Escape | Cancel the current selection. |
What we support
- Screen readers. The puzzle is a labelled grid. Each letter reads with its row and column, and a live region announces your selection, each word you find and how many are left.
- Colour-blind safe colours. An optional palette built for deuteranopia, protanopia and tritanopia. Found words are also marked by more than colour: each gets its own line style and fill, and is struck through in the word list.
- Large text and a larger board. Bigger letters in the grid and larger text across the site.
- High contrast. Darker text, stronger grid lines and thicker outlines.
- Reduced motion.We follow your device's reduced-motion setting by default, and you can switch animation off (or back on) here.
- Visible focus. A clear focus ring on every control and on the current letter in the grid.
- Five languages. Game controls and announcements are available in English, French, German, Italian and Portuguese.
Standards and testing
We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at level AA. We check the game pages with automated testing (axe) and by playing them with a keyboard and a screen reader.
Known limitations
- Advertisements are supplied by third parties and may not meet the same standard. The one-time ad-free purchase removes them.
- Printable PDF puzzles are designed for paper and are not tagged for screen readers.
- Mini Sprint and Speed Run are played against the clock by design. The other modes show your time but never end a puzzle because of it.
- Some articles and landing pages are in English only.
Teachers and schools
Everything on this page also works in our grade-level classroom puzzles (see word search for teachers) and in puzzles made with the puzzle generator, so a whole class can play the same puzzle with whatever settings each student needs.
Feedback
If something is hard to use, please contact us and tell us the page, what you were trying to do and the browser or assistive technology you use. We read every message and treat accessibility problems as bugs.
Last reviewed: September 2026.