Independent dictionary tool by Character Calculator for clues you enter yourself. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any newspaper or puzzle publisher.

0 squares

One character per square: a letter you know, a dot (.) for an unknown square, or the same digit for squares with the same number.

Letters you have already placed in the grid. Unknown squares cannot be these letters.

What Is the Codeword Solver?

The Codeword Solver finds the English words that fit one entry of a codeword puzzle, the kind printed in UK newspapers and magazines. Type the letters you know, put a dot for each missing letter, and use digits for squares that have the same number. The solver shows the words that fit, with the most common words first. It works on one entry at a time and does not fill in the whole grid.

A codeword grid looks like a crossword grid, but it has no clues: each square has a number, and each number stands for one letter.

How to Use the Codeword Solver

  1. In Pattern, type the entry from your grid, one character per square.
  2. In Letters already found, type the letters that you have already placed anywhere in the grid. This field is optional.
  3. Press Solve or the Enter key.
  4. Click a word to copy it.
  5. Press Clear to empty the pattern for the next entry. Clear keeps the found letters, because they belong to the whole grid.

The pattern uses three types of characters:

You type It means
A letter A square that you know, for example R.
. An unknown square. It can be any letter except the letters in the pattern and the found letters. You can also type ?, _ or *.
A digit An unknown square with the same rule as a dot. Squares with the same digit (1 to 9) have the same letter, and different digits have different letters.

The digits are your own labels, not the numbers from the grid. For example, if an entry has the numbers 7, 3, 18, 18, 3, 22 and you know that 22 is W, type .1221W: a dot for 7, the digit 1 for both 3s, the digit 2 for both 18s, and W for 22. If you typed the grid numbers, 18 would count as two squares.

A dot is less strict than a digit. Two dots can be the same letter, and a dot can be the same letter as a digit. To tell the solver that each square has a different number, give each number its own digit, for example 31221W.

The counter under the pattern shows the number of squares. Spaces do not count, so you can type the squares with gaps. Make sure that the count is the same as the length of the entry in your grid.

A letter in Letters already found is never used for an unknown square. Add each letter when you place it in the grid, and the list of words can get shorter with each one.

After you solve, the address bar holds the pattern and the found letters, for example #.o.o.r-dh. If your phone reloads the page, the same search opens again. You can also bookmark or share the link. Clear keeps the found letters in the link too.

Pattern Examples

Click an example above the form to try it. An example fills only the pattern, so the found letters of your puzzle stay as they are:

  • ..FF11: six squares, with F in squares 3 and 4, and the same letter in the last two squares. The solver shows "coffee" and "toffee".
  • .1221W: squares 2 and 5 have the same letter, squares 3 and 4 have another letter, and the last square is W. The solver shows "follow", "borrow", "sorrow", "hollow" and "morrow".
  • .O.O.R: the solver shows "honour", "colour" and "dolour". Add H and D as found letters, and the unknown squares cannot be H or D, so "colour" is the only word left.

How Codeword Puzzles Work

Each square in a codeword grid has a number from 1 to 26, and each number stands for one letter. All squares with the same number have the same letter, and two different numbers never have the same letter. Usually, every letter of the alphabet is used, so all 26 numbers have a letter.

The puzzle gives you two or three starter letters. The key strip under the grid has boxes for the numbers 1 to 26. When you find a letter, write it in the key strip and in every square with that number, which gives you new letters in other entries. Many puzzles also print the letters A to Z, so that you can cross off each letter that you use.

Tips for Solving Codewords

  • Start with the entries that contain the starter letters, because they already have known squares.
  • Count how often each number occurs in the grid. The numbers that occur most are often E, T and A.
  • Look for two squares side by side with the same number. They are often a double letter, such as LL, EE, SS, OO, TT or FF.
  • Look at the ends of entries. A number that ends many entries can be S, and a repeated ending of three numbers can be -ING. Two numbers that end many entries can be -ED.
  • Q is almost always followed by U. When you find Q, the next square is very likely U.
  • Type each letter that you place in Letters already found. The solver then removes the words that need those letters in the unknown squares.

About the Word List

The solver searches about 168,000 English words. The list has most British spellings, such as "colour", "honour" and "theatre", but not all of them. For example, "favourite" is missing. The list has no phrases and no names.

Words are ordered by commonness, with A-Z order within each group. Rarer words that fit come after them. The solver shows up to 200 words. If more words fit, the heading shows the total, and you can add letters to make the list shorter.

The solver is free and needs no sign-up. The page sends your pattern and your found letters to our server to find the words. Like all requests to our server, they can stay in our server logs for up to one week. The Privacy Policy gives the details.

Related Tools

  • Word Finder: Find the words you can make from your letters, with length and pattern filters.
  • Jumble Solver: Unscramble a word and see the words that use all of its letters.
  • Spelling Bee Solver: Find the words you can make from seven letters, with the center letter in every word.

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