How to make a large crossword puzzle in a Word. Creating a crossword puzzle in a text editor Word. How to make a crossword puzzle in Word - choosing a topic and choosing words

Do you want to create a crossword puzzle yourself (of course, on a computer, not just on a piece of paper), but don't know how to do it? Don't be discouraged, the multifunctional office Microsoft program Word will help you do this. Yes, standard tools for such work, it is not provided here, but tables will come to the rescue in this difficult matter.

We have already written about how to create tables in this advanced text editor how to work with them and how to change them. You can read all this in the article presented at the link above. By the way, it is precisely changing and editing tables that is what is especially necessary if you want to compose a crossword puzzle in Word. How to do this will be discussed below.

Most likely, you already have an idea in your head of what your crossword puzzle should be. Perhaps you already have a sketch of it, or even a finished version, but only on paper. Therefore, you know exactly the dimensions (at least approximate), because it is in accordance with them that you need to create a table.

1. Start Word and go from the tab "Home" opened by default to a tab "Insert".

2. Click the button "Tables" located in the group of the same name.

3. In the expanded menu, you can add a table after specifying its size. But the default value is unlikely to suit you (of course, unless your crossword contains 5-10 questions), so you need to manually ask required amount rows and columns.

4. To do this, in the expanded menu, select "Insert table".

5. In the dialog box that appears, specify the desired number of rows and columns.

6. After specifying the required values, press "OK"... The table appears on the sheet.

7. To resize the table, click on it with the mouse and drag the corner towards the edge of the sheet.

8. Visually, the table cells appear to be the same, but as soon as you want to enter the text, the size will change. To make it fixed, you need to do the following:
Highlight the entire table by pressing "Ctrl + A".

  • Click on it right click mouse and in the appeared context menu select the item "Table properties".

  • In the window that appears, first go to the tab "Line", where you need to check the box next to the item "height", specify the value in 1 cm and select the mode "Exactly".

  • Go to the tab "Column", check the box "Width", also specify 1 cm, select the unit value "Centimeters".

  • Repeat the same steps in the tab "Cell".

  • Click on "OK" to close the dialog box and apply your changes.
  • The table now looks exactly symmetrical.

Filling in the table for the crossword puzzle

So, if you want to make a crossword puzzle in Word, without having to sketch it on paper or in any other program, we suggest that you first create its layout. The fact is that without having before your eyes numbered questions, and at the same time the answers to them (and therefore, knowing the number of letters in each specific word), it makes no sense to carry out further actions. That is why we initially assume that you already have the crossword puzzle, albeit not in the Word yet.

Having a ready, but still empty skeleton, we need to number the cells in which the answers to the questions will begin, and also fill in those cells that will not be used in the crossword.

How to make the numbering of table cells like in real crosswords?

In most crosswords, the numbers that indicate the starting place for entering the answer to a specific question are located in the upper left corner of the cell, the size of these numbers is relatively small. We have to do the same.

1. First, just number the cells as you would on your layout or sketch. The screenshot shows just a minimalistic example of what this might look like.

2. To place numbers in the upper left corner of the cells, select the table contents by clicking "Ctrl + A".

3. In the tab "Home" in a group "Font" find the symbol "Superscript" and click on it (you can also use a hot key combination, as shown in the screenshot. The numbers will become smaller and will be located slightly higher relative to the center of the cell

4. If the text is still not offset to the left enough, align it to the left by clicking on the corresponding button in the group "Paragraph" in the tab "Home".

5. As a result, the numbered cells will look something like this:

Having completed the numbering, it is necessary to paint over unnecessary cells, that is, those into which the letters will not fit. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Select an empty cell and right-click in it.

2. In the menu that appears, located above context menu, find the tool "Fill" and click on it.

3. Select a suitable color for filling an empty cell and click on it.

4. The cell will be painted over. To fill in all the other cells that will not be used in the crossword for entering the answer, repeat steps 1 through 3 for each of them.

On our simple example it looks like this, of course it will look different for you.

Final stage

All that remains for us to do to create a crossword puzzle in Word exactly in the form in which we are used to seeing it on paper is to write a list of questions vertically and horizontally under it.

After you have done all this, your crossword puzzle will look something like this:

Now you can print it, show it to friends, acquaintances, relatives and ask them not only to rate how well you did in the Word to draw a crossword puzzle, but also to solve it.

On this we may well end, because now you know how to create a crossword puzzle in Word program... We wish you success in your work and training. Experiment, create and develop without stopping there.

Crossword puzzle is an addicting puzzle game. To draw it yourself, you just need desire and time.

If you need to compose a crossword puzzle, you can do it in Word. Of course, there are various other services, but a text editor is quite convenient, especially since you can make a template for subsequent work. You have to take several steps in sequence, and if you did not know how to make a crossword puzzle in Word, then our instructions will help you cope with the task. Special programs are often paid, demos do not allow you to save your work in a normal form, so Word, although it takes effort and time, will help you solve the problem.

The question of how to create a crossword puzzle in Word arises not only among fans of this type of problem, but also among schoolchildren who are given a special task. Step by step instructions will help you overcome difficult questions in drawing a field.

table

Having decided to work in a text editor, carefully follow the step-by-step instructions on how to make a crossword puzzle in Word. First of all, we create a table - the field of the future puzzle. This is done as follows.

The Insert tab has a section on tables. Click on the icon there and you will see a grid.

If you are making a small field, then select the required number of cells with the mouse and click on them, - a table grid will appear on your sheet.

In Word, as a standard, you can create a field of up to 10x8 cells. If you need more, then click on the "Insert table" link. An additional window will open where manually enter the number of columns and rows.

Cell alignment

After creating the table, you need to format the cells so that they are square and the same size.

Open "Table Properties". You can get to them in two ways:

  • Select the table. By right-clicking on it, open the menu - at the bottom is the desired link.
  • With the cursor in the cell, go to the "Layout" tab that opens. There is a Properties button on the left.

When you open Table Properties, you will see the Row and Column tabs. First go to one of them, set a value, for example, 1 cm. Set the "Exactly" mode. Then do the same on the second tab.

After that, you get a grid with even square cells.

Text alignment

Typically, numbers are placed in the cells in the upper left corner. To perform this alignment, select the entire table.

  1. Right click on the cells.
  2. In the menu, click on "Cell Alignment" - "Top Left".
  3. Next, set the font (let's say Arial) and size (9).

It remains for you to decide how to compose a crossword puzzle in Word, what content to fill it with, and also enter the words of the answers and numbers in the cells in order to determine which ones need to be left and which ones to paint over.

Field formation

You have created the basis, now let's figure out how to draw a crossword puzzle in Word. You need to paint over the empty cells inside.

Place the cursor in the box, which will be empty, go to the "Design" tab. In the section "Styles of tables" you will see a button "Fill", by clicking on it, get a palette of colors. Choose the one you need (usually black). You can select several adjacent cells at once and fill them with color.

Removing extra cells

There may be extra cells around the edges. To remove them, use the following method: use the Eraser tool (in the "Constructor" - "Draw Borders" tab) to delete unnecessary lines.

You can draw the lines of the field in another way. After creating the table, in the "Home" tab, remove all borders and activate "Show Grid" to see the markup. Having defined the required cells, select them and outline them using the "All Borders" button. Then fill in the inner empty cells. Outside empty cells will not be drawn.

Completion of work

After completing everything, delete the answer words. You can save two options for yourself: with and without answers. If you used a grid, uncheck the checkbox so that the construction lines are not reflected. Write down the assignment questions. Place them on the same sheet or on another page. Additionally, you can work with the colors of the lines and their thickness. Check the results by going to the "View" - "Scale" tab and specifying "Whole page" there, edit the location of the object and text, fields if necessary. Now your crossword puzzle is ready, so you can print it.

As you can see, although the work takes a lot of time, it is not so difficult, so every user who has already worked in Word will be able to cope with the task and make a beautiful crossword puzzle.

Step 1. Create a table

Open MS Word and go to the "Insert" -> "Table" tab. In the menu that appears, you will see the "Insert Table" item. Click on this button.

A new window will appear on the screen, in which you can write parameters for the future table: the number and width of columns, the number of rows.

The size of your future crossword puzzle will depend on the number of columns and lines. In general, in order not to miscalculate, it is better to first come up with questions and draw a layout of the future puzzle on a piece of paper: this way you can always see what should be the result.

Let's say you decide that you need a 10x10 grid table. Let's take a look at how to make a crossword puzzle in Word, just using this example. In the fields "Number of rows" and "Number of columns" you need to enter the number 10. As for the width, it is best to set the switch to "Constant", and next, instead of "Auto", enter a value from 0.5 to 0.6 cm - this is how the cells will immediately be square.

Step 2. Change table parameters

We continue to figure out how to create a crossword puzzle in Word. So, the table appeared on the screen. But, as you can see, it is very small. Move the mouse to the lower right corner of the plate so that a diagonal arrow appears, hold down Shift key and stretch it to the size you want.


By clicking on the upper left corner, you can move the table on the sheet, for example, place it in the center.

After that we need to change the thickness of the borders. Select the entire object. A yellow tab "Working with tables" will appear in the top menu, inside which there is an item "Layout". Open it and in the leftmost item "Table" select the "Properties" button. In the window that appears, we need to click on "Borders and Fill ...", and then change the width of the borders to 1.5 pt and save the changes.

Step 3. Create the markup

We continue to figure out how to make a crossword puzzle in Word. We return to the "Home" tab and find the item "Borders". Here we need to select two options: "No border" and "Show grid". After that, the screen will display only the service markup, which will not be visible when printing.

Step 4. Fill in the answers

Now, in order to understand how the printed and completed crossword puzzle will look like, you need to enter the correct answers in the appropriate fields and put down the numbering.

After you do this, you should select the question numbers and change the character type to "Superscript". This can be done in the main tab of the program, in the same place where we change the style to bold, underline, etc.

Step 5. Preparing the crossword for printing

The creation of a crossword puzzle in Word is nearing completion. We have already done most of the work. Now all that remains is to select those borders that should be preserved during the printing process. To do this, we select each word in turn, and then in the already familiar "Borders" tab in the main editor menu, select the "All borders" item.

Step 6. Finishing touches

Basically, you already know how to make a crossword puzzle in Word. Only a couple of details remain. To see what the puzzle will look like before printing, ready to be solved, select the entire table and deselect Show Grid in the Borders tab. The auxiliary lines will disappear, and you will only see the crossword itself. In order not to get confused, it is better to print both versions, just in case, with and without the written answers. For convenience, questions can be placed on the same sheet as the rebus itself.

You can increase the font size slightly to make the numbering easier to see.

To see what happened in the end, and whether we really understood how to draw a crossword puzzle in Word, you can go to the "View" -> "Scale" tab before printing and specify "Whole page" in the window that appears. Now you see the fruits of your labor exactly as they will look when printed.



A little advice: if the rebus is composed in such a way that a new key is formed from individual letters of other words, you can select the necessary cells with a different color by selecting the "Fill" on the main toolbar and specifying the appropriate shade.

There are special programs and online services for creating crosswords. But, if you need to make a simple crossword puzzle, then for this you can use a regular text editor Word. In this article, we will talk about how to make a crossword puzzle in Word 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016.

Step # 1. Create a table.

If you want to make a crossword puzzle in Word, then you need a table. In order to create a table, go to the "Insert" tab and click on the "Table" button. After that, a pop-up menu will appear in front of you, with the help of which you can quickly create a table by simply selecting the required number of cells with the mouse.

In Word 2010, the maximum size of a table that can be created using such a menu is 10 by 8. If this is not enough for your crossword puzzle, then select the "Insert Table" menu item.

After that, the "Insert Table" window will appear, with which you can set any number of rows and columns. For example, let's create a 10-by-10-cell table.

As a result, we will get approximately the same table as in the screenshot below.

Step # 2. Align the table cells.

Usually, square cells are used in a crossword puzzle. Therefore, in order to make the correct crossword puzzle in the Word, you need to align the table we have created. This can be done in different ways. For example, you can select the entire table, right-click on it and select the "Table Properties" menu item.

Or you can place the cursor in any cell in the table, go to the Layout tab and click on the Properties button.

This will open the "Table Properties" window. First open the row tab and set the row height. To do this, check the box next to the height function, select the "Exact" mode and set the line height. For example, you can set the height to 1 centimeter.

After that go to the "Cell" tab in the same "Table Properties" window and set the same width of the cell as its height. In our case, this is 1 centimeter.

As a result, you should have a table with square cells, as in the screenshot below.

This table will be the main one for our crossword puzzle in Word.

First of all, you need to change the alignment of the text in the table. For crosswords, text alignment to the upper left corner is usually used. To do this, select all the cells in the table and right-click on them. And in the menu that appears, select the "Cell Alignment" item and the upper left corner.

You also need to choose the font and font size in such a way that the numbers in the table cells look harmonious and do not interfere with entering letters into the crossword puzzle. We will specify the font Arial and the font size 9.

As a result, the text in the table should look something like the screenshot below.

Step number 4. Formation of the crossword puzzle.

After the table is prepared, you can start forming the crossword itself in Word. Usually, the inner unused cells of the crossword puzzle are filled with black, while the outer unused cells are simply deleted.

To do this, place the cursor in the cell that should be filled with black, go to the "Constructor" tab and use the "Fill" button in order to fill the cell with black. If necessary, you can fill several cells at once with black. To do this, simply select them with the mouse and use the fill tool.

After filling the cells with black, go to the "Constructor" tab and click on the "Eraser" button. Then, using the Eraser tool, delete the extra lines on the outer part of the crossword puzzle.

After filling the inner cells with black and removing the extra outer lines, the crossword puzzle in Word is almost ready.

It remains only to place the question numbers in the necessary cells, add the questions themselves below and the crossword puzzle is done in the Word.

If you are faced with the task of how to make a crossword puzzle in Word and you do not know how, do not despair. In this article, we will analyze in detail, and you will understand that everything is very simple. We will consider two versions of the Word - 2003 and 2007.

Unfortunately, standard functions not enough to create a crossword puzzle, but tables will come to our rescue.

Crossword in Word 2007

First, let's create new document and prepare a list of questions for ourselves. Let's say we will do a simple crossword puzzle where maximum length row and column will be 8 characters long.

Go to the "Insert" menu and select the "Table" item. In the menu that appears, select the table area with the mouse, in our case 8 * 8. If larger sizes are required, then click on the "Insert table" item and enter in numbers the number of rows and columns.

We are used to the fact that the cells of the crossword puzzle should be squares, and your table is stretched to the full width. Let's fix this moment.

To begin with, we will select all the cells in the table with the left mouse button, then right-click on it and select the "Table Properties" item. A menu comes out in front of us, where it is necessary to set all sizes. We need two tabs - a cell and a row. In the "Line" tab, set the line height in cm (for example, 1 cm) and set the "Exactly" mode. In the "Cell" tab, set the width to exactly the same (1 cm) to make the cells square.

Now you need to fill in the table. The numbers, which will mean the numbering, must be done in a small font, as well as aligned in height and to the left, so that they do not interfere when filling out the crossword puzzle.

Since not all table cells will be filled, empty ones will need to be painted over. To do this, select an empty cell, right-click on it and select the "Borders and Fill" item, select the "Fill" tab and select the desired color.

After all these steps, your crossword puzzle should look like this.

Crossword in Word 2003

Differences in version 2003 from 2007 are subtle, you will feel them only when you change the interface. To create a crossword puzzle, select the item "Table" -> "Insert" -> "Table" and enter the number of rows and columns.

The rest of the settings are identical to Word 2007, which is described above, but still let's go over them. Select the entire table with the left mouse button, then press the right button and select the "Table Properties" item.

In the tabs "Line" and "Cell" we enter in sentiment the same values width and height. This is necessary in order for the crossword puzzle to be square.

After these steps, you must fill in the table. You can write numbers in small print and align them top-left, or you can use superscript for numbers. When the table is completely filled with numbers, you need to paint over the cells that will not be used in the table.

Select the required cells with the left mouse button, then click on one of them with the right mouse button and select the "Borders and Fill" item. It remains only to define the fill color and your crossword puzzle is ready.

Here's a crossword puzzle that can turn out in the end, I just did not completely fill it out.

The final steps of creating a crossword puzzle

Now, under the crossword puzzle, you need to print a list of questions vertically and horizontally. They can be divided, and the questions can be highlighted in a list so that it looks beautiful. Now it remains to put the crossword puzzle in print - and your creation can be solved by your friends and relatives.

Do you want to create a crossword puzzle yourself (it doesn't matter why - of your own free will or is it homework in computer science), but don't want to limit yourself to a piece of paper? Modern computer programs allow you to create such puzzles of any complexity. In addition, there are various online services. In this article, we will look at how to make a crossword puzzle in the editor. Microsoft Word... First of all, you need to draw it up somewhere in a notebook or on a piece of paper, because you can't just draw it. You must have some idea of ​​your own. The computer is only a means of realization.

Wireframe creation

Before drawing the grid for the crossword puzzle, it is advisable to increase the margins of your document so that there is as much main work space as possible. To do this, you need to do the following.

  1. Click the Layout tab.
  2. Click on the "Fields" button.
  3. Then select "Narrow".

Only after that you can start the creation process, and this is much more complicated.

  1. Click on the "Insert" tab. Click on the "Table" button. In the menu that appears, try drawing a large table. The default maximum size is 10 by 8. This is not enough if you want to build a large crossword puzzle.

  1. Do the same, only this time click on the "Insert table" item.

  1. After that, a window will appear in which you can specify the required number of columns and rows. For example, you can choose 20 by 20. This will create tables of any size. In order to see the result, you need to click on the "OK" button.
  1. As a result of this, you will see the following.

In theory, it would be possible to create the same table in the Microsoft Excel editor and transfer it to a Word document. In this case, the result will not be very pretty - everything will shift to the right.

Therefore, it is better to use the capabilities of Word.

  1. Before making a crossword puzzle, you need to make squares of the same size. To do this, go to the Layout tab and specify the dimensions for each cell.
  1. The main thing is to have the same values ​​everywhere.

The same can be done using the context menu.

  1. To do this, select the entire table and right-click.
  2. In the menu that appears, select the "Table Properties" item.
  1. Then, on the "Column" tab, specify the width (in centimeters).
  1. After that, on the "Line" tab, specify the same height.
  2. Click on the "OK" button to apply the settings.
  1. Then you need to put the table in the center of the document. To do this, click on the corresponding button on the toolbar located on the "Home" tab. Or press the key combination Ctrl + E. The result will be the same.

Filling with content

At this stage, we have a clean crossword puzzle. It needs to be fixed

Numbering

Let's put down the numbers randomly, since this is an example. Otherwise, they should be in their places so that there is no overlap of words. Therefore, it is necessary to draw the entire crossword puzzle in advance somewhere on paper, or print this empty template and practice on it. In this case, you do not have to draw lines on paper with a ruler. This method the most optimal and fastest.

By default, the numbers are very large. They will interfere with entering the guessed words. It is not right. A person cannot sit for a long time for such a puzzle. The situation can be corrected as follows.

  1. Before doing anything, you need to select the entire table. For example, to do this, you can click on the icon in the upper left corner.
  1. After that, on the main tab, you need to select a small font size. For example, equal to "9".

You can also reduce the size of the numbers using another method - just make them in the form of a mathematical degree. As a result, they will be at the top, will be small and will not interfere with the spelling of words.

The effect will be much the same. Perhaps even better.

Black cells

In any crossword puzzle there are fields where you do not need to write letters, that is, it is almost a "dead zone". As a rule, they are highlighted in black or dark color. This is done as follows.

  1. Select the required number of cells.
  1. After that, on the "Home" tab, click on the fill icon. In the list of colors that appears, you need to choose something suitable. Most people choose black. But it is better to use something gray, as in this case, less ink will go into the printer when printing. This is especially important if there are a lot of black cells.
  1. Your chosen color will be preserved. In the future, just click on the icon. No extra menu no need to call.
  1. In this way, you can very quickly paint over any number of cells. Just like in the Excel editor: just select the element and click on the fill tool.

Or you can do it by right-clicking on the desired cell or selected range. After a pause, a small panel will appear on which exactly the same instrument will be present.

Keyword

Sometimes in crosswords it is necessary to indicate some secret word. You can guess it only when the answers are written in the adjacent cells. But as a rule, this line needs to be highlighted somehow so that the guessing person understands that it is there for a reason.

To do this, you need to do the following.

  1. Select a number of cells somewhere in the center. Make a right mouse click.
  1. In the context menu that appears, select the "Table Properties" item.
  1. Go to the "Table" tab. After that, click on the "Borders and Fill" button.
  1. In the window that appears, select a width of 1 or 1.5 points.
  1. Then we indicate some color that will clearly stand out.
  1. After you make your choice, you will need to click on the "OK" button.
  1. Then again on "OK".
  1. As a result, we will see the following.

Custom form

Sometimes an ordinary text crossword puzzle is of some original shape, that is, it differs from a rectangle. This is quite simple to do.

Extreme cells

First of all, let's remove a few side cells. To do this, you need to take the following steps.

  1. Highlight an area you don't like. Click on the indicated triangle next to the Borders tool.
  1. In the list that appears, select the item "No border". The result will be a little ugly, since the outer side of the remaining cells has disappeared.
  1. In order to correct this situation, you need to select the damaged cells and repeat the steps described above, but only this time select the "All borders" item.
  1. Immediately after that, you will be a little surprised, as they will be painted in the same color with which we highlighted keyword... The fact is that the Word editor remembered the previous settings.
  1. In order to return the borders to black, you first need to select these cells. Then right-click again and select the "Table Properties" item in the context menu that appears.
  1. Go to the "Table" tab and click on the "Borders and Fill" button.
  1. Change everything to the default values.

It is black and 0.75 point wide. To save, click on the "OK" button.

  1. Close the "Table Properties" window with the same action.
  1. The outer cells now look normal.
  1. In order to return the previous view to the vertical cells, you need to repeat the steps described above and select the "All borders" item.
  1. Now the corner of the crossword puzzle looks much better.

Inside a crossword puzzle

If you need such empty areas in the body of your puzzle (for example, to insert a picture), then it is done a little differently.

  1. Select the required cells. Go to the Layout tab. Click on the "Selection" icon. We select the item "Combine cells".
  1. The result of your actions will be the following.

Now you can insert whatever you want there, or you can leave it as it is.

Designing a block of questions and answers

If the size is large, then you will have to use at least two sheets of paper so that you can see the questions and the crossword puzzle at the same time. For example, in the case of a newspaper or magazine, you should not allow such an option that you have to turn the page back and forth to read the assignments.

The look should be as good as possible. To attract a person's attention, try to use different design styles, and not "sculpt" everything in a row with the same type of text.

It is advisable to turn the answers "upside down" and place them on another page, so that it would be difficult to read them while guessing the tasks.

For turning, we use a small table 1 by 4. This can be done as follows.

  1. Go to the "Insert" tab, click on the "Table" icon and select the appropriate option.
  1. Fill in the table with the desired answers vertically and horizontally.
  1. Right click on the line with the answers. In the menu that appears, select the "Text Direction" item.
  1. In the window that appears, select the vertical orientation item. Click on "OK" to save the settings.
  1. The result will be as follows.
  1. Then you need to repeat the steps described above for the second block of answers (horizontally).

Online services

If you are too lazy to compose your own crossword puzzle, you can use various sites (for example, the CrossWordus service), where you can download ready-made versions on various topics.

Here you can find:

  • Crosswords;
  • scanwords;
  • thematic crosswords;
  • dictionaries.

Well, of course, you will be able to compose a crossword puzzle.

While creating a crossword puzzle on the right side of the site, you can add words and questions.

To adjust the size of your puzzle, you need to click on the "Crossword Grid" link.

In the menu that appears, you can specify the width and height.

If you open the page " Ready templates», You will find a large list of ready-made options.

For example, happy new year crossword pazzle.

Conclusion

After reading this article, you should have learned how to make crosswords of any difficulty level, since everything was shown in great detail. If you are having problems with something, you may be selecting the wrong cells or opening the wrong tabs in the toolbar.

If you have any difficulties in composing questions, you can always use the search engine "Google" or "Yandex", and find all the necessary information there. It is not difficult to make a frame. The main thing is to give your puzzle a logical meaning.

Video instruction

If suddenly you still have any questions, then you can try to find answers to them in the video attached below.

There are special programs for creating crosswords. My goal is to tell you how you can create a crossword puzzle without special programs, but do it in an ordinary editor Word (Word) 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016.

To create a crossword puzzle in a Word, do the following with me:

Open a Word document.
Now you need to create a table in Word. To create a table, go to the "Insert" tab => "Table" => "Insert Table".

An additional window will open in which you can specify any number of columns and rows. I entered "5" as an example.
Click "OK":

This is the result you should get:

Now you need to make even squares in the table, because they are even in the crossword puzzle.
Hover over the upper left corner of the table, a cross should appear there. Right-click on this cross and select "Table Properties ...":

In the "Line" tab, set "Height" - "1cm.":

Now go to the "Cell" tab, set "Width" - "1cm." Click "OK":

Now the crossword puzzle will be smooth and pretty:

Now, select the Eraser "Constructor" => "Eraser" and delete unnecessary lines in the table with it:

This is how I got it at this stage:

Let's fill in the squares of the main encrypted word and highlight the borders boldly.
So, click with the cursor on the square of the main word and from the top menu select "Constructor" => "Fill" and choose any color there:

Now in the same menu select "Pen Color" and the thickness, I chose the thickness "3 pt". Click "Draw a table" and draw along the contour of the main encrypted word of the crossword:

We put numbers on the squares of the crossword puzzle and this is the result now:

That's all! It seems to me that this is an easy way to create a simple crossword puzzle in the Word program.

Crossword puzzle is an addicting puzzle game. To draw it yourself, you just need desire and time.

If you need to compose a crossword puzzle, you can do it in Word. Of course, there are various other services, but a text editor is quite convenient, especially since you can make a template for subsequent work. You have to take several steps in sequence, and if you did not know how to make a crossword puzzle in Word, then our instructions will help you cope with the task. Special programs are often paid, demos do not allow you to save your work in normal form, so Word, although it takes effort and time, will help you solve the problem.

The question of how to create a crossword puzzle in Word arises not only among fans of this type of problem, but also among schoolchildren who are given a special task. Step by step instructions will help you overcome difficult questions in drawing a field.

Having decided to work in a text editor, carefully follow the step-by-step instructions on how to make a crossword puzzle in Word. First of all, we create a table - the field of the future puzzle. This is done as follows.

The Insert tab has a section on tables. Click on the icon there and you will see a grid.

If you are making a small field, then select the required number of cells with the mouse and click on them, - a table grid will appear on your sheet.

In Word, as a standard, you can create a field of up to 10x8 cells. If you need more, then click on the "Insert table" link. An additional window will open where manually enter the number of columns and rows.

Cell alignment

After creating the table, you need to format the cells so that they are square and the same size.

Open "Table Properties". You can get to them in two ways:

  • Select the table. By right-clicking on it, open the menu - at the bottom is the desired link.
  • With the cursor in the cell, go to the "Layout" tab that opens. There is a Properties button on the left.


When you open Table Properties, you will see the Row and Column tabs. First go to one of them, set a value, for example, 1 cm. Set the "Exactly" mode. Then do the same on the second tab.

After that, you get a grid with even square cells.

Text alignment

Typically, numbers are placed in the cells in the upper left corner. To perform this alignment, select the entire table.

  1. Right click on the cells.
  2. In the menu, click on "Cell Alignment" - "Top Left".
  3. Next, set the font (let's say Arial) and size (9).

It remains for you to decide how to compose a crossword puzzle in Word, what content to fill it with, and also enter the words of the answers and numbers in the cells in order to determine which ones need to be left and which ones to paint over.

Field formation

You have created the basis, now let's figure out how to draw a crossword puzzle in Word. You need to paint over the empty cells inside.

Place the cursor in the box, which will be empty, go to the "Design" tab. In the section "Styles of tables" you will see a button "Fill", by clicking on it, get a palette of colors. Choose the one you need (usually black). You can select several adjacent cells at once and fill them with color.


Removing extra cells

There may be extra cells around the edges. To remove them, use the following method: use the Eraser tool (in the "Constructor" - "Draw Borders" tab) to delete unnecessary lines.

You can draw the lines of the field in another way. After creating the table, in the "Home" tab, remove all borders and activate "Show Grid" to see the markup. Having defined the required cells, select them and outline them using the "All Borders" button. Then fill in the inner empty cells. Outside empty cells will not be drawn.

Completion of work

After completing everything, delete the answer words. You can save two options for yourself: with and without answers. If you used a grid, uncheck the checkbox so that the construction lines are not reflected. Write down the assignment questions. Place them on the same sheet or on another page. Additionally, you can work with the colors of the lines and their thickness. Check the results by going to the "View" - "Scale" tab and specifying "Whole page" there, edit the location of the object and text, fields if necessary. Now your crossword puzzle is ready, so you can print it.

As you can see, although the work takes a lot of time, it is not so difficult, so every user who has already worked in Word will be able to cope with the task and make a beautiful crossword puzzle.

If you like to solve crosswords of various topics, we offer useful tips on how to make a crossword puzzle in a Word on your own. Nowadays on the Internet you can find many specialized applications that allow you to create a crossword puzzle in a Word, and absolutely for "any size and taste." The main difficulty of creating a crossword puzzle in a text editor Microsoft Word is to perform a large number of operations related to formatting the cells of the table in which your crossword puzzle will be located.

The question of how to make a crossword puzzle in word is relevant for schoolchildren (for learning), and for adults (for leisure). There are many free programs offered on the Internet for creating a crossword puzzle, they are paid, and when working in the DEMO version, it is often very difficult to keep the completed crossword puzzle in its normal form. We offer step-by-step instructions on how to compose your own crossword puzzle in a Word:

First step. Create a table. Select the "Insert Table" button in the program menu, set the size of the table (crossword puzzle) in the window that appears, for example, 15 by 15 cells.

Second step. The table you created is far from the required one, it is difficult to see a new crossword puzzle in it. You need to make the normal display of cells, for this in the upper left corner of your table you need to right-click and select the "table properties" item from the menu. Column widths are set to 1 centimeter. Due to the fact that the height of the cells of the crossword puzzle turns out to be large, take the ninth font size for the entire table.

Third step. Find free programs to find words or use online services for creating crosswords. Further, the selected picture can be transferred to the prepared table. To paint over some of the cells, use the Ctrl button by clicking the right mouse button. Select the item "Borders and Fills" in the menu that appears and start painting.

Fourth step. In the Border and Fill box, select the "paper source" item and choose the fill color you like. The cells that were previously selected by you will be painted in this color. You can also experiment by using a few different colors for the grid of your crossword puzzle. For example, you can paint all the cells diagonally with one color, and vertically with another.


Fifth step. After completing all the above steps, you have successfully created a beautiful grid for your crossword puzzle. If necessary, fill it in with certain words (sometimes they do this in crosswords so that, in a sense, the beginning of guessing it was laid).

Sixth step. Competently write the questions for the crossword puzzle. You should not make them too detailed and simple, so that the solution would require the display of ingenuity and ingenuity.

That's it, you can now print out a list of questions and a grid to fill in with answers. It is advisable to use a sheet of A3 paper for this so that all the information fits. Then an interesting pastime with your family is guaranteed.

Composing crossword puzzles is a fun activity. Some make them for fun, others for study. Composing by hand on paper is time-consuming, especially when you often need to correct the cells. It is better to use computer resources for this purpose. Let's consider what programs are suitable for composing crosswords on a computer.

How to make a crossword puzzle in MS Word?

Let's open a new document in MS Word and immediately save it with a name, for example, "Crossword template". The crossword puzzle is a combination of black and white cells, formed in the form of a table. Therefore, to draw up a template, we need the menu "Insert" → "Table". Determine the number of rows and columns. Let's say in our example the table will be 20 × 20.

We format the size of the cells. Formatting can be done in two ways: select "Table Properties" by clicking on the "Layout" tab or on the icon in the upper left corner. In the window, set the width of the cells and the height, for example, 1 cm. If you need a different size, select so that the cells look symmetrical. Now you need to paint over the cells that are intermediate between the words with a dark color.

To see which cells to paint over, you need to draw up a crossword puzzle project on a sheet in a cell, entering the answers in the correct order, or use any online service. We need the Borders and Fills tab. Pre-select the desired cell. Select the desired color on the Fill tab. When the required cells of the template are filled in, it is necessary to put down the numbers of the questions of the crossword puzzle in certain cells.

The template can be done in another way: in the created table, write the answers in the desired order, mark the borders of these cells with bold lines, and desaturate the borders of unused cells. The result is a traditional crossword puzzle.

How to make a crossword puzzle in MS Excel?

In MS Excel, a crossword puzzle can be done in various ways. Let's consider a variant of the same format as it was created in Word. We create and save the document in the same way. Let our template be 15x15. Select cells horizontally from A to O, and vertically the first 15 pieces. Let's format the size of our range. In the "Format" section, select "Cell size" and set the required sizes. Set the height of the cells to 25, and the width to 5. The cells will become square.

Using the "Borders" menu in our range, select all borders using the appropriate option. Next, you need to format the placement of letters in the cells by choosing the option "in the center" in the "Format cells" menu, vertically and horizontally. We will make our template automated. To do this, we prescribe all the answers in the cells of the template, painting over the spaces between them. For painting, use the Fill Color option in the Font panel.

Writing questions for a crossword puzzle is best done using the "Note" option. When you need to enter the answer in the selected cell, a note with a question will pop up. It is recommended to set a note in the first cell of the word. To do this, select "Insert note", in the window of which we write our question. Any characteristics of the note can be formatted here, including size, font, and letter color. If there are two questions in the box: horizontally and vertically, both options are prescribed in one note.

A cell with a note will be indicated by a red triangle. The note can be changed or deleted using the appropriate options. To delete the answers in the crossword puzzle, create a copy of it below, for example, placing it on line 50. In the original, delete all letters using DELETE. You can place a copy on another sheet of our document.

Let's set up a check for the correctness of the answers, for this you need to set a rule for each cell using conditional formatting. We select the first cell of the original, set the rule, assigning it the value of the first cell of our copy “= 50” using the option “Format only cells that contain”, and also set the color of the correct answer, for example, blue.

Using the copy function, we paste our cell with the rule into other cells of the original. You can also manually set a rule for each cell, similar to the first. A copy of the crossword puzzle must be made invisible so that when solving it, it is not possible to view the answer. For this, all notes and cell borders are removed. Fonts and cells are set to white. To hide all formulas in cells, in the "Format cells" item, select "Number" → "Number formats" → "All formats", and enter a semicolon three times. Formulas will become hidden.

How to transfer a crossword puzzle from an online service to MS Office?

Not all online services can transfer a crossword template or a completed version to MS Office. The transfer function is available on the online service> Cross. Initially, a template is drawn up on the service. To do this, you need to select the number of cells in the crossword puzzle and set the desired words from the list on the left. The crossword puzzle is generated automatically. On the panel online service there are two commands that allow you to download an empty template in Word format or filled. Further, the resulting copy can be printed using Word.

In the same way, you can transfer templates to Excel97 from the "Crossword" scanword editor. The program builds a crossword puzzle both in manual and automatic mode with a maximum cell size of 60 × 60, which is suitable for 700 words. The dictionary contains about 28 thousand words with definitions.

The paid version allows you to print the received copies of the crossword puzzle, as well as make free transfer to other programs. Excel Converter needed for the final processing of the template. Arrows are drawn in it, questions and digital prompts are placed. For this, the environment contains the appropriate macros.

Online services for composing crosswords

There is a large selection of services that are designed to compose crossword puzzles. They all have standard set functions: building a template manually and automatic mode generating a crossword puzzle from a list of words. Words are entered automatically when choosing from a dictionary or by letter. In many, the option of printing a finished copy is available. These are the most popular online services.

Do you want to create a crossword puzzle yourself (of course, on a computer, not just on a piece of paper), but don't know how to do it? Don't despair, multifunctional office program Microsoft Word will help you do this. Yes, standard tools for such work are not provided here, but tables will come to our aid in this difficult task.

We have already written about how to create tables in this advanced text editor, how to work with them and how to modify them. You can read all this in the article presented at the link above. By the way, it is precisely changing and editing tables that is what is especially necessary if you want to compose a crossword puzzle in Word. How to do this will be discussed below.

Most likely, you already have an idea in your head of what your crossword puzzle should be. Perhaps you already have a sketch of it, or even a finished version, but only on paper. Therefore, you know exactly the dimensions (at least approximate), because it is in accordance with them that you need to create a table.


1. Start Word and go from the tab "Home" opened by default to a tab "Insert".


2. Click the button "Tables" located in the group of the same name.


3. In the expanded menu, you can add a table after specifying its size. But the default value is unlikely to suit you (of course, unless your crossword contains 5-10 questions), so you need to manually set the required number of rows and columns.


4. To do this, in the expanded menu, select "Insert table".


5. In the dialog box that appears, specify the desired number of rows and columns.

6. After specifying the required values, press "OK"... The table appears on the sheet.


7. To resize the table, click on it with the mouse and drag the corner towards the edge of the sheet.


8. Visually, the table cells appear to be the same, but as soon as you want to enter the text, the size will change. To make it fixed, you need to do the following:
Highlight the entire table by pressing "Ctrl + A".


  • Click on it with the right mouse button and select the item "Table properties".


  • In the window that appears, first go to the tab "Line", where you need to check the box next to the item "height", specify the value in 1 cm and select the mode "Exactly".

  • Go to the tab "Column", check the box "Width", also specify 1 cm, select the unit value "Centimeters".

  • Repeat the same steps in the tab "Cell".

  • Click on "OK" to close the dialog box and apply your changes.
  • The table now looks exactly symmetrical.


Filling in the table for the crossword puzzle

So, if you want to make a crossword puzzle in Word, without having to sketch it on paper or in any other program, we suggest that you first create its layout. The fact is that without having before your eyes numbered questions, and at the same time the answers to them (and therefore, knowing the number of letters in each specific word), it makes no sense to carry out further actions. That is why we initially assume that you already have the crossword puzzle, albeit not in the Word yet.

Having a ready, but still empty skeleton, we need to number the cells in which the answers to the questions will begin, and also fill in those cells that will not be used in the crossword.

How to make the numbering of table cells like in real crosswords?

In most crosswords, the numbers that indicate the starting place for entering the answer to a specific question are located in the upper left corner of the cell, the size of these numbers is relatively small. We have to do the same.

1. First, just number the cells as you would on your layout or sketch. The screenshot shows just a minimalistic example of what this might look like.


2. To place numbers in the upper left corner of the cells, select the table contents by clicking "Ctrl + A".


3. In the tab "Home" in a group "Font" find the symbol "Superscript" and click on it (you can also use a hot key combination, as shown in the screenshot. The numbers will become smaller and will be located slightly higher relative to the center of the cell


4. If the text is still not offset to the left enough, align it to the left by clicking on the corresponding button in the group "Paragraph" in the tab "Home".


5. As a result, the numbered cells will look something like this:


Having completed the numbering, it is necessary to paint over unnecessary cells, that is, those into which the letters will not fit. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Select an empty cell and right-click in it.


2. In the menu that appears, located above the context menu, find the tool "Fill" and click on it.

3. Select a suitable color for filling an empty cell and click on it.


4. The cell will be painted over. To fill in all the other cells that will not be used in the crossword for entering the answer, repeat steps 1 through 3 for each of them.


In our simple example, it looks like this, of course, it will look different for you.

Final stage

All that remains for us to do to create a crossword puzzle in Word exactly in the form in which we are used to seeing it on paper is to write a list of questions vertically and horizontally under it.

After you have done all this, your crossword puzzle will look something like this:


Now you can print it, show it to friends, acquaintances, relatives and ask them not only to rate how well you did in the Word to draw a crossword puzzle, but also to solve it.

On this we may well finish, because now you know how to create a crossword puzzle in Word. We wish you success in your work and training. Experiment, create and develop without stopping there.

Crosswords are a fun and extremely rewarding puzzle game. Scientists believe that their first prototypes appeared in the 1st-4th centuries. This is evidenced, in particular, by the fact that during excavations in the legendary Pompeii a puzzle very similar to them was found. The find was dated 79 AD.

The first crossword puzzle that fits modern ideas was invented by a man named Arthur Wynn and featured in the Sunday edition of the New York World in late 1913.

Now everyone can come up with and draw their own rebus. What is needed for this? A little free time, an interesting idea and, of course, your desire. In this article, we will together try to figure out how to make a crossword puzzle in Word - a popular text editor from the Microsoft Office suite.

Step 1. Create a table

Open MS Word and go to the "Insert" -> "Table" tab. In the menu that appears, you will see the "Insert Table" item. Click on this button.

A new window will appear on the screen, in which you can write parameters for the future table: the number and width of columns, the number of rows.

The size of your future crossword puzzle will depend on the number of columns and lines. In general, in order not to miscalculate, it is better to first come up with questions and draw a layout of the future puzzle on a piece of paper: this way you can always see what should be the result.

Let's say you decide that you need a 10x10 grid table. Let's analyze, in Word, just using this example. In the fields "Number of rows" and "Number of columns" you need to enter the number 10. As for the width, it is best to set the switch to "Constant", and next, instead of "Auto", enter a value from 0.5 to 0.6 cm - this is how the cells will immediately be square.


Step 2. Change table parameters

We continue to figure out how to create a crossword puzzle in Word. So, the table appeared on the screen. But, as you can see, it is very small. Move the mouse to the lower right corner of the plate so that a diagonal arrow appears, hold down the Shift key and stretch it to the size you need.

By clicking on the upper left corner, you can move the table on the sheet, for example, place it in the center.

After that we need to change the thickness of the borders. Select the entire object. A yellow tab "Working with tables" will appear in the top menu, inside which there is an item "Layout". Open it and in the leftmost item "Table" select the "Properties" button. In the window that appears, we need to click on "Borders and Fill ...", and then change the width of the borders to 1.5 pt and save the changes.


Step 3. Create the markup

We continue to figure out how to make a crossword puzzle in Word. We return to the "Home" tab and find the item "Borders". Here we need to select two options: "No border" and "Show grid". After that, the screen will display only the service markup, which will not be visible when printing.


Step 4. Fill in the answers

Now, in order to understand how the printed and completed crossword puzzle will look like, you need to enter the correct answers in the appropriate fields and put down the numbering.

After you do this, you should select the question numbers and change the character type to "Superscript". This can be done in the main tab of the program, in the same place where we change the style to bold, underline, etc.


Step 5. Preparing the crossword for printing

The creation of a crossword puzzle in Word is nearing completion. We have already done most of the work. Now all that remains is to select those borders that should be preserved during the printing process. To do this, we select each word in turn, and then in the already familiar "Borders" tab in the main editor menu, select the "All borders" item.


Step 6. Finishing touches

Basically, you already know how to make a crossword puzzle in Word. Only a couple of details remain. To see what the puzzle will look like before printing, ready to be solved, select the entire table and deselect Show Grid in the Borders tab. The auxiliary lines will disappear, and you will only see the crossword itself. In order not to get confused, it is better to print both versions, just in case, with and without the written answers. For convenience, questions can be placed on the same sheet as the rebus itself.

Can be increased slightly to make the numbering easier to see.

To see what happened in the end, and whether we really understood how to draw a crossword puzzle in Word, you can go to the "View" -> "Scale" tab before printing and specify "Whole page" in the window that appears. Now you see the fruits of your labor exactly as they will look when printed.


A little advice: if the rebus is composed in such a way that a new key is formed from individual letters of other words, you can select the necessary cells with a different color by selecting the "Fill" on the main toolbar and specifying the appropriate shade.

Let's take a look at how to make a crossword puzzle in Word today. For this we will use simple tables. There are several options for accomplishing this task. Let's try each of them.

First you need to decide on the questions and answers to them. Which of the questions will be horizontal, which will be vertical. We need this to count the number of cells.

Made a table with 10 columns and 8 rows. It looks like this:

Now we need to resize the cells to make them square. Each side of the square will be equal to 1 cm. To do this, select the entire table, and in the "Working with tables" section, go to the "Layout" tab. We are looking for the section "Cell size" and in it we set the height and width of our cells equal to 1 cm.

We have got a rectangle consisting of squares with sides equal to one centimeter.

Now our crossword puzzle can be given absolutely any look. Paint unnecessary cells or simply delete them by removing the borders from these cells. The numbers of the questions, for entering the answers, can be put down in the cells themselves.

First option

First, remove the borders in the top row of the table. Select the line. On the "Home" tab, in the "Paragraph" section, click on the small arrow next to the "Borders" button. Select the Borders and Fill tool.

In the window that appears, in the "Sample" section, delete the vertical borders and the upper horizontal one. Just click on them with LMB (left mouse button). Click "OK".

Deleted boundaries are marked in red

We've got a table with an invisible top row.

In order for us to see cells with a removed border, we need to insert a table grid. On the "Home" tab, in the "Paragraph" section, again press the arrow next to the "Borders" button. Let's choose the function "Show grid". The table now looks like this:

By the same principle, we delete the borders of the first column.

In this way, we remove all borders in the cells that are not needed in the crossword puzzle. This is a job for the patient, so we look at the next option.

Second option

It is much easier to first remove ALL borders from the table, leaving only the table grid. Then select the required cells and set visible borders in them. We do this: select the entire table, delete all borders. Only the grid of the table remains.

Now select the required cells and set "All Borders" in them. For convenience, we immediately enter the answers into the cells of the crossword puzzle to see which ones to leave.

The third option

You can not use a grid, just paint over the required cells. For this we take the Fill tool.