Free · Online and printable
Free trugs phonics wordsearch-play and print
Every word in every puzzle is decodable, built only from the letter-sound patterns a learner has already been taught. Play it in a browser, or print worksheets for the whole class.
- No account
- No adverts
- Nothing collected
- Works offline once loaded
Why it is different
A word search that is actually reading practice
In most word searches a child scans for a shape. They can find elephant without reading a single letter of it. That is a pleasant puzzle, but it is not reading.
These are built the other way round. Each stage draws only on words that share one phonic pattern, and all the words in a grid look alike: a Stage 1 grid is full of three-letter words with short vowels, a Stage 11 grid is full of soft c. There is no distinctive silhouette to spot, so the only way through is to decode. Telling race from rice, rack and racy takes sounding out, and that is exactly the point.
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Play on any screen
Phone, tablet, laptop or whiteboard. Drag across a word, or tap the first letter and then the last. Keyboard and screen reader friendly throughout.
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Print for the class
A4 or Letter, one or two puzzles to a page, with answer sheets. The words are sampled anew each time, so you will rarely see the same grid twice.
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Follow the progression
Fifteen stages in three levels, from CVC words to four-syllable vocabulary and suffixes, matching the trugs Card Packs stage for stage.
The trugs progression
Fifteen stages, three levels
The sequence is the trugs reading scheme: each stage introduces one pattern, and nothing appears before it has been taught. 2,151 different words across the fifteen stages.
Letter Sounds
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Tricky Words
Stage 0 · before Stage 1
Letter Sounds
The first letter sounds: s a t p i n m d g o c k ck e u r b f ff l ll ss, then into words
- an
- pit
- sock
Level 1 · Foundation
Stage 1: CVC Words
consonant, vowel, consonant
- sat
- yes
- big
- fox
- hug
Level 1 · Foundation
Stage 2: CCVC Words
two consonants at the start
- pram
- shall
- trip
- snack
Level 1 · Foundation
Stage 3: CVCC and CCVCC Words
two consonants at the end
- left
- best
- crash
- drank
Level 1 · Foundation
Stage 4: Two-Syllable Words
two consonants in the middle: mag|net
- magnet
- instruct
- exit
- finish
Level 1 · Foundation
Stage 5: R-Controlled Vowels
ar · or · er · ir · ur
- car
- port
- her
- stir
- churn
Level 2 · Vowel Power
Stage 6: Split Digraph
vowel-consonant-e
- make
- gate
- dive
- bone
Level 2 · Vowel Power
Stage 7: Vowel Digraphs and Trigraphs
two or three letters, one vowel sound
- snail
- statue
- day
- east
Level 2 · Vowel Power
Stage 8: Alternative Vowel Digraphs
oy · ou · aw · ow
- boy
- out
- paw
- loud
- cow
Level 2 · Vowel Power
Stage 9: Two-Syllable Words
one consonant in the middle: pi|lot
- pilot
- limit
- bacon
- paper
Level 2 · Vowel Power
Stage 10: Three-Syllable Words
clap the three beats
- consider
- animal
- habitat
- visitor
Level 3 · Advanced
Stage 11: Soft C
‘c’ as in /s/
- mice
- pencil
- city
- ace
Level 3 · Advanced
Stage 12: Soft G
‘g’ as in /j/
- gem
- page
- rigid
- age
Level 3 · Advanced
Stage 13: Consonant-le
-ble · -dle · -ple
- candle
- sensible
- fable
- ample
Level 3 · Advanced
Stage 14: Four-Syllable Words
four beats
- independent
- alligator
- helicopter
- caterpillar
Level 3 · Advanced
Stage 15: Suffixes with ti, ci, si
‘ti’ · ‘ci’ · ‘si’ say /sh/
- electrician
- action
- erosion
- magician
Tricky Words · Sight words
Tricky Words 1
high-frequency words with a tricky part
- the
- said
- of
- was
- you
- they
Tricky Words · Sight words
Tricky Words 2
the next common words
- water
- good
- want
- how
- going
- where
The free word search covers Stages 1 to 15. Letter Sounds and the Tricky Words are part of the wider trugs programme, available as Card Packs and printables.
For schools and tutors
Why it suits classrooms and tutors
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Nothing to set up
One link. No accounts, no logins, no class codes, no email addresses.
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Nothing collected
No analytics, no cookies, no tracking. Safe on locked-down school machines.
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Works offline
Install it to a tablet home screen and it keeps working with no connection at all.
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Endlessly repeatable
Words are sampled fresh each time, so replaying a stage means new words with the same sounds.
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Print as much as you like
No watermarks and no limit on how many sheets you print.
Questions
Common questions
Is it really free?
Yes. There is no charge, no account, no sign-in and no advertising. Nothing is collected about the people who use it.
What is a decodable word search?
An ordinary word search uses whatever words fit the theme. A decodable one only uses words built from letter-sound patterns the learner has already been taught. Every word in a stage follows that stage’s pattern, so the words in a grid resemble one another and there is no distinctive shape to spot. Finding a word becomes an act of reading rather than shape matching.
Can I print the word searches?
Yes. Any stage prints to A4 or Letter, one or two puzzles to a page, with a matching answer sheet. There is no watermark and no limit. More about printing.
Which age group is it for?
The early stages suit children at the start of phonics, roughly five upwards. Because the words go as far as four-syllable vocabulary and suffixes, the later stages also work well for older learners who want practice that does not look babyish.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It runs in any modern browser. If you want it on a tablet home screen you can install it as an app, and it then works with no internet connection at all.
Is it suitable for dyslexic learners?
It follows the trugs scheme, which was designed by a dyslexia specialist for structured phonics teaching. Words are introduced in a fixed order so a learner only meets sounds already taught, and there is no timer pressure. It is practice material that fits alongside specialist teaching, not a replacement for it.
Does it work on a school network?
It is a single web page with no external requests, no cookies, no logins and no tracking, so it behaves well behind filtering and on locked-down machines. It can also be installed for offline use.
Ready to try it?
Pick a stage and play. It takes about a minute to see whether it suits your learner.