Letter path

How it works

Each grid hides one word of 9 or 12 letters. The word starts on some square and runs through every other square, one step up, down, left or right at a time, never through a square twice. A step never goes on a slant.

Tap the square the word starts on, then each square after it. Each square on your path shows its number, and a bar joins it to the square before. Tap your last square, or press Undo, to take it back. When every square is on your path, the page checks it.

You can also type the word and press Check. A typed word that does not fit the grid is refused with the reason, and nothing is taken off your path.

A blank square stands for one letter the grid does not show. You find it from the letters around it. Once the word is found, the blank shows its letter, underlined.

Level 1 is a 9 letter word on a 3 by 3 grid with 1 blank square. Level 2 has 2 blanks. Level 3 is a 12 letter word on a 3 by 4 grid with 2 blanks, and level 4 has 3.

Every grid is checked before it is shown. Of about 11,800 nine letter words and 5,100 twelve letter words, exactly one runs through it, so there is one answer. The hidden words are common ones.

Hint adds the next right square to your path, or takes your path back to where it went wrong. Show the word draws the whole path and counts that word as not found. A round with either is saved to your statistics but not sent to the community comparison.

The score is how many of the five words you found without Show the word. The results also count the wrong checks and the hints. The clock runs while a word is open.

The score says how you did on these five words. It says nothing about any other practice. Finish all five words to save a round. A round you end early is not saved.

The statistics page compares rounds at the same level. It compares how many of the five words were found.

The words come from the 12dicts word lists by Alan Beale, which draw on Kevin Atkinson's AGID.

Source details: 12dicts source and license

In a 3 by 3 grid the word always starts and ends on a corner or the middle square. Learn to start from a corner