What this words in words finder does
Type any word and the tool lists every dictionary word hidden inside it. By default it looks at letters that sit in a row: the word HEART hides HEAR, EAR and ART, and the word PLANET hides LANE, PLAN, PLANE and NET. Change the setting to Skip letters, keep order and it also finds words you can read off by crossing out letters, like PET from PLANET.
It is a different search from an unscrambler, which treats your letters as a bag and finds anything you can build. Here the order is fixed, which is what a words in words puzzle expects and what a teacher means when she asks for words inside a spelling word. If you want to rearrange letters, use the Word Unscrambler or the Anagram Solver.
Examples from the dictionary
We ran the tool ourselves on a few long words and listed the words of four letters or more that it finds in a row. Each count includes the three-letter words too.
| Word | Hidden words (3+ letters) | Longest finds (4+ letters) |
|---|---|---|
| CHANDELIER | 6 | DELI, HAND and LIER |
| MOUNTAIN | 3 | MOUNT and TAIN |
| RESTAURANT | 7 | AURA, RANT and REST |
Notice that the longer finds are not always the obvious ones. A hidden word can sit in the middle of the long word where the eye does not look, which is why running the check beats scanning by eye.
How to use it for puzzles and teaching
- Pick a rich word. Long words with a mix of vowels and common consonants hide the most. Words like CHANDELIER, RESTAURANT and CARPENTER are classics in word-in-word games.
- Start with letters in a row. That is the standard rule. Set the shortest word to four letters to see the real finds quickly.
- Check your own list. If you played a words in words game, paste your answers next to the results and see what you missed, then read through the longer ones to learn from them.
- Try skipping letters for a harder challenge. The skip option finds many more words, so it works best with a minimum length of five or more.
Why words hide inside other words
English words are built from parts, and those parts are often words themselves. Compound words like sunflower hide sun and flower. Prefixed words hide their stems, and suffixed words hide their roots. And sometimes the hiding is accidental: carpet hides car and pet, and sunflower hides sun, flow and low. Looking at what hides inside a word is a good way to remember how it is spelled and sometimes how it came to be.
For a Scrabble player the same idea is a board skill. A long word on the board contains many smaller words, and each of them is a possible hook or extension. When you see a word like PLANET on the board, the words hidden in it tell you which parallel plays are likely to work. The Scrabble strategy guide explains how.
Related tools and lists
If you want words made from some or all of your letters in any order, use the Word Unscrambler. If you know the shape of a word but not its letters, the Crossword Solver fills gaps. And to see how many words begin or end a certain way, try the words starting with and words ending in pages.
Frequently asked questions
What is a words in words puzzle?
It is a puzzle where you find smaller words inside a longer one. The classic version asks for words made from letters sitting next to each other in the long word, as HEART hides EAR and HEAR. A looser version lets you skip letters as long as you keep their order.
How is this different from a word unscrambler?
An unscrambler can use your letters in any order, so it finds words like RATE from HEART. The words in words finder respects the order of the letters, so it only shows words that are really hidden in the word as written.
Does it find words in the middle of a word?
Yes. It checks every stretch of letters, starting from every position, so words at the start, middle and end of the long word are all found.
Why do I see so many short words?
Short words are easy to hide, because common three-letter words are made of common letters. Use the Shortest word option to hide them and focus on the longer finds.
Which dictionary does it use?
The same 172,830 word dictionary as the other tools, ENABLE plus a small supplement. Proper nouns and abbreviations are not included. See our editorial standards for details.