Summary: Count Word Search puzzles are created in Puzzle Maker Pro by typing the word to hide, setting the grid size and how many times to hide it, and choosing which letters fill the rest of the grid. This guide covers making your first one, controlling the difficulty, titling it so the sheet is solvable, and exporting.
Overview
A Count Word Search hides one word many times over and asks the solver how many. Puzzle Maker Pro places the copies, fills the grid, counts what it actually managed to hide, and prints that number as the answer. This tutorial covers making one, from opening the module to exporting. New to the puzzle itself? Read How Count Word Search Puzzles Work first.
Required Modules
Puzzle Maker Pro – Count Word Search. The editions:
- Count Word Search (Standard) — makes Count Word Search puzzles, one word per grid, with static PNG/JPG/SVG/PDF output and Instant Puzzle Books (a book PDF assembled from your current page settings). The word list is available here too: fifty words gives you fifty one-word puzzles.
- Creative — adds up to three words on one grid, shape masks, and Puzzle Book Studio Creative (one puzzle collection, full book editing).
- Productivity — adds Time Saver for batch creation and Puzzle Book Studio Productivity (all layout controls, several collections combined into one book).
- Creative Interactive / Productivity Interactive — add the Interactive add-on: JSON output, HTML output, and online play.
You can move up to any higher edition later, and add Interactive on top of Creative or Productivity, so start with the one that fits what you are making today. See Puzzle Maker Pro Editions Explained.
Commercial rights: Lite and Creative both carry the licence to sell the finished puzzle products you make — books, worksheets and printable packs — to your own readers and customers, including KDP, Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers. Productivity adds the right to sell or supply the puzzles themselves to other publishers and sellers.
A free demo of the module is available, so you can try Count Word Search before buying. The demo previews watermarked PNG and JPG, one puzzle at a time.
Preparation
Open Count Word Search from the Word Search group. It opens on a working default — the word PUZZLE, a 15 × 13 grid, hidden 10 to 14 times — so you can generate immediately. Be aware that the default filler, Word letters, is the hardest setting the module has: for a gentler first run, or a book aimed at younger solvers, switch Filler letters to Alphabet (see Control the Difficulty).
For a book, the one decision worth making up front is the word list: a themed set (seasons, animals, a topic word bank) is what turns single puzzles into a product. Keep words to roughly 4–8 letters; a 9-letter word needs a grid at least 9 across or 9 down, and fits fewer times than a short one.
Every puzzle is generated with its matching solution at the same time, so plan your page count from the pair: a 100-puzzle run fills about 100 puzzle pages plus a solutions section.
Choose the Word and the Grid
On the Main tab:
- Word to hide — the word the puzzle names and hides. Minimum 2 letters, and it must fit the grid’s longest straight run, so a 9-letter word needs at least 9 rows or 9 columns. This field is used when the Words tab list is empty.
- Rows and Columns — each 5 to 200 (default 15 × 13). The default is a comfortable magazine page.
- Hide at least (times) and Hide at most (times) — each 1 to 500 (default 10 to 14). Set them to the same number to aim for one answer across the whole run; leave a range and each page draws its own count, which is what a book wants.
Note that Hide at most also fixes the size of the answer box for the whole run: a maximum of 14 prints a two-square box on every page, so the box never gives away whether a particular answer is one digit or two.
One caveat on setting both to the same number: it is a target, not a guarantee. On a crowded grid the engine may fit fewer copies and will print the true count for that page (see If a puzzle will not generate, below).
Set Up the Answer Box
- Print an answer box — on by default. A counting puzzle needs somewhere to write the count.
- Answer box caption — free text, default
Answer:. Change it to work in your book’s language. With several words per puzzle this is ignored, because each answer row is captioned with its own word instead.
Add a Word List
The Words tab takes a list — typed inline or loaded from a file. Type one word per line; commas, semicolons and pipes work too, so you can paste a rough list. Blank lines, one-letter entries and repeats (including DOG beside dog) are ignored. The tab is available on every edition, including Lite, and the AI word list assistant can generate a themed list for you.
Leave the list empty and every puzzle hides the single word from the Main tab. Fill it in and the Word list group at the top of the Settings tab controls how a run consumes it:
- Words per puzzle — 1 to 3 (default 1). On Lite this is always 1; Creative and above can put up to three words on one grid, each counted separately with its own answer row.
- Take words — In order (as typed) or Random (shuffled each pass).
- At the end of the list — Round robin (default) reuses the list until the quantity is reached; pick it when the page count drives the book. Stop when the list is done makes a single pass and ends there, so the run is as long as the list or as long as Quantity, whichever is shorter; pick it when the list drives the book.
Two words that are reverses of each other —like TAB and BAT — are never put on the same grid, because counting reads all eight directions and both answers would always be identical. The second word starts the next puzzle instead, where it works fine.
Control the Difficulty
Below the word list on the Settings tab sit the two levers that set difficulty. The Placement group is the coarse one:
- Diagonal words — on by default; turn it off for an easier grid where every copy runs straight across or straight down.
- Kids mode (→ ↓ ↘ only) — off by default. When on it wins over Diagonal words. Note that it restricts only the forward directions — Backwards words is separate and stays on unless you turn it off, so kids mode alone still hides words backwards. For the youngest solvers, switch both.
- Backwards words — on by default.
The Filler letters group is the fine one, and it has more effect on difficulty than the grid size.
- Word letters (default) — every non-word cell is filled from the target word’s own distinct letters, as in the right-hand grid above. It is much the hardest setting: nothing stands out and the solver has to read the grid properly.
- Alphabet — A–Z, as on the left. Much easier: a hidden copy sits in a jumble of unrelated letters, so the eye picks the run out as a shape without reading.
- Custom — uses the characters you supply in Custom filler characters. Leave that empty and it falls back to A–Z.
The Display group below it sets how the letters print: Uppercase grid letters is on by default, and Letter case override forces the final display case — the switch to reach for when a book for early readers wants a lowercase grid.
This is also how one word list serves two ability groups: run it once on Alphabet with kids mode on and Backwards words off, then again on Word letters with diagonals and backwards on. Same words, same book, two levels.
Shape the Grid (Creative)
The Masks tab confines the grid to a silhouette. Tick Shape the grid with these images, then add images or pick from the built-in shapes. You get one puzzle per shape, cycled across a batch — and the shapes cycle independently of the word list, so fifty words over five shapes still gives fifty puzzles, each word on the next shape in turn.
Masks want a solid, high-contrast silhouette: large, clean and connected, since the grid keeps only the dark area. Thin or faint artwork prints as a plain rectangle instead — if that happens, swap in bolder art. On Lite the tab is visible under an upgrade caption.
Style the Grid and Answer Box
On the Style tab you can set nine surfaces: the letters font, the canvas, the cell fill, the grid lines (width 0 by default, which is the classic word-search look with no inner lines), the puzzle border, the solution marking and solution word fill, and the answer box fill and border. See How to Customize Puzzle Designs in Puzzle Maker Pro.
What the solution image shows is set back on the Settings tab, in the Solution group — it applies to the answer image only, and the puzzle sheet is never marked. Choose Capsule (default), Line or None, set the capsule end radius (default 100%), and optionally fill the word cells.
Set the Title
Smart Titles are on the Layout tab. Naming the word matters more here than in other modules: the word is the puzzle’s instruction, so a title that omits it leaves the sheet unsolvable. Count Word Search offers:
- Count Word — e.g. “Count PUZZLE”
- Count Word Question — e.g. “How many times can you find PUZZLE?”
- Count the Word — e.g. “Count the Word”
- Custom — your own title text, used exactly as typed
Out of the box the title is preselected to the first option, Count Word, and the description to the module default, “How many times is the word hidden in this grid?” The first two options resolve per puzzle, so each page of a word-list run names its own word. The same four options are available for the Description. Smart Titles works the same way in every module — see the Smart Titles tutorial for how it works.
The pairing worth thinking about is title plus description: Count Word with the default description states the word and then asks the question, which is what most books want. If you prefer the word said once, set the title to Count Word Question and clear the description. And if you choose “Count the Word” or a Custom title that does not name the word, make sure the Description does.
Keep smart titles on so the word prints. The title and description are drawn by the branding layer, and they are what name the word on the sheet — a Count Word Search that does not name its word cannot be solved. Leave branding on when you export images, or place the word yourself when you assemble the book.
Generate the Puzzles
Click Preview while you dial the settings in — it always shows a single puzzle, so it is the cheap way to see what a word and filler combination looks like. When it is right, set Quantity to the number of puzzles you want at these settings and click Create. Each puzzle is written with its matching solution, so the run gives you a paired set ready for the book step. (The free demo produces one watermarked puzzle whatever Quantity says.)
Quantity behaves as usual, with one module-specific catch. With a word list on Round robin, Quantity wins — fifty words at Quantity 100 gives 100 pages, two per word. With Stop when the list is done the shorter of the two wins: fifty words at Quantity 100 gives fifty pages, and the same list at Quantity 10 gives ten.
When a book needs a mix of grid sizes, difficulties or word lists, use Time Saver (Productivity) to set up one row per section instead of running the module repeatedly.
If a Puzzle Will Not Generate
The module refuses an impossible request up front rather than quietly under-delivering, and the message names the numbers — how many letter cells your word and count need against how many the grid has. The fixes, in the order worth trying: lower Hide at most — it is the ceiling the check measures against, so bring it down first and Hide at least with it — then enlarge Rows and Columns, shorten the word, or reduce Words per puzzle.
This is most common on a shaped grid, because a silhouette removes squares — a shape holds fewer copies than the rectangle it was cut from. Turning on Allow copies to share collinear cells (Settings → Solution) also fits more copies in, at the cost of overlapping capsules on the solution image.
If a grid holds slightly fewer copies than requested, the puzzle still generates and the printed answer is the true count, so the page is never wrong. The status line tells you when it happens — the grid size, how many copies of each word were actually placed, and how many puzzles in the run fell short — so you can decide whether to loosen the grid or accept the easier pages.
Export Your Puzzles
- Print / PDF — PNG, JPG, SVG and PDF of the puzzle and solution, on every edition. Keep branding on, per the note above.
- Books — turn the run into a finished book two ways. Instant Puzzle Books (from Lite up) assembles a book PDF straight from your current page settings, so set trim size and margins before you export. Puzzle Book Studio (from Creative up) gives you full page control, and on Productivity it combines several collections into one book. See Puzzle Book Studio Tutorials.
- JSON and HTML web output — with Creative Interactive or Productivity Interactive, export JSON and HTML output, plus the ZIP the BookPublisherTools WordPress plugin uploads to publish a playable set on your own site.
- Online play — also on the Interactive add-on. Solvers drag across the grid as in a word search and each distinct copy they find bumps the counter; the target is never shown, so the puzzle checks the count silently. See How to Play Puzzles Online.
- Time Saver — on the Productivity edition, batch-create rows with different words, grid sizes and difficulties in one run. See How to Batch Create Puzzles with Time Saver.
Outcome
You can now create Count Word Search puzzles end to end — any grid from 5 × 5 to 200 × 200, hidden as few or as many times as the grid will hold, at a difficulty you control through the filler letters and the placement directions, optionally shaped and with up to three words per grid, titled so the sheet is solvable, and exported for print or the web.
FAQ
What does the answer box print, and can I change the wording?
A caption plus one empty square per digit, sized from your Hide at most setting so it is the same on every page of a run. The caption is free text (default Answer:), so it can be in any language. With several words per puzzle each answer row is captioned with its own word instead.
Can I put more than one word in a grid?
Yes, on Creative and above — up to three, each counted separately with its own answer row. Lite makes one-word puzzles, though it can still work through a word list to produce many of them.
Which edition do I need to batch-create a whole book?
None — Standard Count Word Search already does this. A word list plus Quantity and Round robin fills a book at one setting. Productivity is what you need when the book mixes settings — different grid sizes or difficulties across sections — which is what Time Saver rows are for.
Why did my puzzle come out with fewer copies than I asked for?
The grid could not hold them all. The printed answer is still the true count, so the page is correct; only the difficulty you asked for was missed. The status line reports it after the run, with the grid size and how many copies were actually placed; use a bigger grid, a shorter word, or a lower count if you want the difficulty you originally set.
How do I make the puzzles harder?
Leave Filler letters on Word letters — that single setting matters more than anything else. Beyond it, keep diagonals and backwards words on, and use a larger grid with a higher occurrence count.
Which edition unlocks online play?
The Interactive add-on — Creative Interactive or Productivity Interactive — which also unlocks JSON and HTML output. This is separate from Time Saver, which comes from the Productivity tier itself.